Keep Your Brain Young
3 TIPS FOR GOOD BRAIN HEALTH FROM HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
As we age, our bodies change, including our mental functions. Cognitive decline is one of the biggest fears of aging, but it’s not inevitable. Though we’re still learning new things about how our brains work, there’s a lot of scientific research that shows how to keep your brain young. If you want to keep your mind sharp throughout your lifetime, then follow this advice from Harvard Medical School. 1. Get a good workout. Exercising regularly helps all the muscles and organs in your body, even your brain! A good workout can lower your blood pressure and improve your cholesterol levels, which help your brain and your heart. Harvard Health Publishing, a website of Harvard Medical School, also notes that “animals who exercise regularly increase the number of tiny blood vessels that bring oxygen-rich blood to the region of the brain that is responsible for thought.”
2. Pay attention to your mental health.
Poor mental health can lead to impaired cognitive function. Chronic anxiety, depression, and exhaustion tend to cause low scores on cognitive function tests. But test scores aren’t necessarily a sign of future cognitive decline, and Harvard Health Publishing urges readers to maintain good mental health and get restful sleep, as they are “certainly important goals” for improving cognitive function and overall well-being. 3. Stay connected. It’s not enough to focus on yourself. In order to maintain your long-term cognitive health, you should also focus on your connections with other people. According to Harvard Health Publishing, “Strong social ties have been associated with a lower risk of dementia, as well as lower blood pressure and longer life expectancy.” Make new friends, stay in touch with family members, and maintain positive relationships in your life. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is certainly true when it comes to your brain health. Do what you can today to protect your mental functions tomorrow.
How to Plan for Threats to Your Retirement Income
2. Spending Behavior Your spending strategy should take into account your personal expenses, anticipated lifespan, and
No matter how well prepared you may feel for retirement, no one is immune to the challenges that can occur during this period of life. If you’re not generating enough income to outpace things like rising taxes, inflation, and health care costs, then it may be a matter of time before your expenses begin to exceed your income, creating a shortfall. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in danger, but it may mean it’s time to reformulate your retirement plan. The good news is that you can develop strategies to minimize certain risk factors that threaten to erode your income in retirement. Here are four challenges people face in retirement that can be overcome with the right strategies. 1. Market Volatility A sudden market downturn can have a significant impact on those receiving regular distributions from retirement plans or investment accounts who are not well diversified or don’t have the time to wait out a market recovery. Market volatility can be especially damaging in the early stages of retirement due to the long-range impact it can have on your income- producing assets. Work closely with your portfolio manager to determine how to minimize risk during times of extreme volatility.
income sources. Understanding how to modify your spending when faced with unforeseen
expenses or a prolonged downturn in the financial markets —especially in the
early stages of your retirement — is essential to preserving your income stream. The faster you can adapt to those unforeseen expenses, the better off you are likely to be. 3. Taxes and Inflation The longer your time in retirement, the greater the potential that taxes and inflation may erode the purchasing power of your savings and impact your lifestyle. Protecting your assets from inflation as you move forward in retirement is critical to ensuring the income you rely on will be available for as long as you need it. Speak with a tax specialist to determine how to best mitigate your tax burden. 4. Longevity Advances in medicine and health care mean that Americans are living longer and enjoying more active and productive lives. However, rising health care costs and longevity — or outliving one’s income in retirement — represent the greatest threats to retirement security. While we don’t know how long we have, one strategy is to plan for a longer period of time than you expect.
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