Senior LivingSPECIAL SECTION

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020

FINANCES

INSIDE

BUCKET LISTSPage 3

STAY FIT, CONNECTED Page 4

TIME FOR A LAUGHPage 5

HEALTHY FOODS Page 6

For years now, financial experts have been predicting a market correction, arguing that record gains over the last decade were too good to pay out in the long run.

But when the markets did come crashing down — accelerated by the arrival of the novel coronavirus on U.S. soil — it wasn’t just a slap on the wrist for Fortune 500 companies whose profits are so closely aligned with the markets.

Local financial experts say most people who stick to a long-term retirement savings plan will be OKKIMBERLY MARSELASLNP CORRESPONDENT

The sudden losses were a gut punch to the little guy, too, especially those whose retirement assets are tied up in market-based investment plans. Pulling from limited pay to invest now also might be stomach-churning for early-career investors just beginning to save for a far-off future.

The economic downturn isn’t just on the verge of becoming a depression. It can actually feel de-pressing.

Still, local financial and investment profession-als say there’s no need to panic. The overwhelming majority of individuals who save for retirement and stick to their long-term plans — or adjust their strategies and goals to capture potential earnings over the next couple of years — will be OK.

“Every crisis in the markets usually has some unique aspect to it,” says Chris Hershey, a certified financial planner with Manheim Township-based Rogers & Associates. “The one thing notable about (this downturn) was how quickly it happened. It’s a public health crisis, and the threat of shutting down the economy makes it different.”

Hershey notes most major indexes lost 30% to 40% of their value between mid-February and mid-March. The Great Recession that happened between late 2007 and 2009 had a longer, more significant loss of 50%.

LNP asked Hershey; Curt Stoltzfus, certified financial planner and senior financial strategist with Ambassador Advisors in Manheim Town-

ship; and Jamie T. Detweiler, certified financial planner with Everence Financial in Ephrata, for their thoughts on the current downturn, and for strategies that can help average investors protect their retirement assets and ensure they still reach their goals.

Largely, their advice hasn’t changed. Plan, re-view and be patient — regardless of age or how

many more working years are expected before you can quit for good.

“Previous downturns have taught us that mak-ing rash decisions when the market is volatile is detrimental to an individual’s financial plan,” Stoltzfus says. “The key to financial success is to remain disciplined. Working with an adviser to establish a written financial plan and a portfolio asset allocation tailored to your risk tolerance and financial goals will help keep you on track.”

Retirement strategies to follow by decade KIM MARSELASLNP CORRESPONDENT

Some retirement strategies make sense at any age, but as workers near the finish line, there are specific tools and approaches that may pay divi-dends.

“Establishing an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses is the foundation of a good financial plan,” says financial planner Curt Stoltzfus. “Getting out of debt before retirement increases the odds of successful retirement dra-matically, not to mention the peace of mind it gives you.”

But planning isn’t just about the money. Would-be retirees also need to start thinking about how they’ll live their lives — and the expenses connect-ed to that daily living — once they no longer have to report to the office.

Some retirees want to volunteer their time; oth-ers will want to save more or select investment ve-hicles such as annuities that might benefit chari-ties with which they have a connection.

“They need to find a passion and a purpose once the work routine ends,” Stoltzfus says. “Putting yourself in a position to be generous and help oth-ers is ideal and is very satisfying.”

Here, several advisers offer a decade-by-decade approach to setting and meeting goals.

What retirement strategies should I pursue in my 50s?

“For many, these years are the prime earning and saving years,” says Jamie Detweiler, of Everence Financial. “These years can be a great opportunity to really ramp up retirement savings efforts.”

Starting at age 50, the IRS allows workers to add annual “makeup” money to several types of retire-ment plans, including traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs,

PANIC, page 2 RETIREMENT, page 2

While you may not be where you thought you should be at

this point, it is never too late to improve your situation.

— Jamie T. Detweiler, Everence Financial

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401(k) and more. If you’re in the position, consider increasing con-tributions to put interest to work on your behalf for a few more years.

This is also a good time to evaluate exist-ing strategies, says Chris Hershey of Rogers & As-sociates. Many investors use targeted retirement funds that automatically adjust risk to become more cautious as the in-vestor approaches the end of his or her work life.

But Hershey says it’s important to stay on top of that kind of au-

Continued from 1

Continued from 1

What Hershey calls “recency bias,” or the in-stinct to act on current happenings rather than historic performance, might tempt some to pull out cash — and under-mine their goals.

“Are you reacting to others’ fears or has some-thing fundamentally changed in your financial situation that requires a decision?” Detweiler asks his clients. “This experience is a good re-minder that investing involves accepting risks, some known and many unknown. Stocks, in par-ticular, are expected to be variable, especially over short periods of time. ... There is much research that has shown that investors who make decisions based on fear and get out of the mar-ket following significant declines very often miss some of the most sig-nificant recoveries in the market, as these recover-ies — many times — come closely on the heels of the declines.”

Certainly, those who have lost jobs or taken pay cuts may need to pause their contribu-tions, and Detweiler says it’s wise to reevaluate your budget to make sure expenses don’t exceed in-come. But if your income still allows, continue to buy now that prices are historically low.

But don’t think you have to watch those in-vestments daily.

Stoltzfus says to avoid that kind of stress by re-viewing your portfolio quarterly to make sure your asset allocation is still in line with personal goals.

Kelly Greene, senior di-rector for TIAA — the na-tion’s leading retirement equities fund for academ-ic, research, medical, cul-

Year of birthFull retirement age Benefit at 70*

1950-54 66

$1,980 (132% of full retirement benefit)

1955 66 and 2 months $1,960 (130.67%)

1956 66 and 4 months $1,940 (129.33%)

1957 66 and 6 months $1,920 (128%)

1958 66 and 8 months $1,900 (126.67%)

195966 and 10 months $1,880 (125.33%)

1960 or later 67 $1,860 (124%)

POSTPONING BENEFITS HAS ITS BENEFITS

*You can claim benefits later than 70, but there’s no financial reason to do so. Delayed retirement credits stop, and your payment tops out, at that age.

If your benefit at full retirement age is $1,500, here’s how it could grow if you wait a few extra years to collect.

SOURCE: AARP

Panic

Retirement

tural and governmental workers — has even more straightforward advice. The author of the Wall Street Journal Complete Retirement Guidebook is a big fan of letting it ride, regardless of where individuals are in their careers.

“Don’t touch your face, and don’t touch your stocks,” she wrote to in-vestors as the crisis be-gan. “It goes for retire-ment savings, too.”

How much do I realis-tically need to save for retirement?

While the exact dollar amount will differ for ev-eryone, anyone creating a game plan — amid an economic crisis or not — needs to consider a few key factors.

“Gathering data (such as cash flow, assets and liabilities) on where a cli-ent is now and what their retirement goals (age and lifestyle need) are and entering them in to a comprehensive retire-ment analysis is the best way to come up with that number,” Stoltzfus says.

An investor’s changing lifestyle could require saving enough to fund 10 years’ worth of dream vacations, or having the cash required to gain entry and pay monthly fees associated with a re-tirement community or long-term care needs.

Greene points out that many Americans used to depend on a three-legged approach to retirement that would include Social Security, a pension and private investments.

But a 2018 Bureau of Labor study found just 17% of those in private industry had access to de-fined-benefit plans — and the majority of those also were expected to pay into employee-contribution plans to supplement pen-sions.

Most Americans will depend on money they’ve invested for retirement and any earnings that

produces. Determining how much they should aim to save depends largely on what they need to live each month.

Hershey uses a 4% rule to help clients estimate how their invested sav-ings will work for them.

His formula suggests investors:

1. Calculate total annu-al retirement expenses .

2. Subtract annual re-tirement income (Social Security, pension, annui-ties, etc.)

3. Take any remaining expenses not covered by income and divide that amount by .04, which represents a safe 4% an-nual distribution from an investment portfolio. The result is the value needed at the start of re-tirement.

For example, if a re-tiree has $80,000 in to-tal annual expenses and $50,000 of income, they would divide $30,000 by .04, for a projected need-ed value of $750,000.

He also has a word of caution if you’re thinking about living lean in later life.

“We typically see ex-penses are about the same,”Hershey says. “People still find ways to spend money.”

If you’re nearing re-tirement and you’re not where you need to be, what can you do?

“First of all, don’t panic,” Detweiler says. “There is always some-thing that can be done to improve your situation. While you may not be where you thought you should be at this point, it is never too late to im-prove your situation.”

He says to start by get-ting advice from a repu-table source. Enter into a formal planning process to help maximize effi-ciency and identify strat-egies that will reap the most reward in a short amount of time. Then, find someone who will hold you accountable to your goals of preparing for retirement.

“Having someone in your life that will provide caring accountability is a key ingredient to achiev-ing lasting change,” Det-weiler says.

You may also want to reconsider when you will retire, especially if you plan to depend on Social Security income, because your age at retirement affects your payout. For some, it will make sense to delay retirement and maximize distributions permanently.

Anyone can begin re-ceiving payments at age 62, but those payments will be smaller and add up to less over an indi-vidual’s life span. For in-stance, a person born in 1960 or later will reach “full retirement age” at 67.

For each month they put off filing, they would increase their eventual benefit by two-thirds of 1%. (See chart for exam-ple.)

“If you delay Social Se-curity income until 70, that pays huge dividends for later in retirement,” Hershey says.

AARP’s online Social Security Resource Cen-ter offers detailed expla-nations of the delayed re-tirement credits, as well a calculator that can help you determine your pay-ments.

If you have more than a year — or better yet, clos-er to five — until retire-ment, now may be a great opportunity to invest. Historically, Hershey notes, a balanced portfo-lio that is 50% in equities will earn some money over a five-year period. One study found that for five-year periods, the best performance was a 21% return, while the worst performance netted in-vestors 1%. That’s still better than stashing cash in savings, which had an average 0.1% annual percentage rate at press time.

Hershey says to resist the urge to go too conser-vative right now.

In any case, if you have the ability to invest, all advisers LNP spoke to say not to sit out right now. Inaction won’t move any-one toward their goals.

“The key is not to get discouraged and do noth-ing,” Stoltzfus says. “It is never too late to start sav-ing for retirement.”

Besides setting a dol-lar amount goal, what else should I be includ-ing in my retirement

planning?Stoltzfus says those ap-

proaching retirement should work with advis-ers to establish a legacy plan, or how to “most tax efficiently transition assets to loved ones and charities near and dear to them.” Along with the transfer of financial as-sets they should be think-ing about what values they want to pass on to the next generations.

The current downturn may also prompt inves-tors to make tax-related moves.

“If your income is low this year due to the im-pact of COVID-19, you may be in a lower-than-normal tax bracket. If this is the case, it may make sense to do Roth conver-sions (from traditional IRAs) to take advantage of the favorable tax rates and set yourself up for a more tax-efficient re-tirement,” Hershey says. “And with the markets being down, you have the added benefit of convert-ing assets when they are low so that when the re-covery occurs, you get it inside of a Roth account where you won’t have to pay taxes on any future growth.”

And if you experience losses in this year’s vola-tile market, there may be tax advantages in that, too.

“If you have losses in a taxable account, you may be able to realize losses when re-balancing your accounts,” Hershey says. “Losses in a taxable ac-count can be used to off-set future capital gains or to offset other income up to $3,000 a year. This can cause significant tax savings for many years to come.”

Another tax-related concern: Dipping into retirement accounts to keep you afloat finan-cially typically carries tax penalties. Tap other reserves, such as emer-gency savings, first.

tomatic rebalancing. If you’re still working, he suggests a balance that is about 70% equities and 30% fixed-income investments. Only af-ter retirement does he suggest, shifting that to a 60%/40% balance be-cause you’ll still need decent performance to generate income for years to come.

Besides, he notes, “You’re getting close to nothing on those fixed assets now.”

Detweiler says other strategies for a person’s 50s include:

n Begin or continue retirement planning

discussions with professional advisers.

n Review insurance coverage.

n Review tax planning, an essential step if other deductions, such as children and mortgage payments, are phased out.

n Be generous, both as a means of building connections with community organizations and for potential tax and other financial benefits.

n Update estate plans if children are no longer minors and do not need guardianship provisions.

I’ve arrived! I could retire in my 60s. What do I need to do now?

The early 60s “for many are an opportunity to fine-tune your retire-ment plans and prepare to transition to this new

season of life,” Detweiler says.

Specific goals may in-clude:

n Eliminate mortgages and other debt.

n Educate yourself on topics such as Medicare enrollment and costs, estimated Social Security payments and how they are affected by age at retirement, and general retirement income strategies.

n Fine-tune your specific retirement plan, including when you plan to retire, where you will live and what income you will need. This is also an opportunity to decide if you want to work part time or volunteer a portion of your time during retirement.

n Build a tentative retirement budget to ensure you have a good handle on

costs unique to this season of life, such as medical insurance.

I’m in my 70s. What are some keys to a suc-cessful retirement?

Now, it’s about putting the money you’ve made to work for you in the most efficient way pos-sible — and protecting yourself and your loved ones in the process.

“Retirees should be working with an adviser to establish a distribu-tion plan that maximizes income and minimizes taxes,” Stoltzfus says.

Build and manage a re-tirement cash flow plan, closely monitoring your income and expenses, Detweiler adds. Here, his other tips for the post-retirement years:

n Review estate plans and estate planning goals, ensuring you have current power of attorney and other estate documents in place.

n Communicate end-of-life wishes to your health care power of attorney and others who will help coordinate care.

n Simplify. For many, this is a prime time to simplify the complexity of financial plans.

n Prepare for cognitive decline. Organize and share appropriate details about your finances with anyone who may assist you, including family and legal representatives.

n Be generous. Invest, both financially and in non-financial ways, in people, causes and organizations in which you believe and find ways to pass life lessons on to younger generations.

SENIOR LIVINGLNP | LANCASTER, PA 3WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020

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EnrichingLives

REBECCA LOGANCORRESPONDENT

A basic bucket list isn’t big enough for every-thing that Barb Frankel has in mind.

The Millersville wom-an has for the past 30 years kept an entire “bucket drawer.”

“I work on it,” Frankel says. “There are a lot of things I want to see and do. That’s why I re-tired.”

The term “bucket list” has been part of the ver-nacular since a 2007 movie by that name featured Jack Nichol-son and Morgan Free-man working through a before-they-kick-the-bucket wish list.

Folks like Frankel are all in. She strongly sug-gests everyone have a place — be it a drawer, a box or an envelope — to file inspiration. She stuffs her drawer with magazine and newspa-per clippings and AAA brochures. She recently saw the Panama Canal with one of her sisters and Australia with the other. That’s two things out of the drawer — though there’s more she wants to see in Austra-lia.

“I don’t know that I’ll live long enough to cross it all off,” Frankel says. But she’s deter-mined to have fun try-ing.

Do an internet search for “bucket list ideas for seniors” and you’ll find thousands of sugges-tions — from learning a language to getting or-dained online.

Some suggestions are seniors of the Nichol-son/Freeman variety. Others are for high school seniors who somehow also ended up big into the bucket list action.

But bucket lists might not be as valuable if they come from some-body else’s suggestions, says Elizabeth Dalton, assistant professor of psychology at Eliza-bethtown College and a clinical psychologist with research inter-ests in stress, mood and physical health be-haviors. The best ideas come from within and can help bring into fo-cus things that have value and meaning, says Dalton, who also offers another note of caution.

“Goals that we set for ourselves can be prob-lematic if we get a little too rigid or attach too much significance to them,” she says. “You don’t want to set your-self up for failure or dis-appointment.

“Ideally it’s less about a concrete checklist and more about an exer-cise in what’s most im-portant,” Dalton says. “Wherever you are in life, you can engage in things that are most meaningful to you.”

The term bucket list can be a great moti-vator, Barb Dunmire says. She used it for the name of the Manheim-based tour company she opened about three years ago.

Bucket List Tours by Barb bases many itin-eraries on patron re-quests and combines two or three together. So there’s some sharing of dreams.

“I try to incorporate everyone’s desires to make the perfect pack-age,” Dunmire says. A planned tour to Ken-tucky combines, for example, the Arc En-

LIVING YOUR DREAMSBucket lists can help you focus on what’s meaningful in your life

Melba King’s morning swims at the Landis Homes pool got her in shape for a trip of a lifetime with her granddaughter last summer.

PHOTO BY LANDIS HOMES

counter and the famous Derby.

Bonnie Martin of Eph-rata has been on some of Dunmire’s tours and is hoping to get to Eu-rope with the company one day. Normandy and other historical sites are on her bucket list. So is getting her private pilot’s license.

Recently retired from the medical field, Mar-tin says she’s enthusi-astically embracing the challenge.

“I always saw people saying they were go-ing to wait until they did this or that before they did what they re-ally wanted to do,” Mar-tin says. “And I’d think, ‘How long do you want to wait to live your life?’ Life has meaning every day. Live it. If you have a passion or something you really want to do,

you’ll find a way finan-cially.”

Bucket lists items aren’t on everybody’s financial radar but are an important part of planning for others, says Mark Vergenes, president of MIRUS Financial Partners in Lancaster.

And those plans are in some cases being put on hold due to current eco-nomic uncertainties, he says.

“Maybe it’s delayed six months. Maybe it’s delayed a year or two years,” Vergenes says. “But they still want to do what they want to do.

“This is getting psy-chological,” he adds. “But when mortal-ity hits and a loved one passes away and before that they tell you, ‘I wish I would have done. I wish I could have

done.’ You start think-ing … ‘I’m going to do mine.’ It becomes a mis-sion.”

For some people, like Melba King, per-sonal bucket lists have morphed into check-ing things off grand-children’s lists while logging some quality grandparent time.

In King’s case that started when the oldest of her nine grandchil-dren was turning 16. He’s now 30. She and her husband, Nathan, told him they wanted to spend a week with him

to celebrate and that he could pick the place.

“So, he came back a couple days later and said, ‘I want to go on a cruise to Alaska,’ ” King says. “We were think-ing maybe a week at the beach or the mountain cabin. So every summer thereafter, when one of our grandchildren has turned 16, they too have said, ‘Grandma and Grandpa, I want to go on a cruise.’ ”

One granddaughter did opt to stay put at a bed and breakfast in Puerto Rico.

King has embraced her 80s by staying healthy with morning swims at Landis Homes, where she lives. (At least, that is, under more normal circumstances when the pool there is open.) That came in handy last summer when a grand-daughter picked the Ca-ribbean.

“She wanted to swim with sea turtles,” she says. “So we went on this sailboat and she had her snorkeling equipment and down she went.”

The elder Kings stayed on the boat and watched a gleeful granddaughter emerge after touching some turtles. The cap-tain then said it would take some time to get through everybody’s turn so folks who want-ed to swim to shore to sunbathe could do so.

“I looked at my grand-daughter and she looked at me and said, ‘Grandma?’ ” King says. “I said, ‘I swim in the pool almost a half mile every morning. I don’t know why I can’t swim this half mile.’ So away we went. We had no chairs. No towels. We just washed up on the beach and laid there.”

It’s a day King said she’ll cherish forever. And there’s something like that from each trip, which King documents in scrapbooks for each grandchild.

“It’s not been cheap. But the value of being with those grandchil-dren for a week at age 16?” she says. “Trea-sures from heaven.”

King’s own bucket list includes seeing the Az-tec ruins, and she was excited that was to be on the agenda of the cruise a grandson was taking with them this summer. Corona con-cerns canceled that. King is now hoping to see them next summer when she will have two grandchildren along for the ride. The youngest of the nine turns 16 next year.

“My husband still has a bucket list, too,” King says. “And we say, ‘You know what? Maybe we should stop with these bucket lists.’

“I thought I was go-ing to have mine this summer,” she says. “But it doesn’t matter any-more. The value having done what we’ve done? The memories of that? Priceless.”

It’s not been cheap. But the value of being with those grandchildren for a week at age 16?

Treasures from heaven.

— Melba King

LIFESTYLE

LNP | LANCASTER, PASENIOR LIVING4 WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020

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Normally this time of year, Dave Martin and his rag-tag group of pick-leball friends would be making the transition from indoor play at the Lampeter- Strasburg YMCA to outdoor play at Buchmiller Park. In between, he’d be tak-ing half-day bike rides on the rail trail between Ephrata and Lititz or Co-lumbia and Bainbridge.

And he’d be wrapping up a week of fun, volun-teering and competing at the Lancaster Senior Games.

But these are not nor-mal times. Social dis-tancing makes pickleball impossible. Bike rides are confined to the cam-pus of Landis Homes Retirement Community, where Dave, 83, lives with his wife, Sue, 79.

And the Senior Games, a mainstay in Lancast-er County for over 30 years, were canceled this year, yet another casu-alty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Lancaster County senior athletes, the coro-navirus is more than a health scare. For many, it’s challenged their nor-mal routine for keeping fit — and socially con-nected.

“It’s as much of a social activity as it is a physi-cal activity,” Dave says of pickleball, which he normally plays two or three times a week. Off the pickleball courts, the players often get togeth-er with their spouses, he says.

Sue’s preferred form of exercise is swimming at the Landis Homes pool, which is now closed. But she’s also missing the friends she’s made over about 20 years of volun-teering for the all-day weight-lifting and home run derby events at the Senior Games. “You re-ally get to know people,” she says.

“This year we were ex-pecting over 1,000 (par-ticipants),” says Pat Fel-lenbaum, who started the games 32 years ago as a joint effort of the Lancaster Recreation Commission and the Lancaster County Of-fice of Aging. “They see friends who they may not have seen all year long, but they see them at the Senior Games. We used to laugh because they used to say, ‘Can’t we have these in the win-ter, too?’ They never re-alized how much it takes to prepare.”

TRAIN FOR YOUR SPORT A challenge for some senior athletes right now is not necessarily staying active, but staying in shape for the sports they normally like to play.“It does not take long for muscle to atrophy, so it is important to work those muscles as often as you had been playing the sport with the same frequency,

duration and intensity,” says Stacy Schroder, director of wellness and prevention for Masonic Village. “The important thing for anyone who plays a sport who cannot right now is to keep those muscle groups strong and flexible.”If, for example, you play pickleball or swim, you should exercise in those planes of movement using resistance bands or light weights, or even jugs of

water, she says.For pickleball players, Schroder offers these tips to maintain footwork/agility, hand-eye coordination, and forehand and backhand strike:n Tape a square on the floor and practice foot work in and out of the box, quick feet and moving side to side, forward and back.

n Holding the racket, practice hitting a cottonball with your serve, backhand

and forehand. (You can weight the racket to improve some strength.)

n If you have a solid wall, practice hitting the ball against the wall.

n Play catch with your spouse and have them throw the ball just out of reach so you have to move to get it.

n Make sure you work on hamstring, quad and shoulder flexibility and strength.

A WELLNESS CHALLENGEAs COVID-19 cancels Senior Games, athletes find other ways to stay fit, connected

Dave and Sue Martin have found alternative ways to stay active during the COVID-19 pandemic.

VINNY TENNIS | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

FITNESS

Thanks to the new coronavirus, Senior Games regulars like the Martins are miss-ing out on more than simply a beloved annual event. Their once active lifestyle has somewhat ground to a halt. They haven’t left the Landis Homes campus in weeks.

“We haven’t killed one another yet,” Dave quips.

‘There’s something missing’

When seniors can’t participate in the activi-ties that bring them joy, energy and purpose, they can end up feeling isolated, sad, depressed and anxious, says Stacy Schroder, director of wellness and prevention at Masonic Village in Elizabethtown.

“Compound that with the lack of physical movement/exercise and mental stagnation,” she writes in an email, “and one could spiral down pretty quickly.

“If even one aspect of our well-being is not be-ing nurtured, we become out of balance, which has a significant impact on how we think, feel and function day to day,” Schroder says.

That’s been the case for Woodcrest Villa resi-dents Jack and Sandy Neal, who have taken part in the Senior Games for about 15 years, a rough estimate based on a quick count of the par-ticipant T-shirts they’ve accumulated over the years.

The Neals jokingly give each other credit for their bronze-medal cornhole performance in the 2019 games. “It was a riot,” Sandy says, laughing

“Yes, it’s competition, but it’s fun competition. Everyone has a good time,” Jack says. “You get to meet people and see them once a year. It really is a social event as well, and they make it that way.”

Sandy, 78, has done more volunteering than competing in the games. However, Jack, 71, is a multisport Senior Games athlete, com-peting in shuffleboard, bocce, pickleball, tennis, badminton, foul shoot-ing, miniature golf and pinochle. Many of those events are part of his regular exercise routine, at least for part of the year.

“I play tennis more of-ten in the summer, but

through the winter once a week,” he says. He also plays pickleball at Wood-crest Villa, shuffleboard once a week and bocce all summer long with the Lancaster County Bocce League.

“I must say I can feel the effect of not being as active as I am during the normal time doing all these activities,” he says. “I look forward to them, and now that I can’t do them there’s something missing. I don’t feel as physically active.”

Getting creative

The COVID-19 pan-demic has been a chal-lenge for those in charge of senior wellness, too.

“Because of this pan-demic, we all have been forced to think creative-ly on how to nurture all of our needs in all dimensions of our well-being,” Schroder says.

Like many retirement communities in Lan-caster County, Wood-crest Villa has had to adjust to a new normal when it comes to fitness and overall well-being, wellness director Kris-tin Manser writes in an email. She’s made a number of YouTube ex-ercise videos exclusively for residents, focusing on balance, strength and cardiovascular exercise. Additionally, the well-ness center has been live streaming daily fitness classes that residents can access in their own

homes via the commu-nity’s in-house channel.

Masonic Village also has been posting exer-cise videos on its inter-nal channel, offering hy-dration and 10,000-step challenges, and using a new health app created specifically for the com-munity to help residents set and accomplish their own wellness goals.

As an alternative, both communities also have created outdoor scaven-ger hunts to encourage residents to keep mov-ing.

“In many households, now both spouses are participating in the classes at home, where before many times only one spouse would be ac-tively attending classes,” Manser says. “Because the classes are broadcast right to participants in their living room, the at-tendance numbers I’m tracking are higher than when we had our tradi-tional classes in our fit-ness studio!”

Under normal circum-stances, Sandy Neal says she’s not as physically ac-tive as her husband. Her main form of exercise is water aerobics, but with the pool closed she’s tak-en to participating in the live-streamed classes. She recently tried yoga for the first time.

“One of the things we try to do is we have a routine, and that helps,” Dave Martin says. That includes getting up at 6 every morning and tak-ing turns with Sue rid-ing the stationary bike. By early afternoon, he’s heading by bike or on foot to another favor-ite outlet, the couple’s 20-by-40-foot plot in the Landis Homes com-munity garden.

‘Keep moving’

For those who don’t have the resources of a retirement community, Manser recommends searching for YouTube exercise videos specifi-cally geared toward se-niors.

Although it might be easier to watch TV or read a book, there are plenty of online re-sources available for those who want to get moving, says 15-year Se-nior Games participant Lin Rengier of Willow Street.

“I’m really lucky,” she says. “I like to exer-

cise, so I exercise all the time.”

At the Senior Games, Rengier competes in all the swimming and throwing events, as well as billiards and the lon-gest drive in golf.

“I swim at the Lam-peter Y and I play bil-liards with a friend when we can’t play golf, so we kind of practice that all winter long,” Rengier says, adding that she also takes a regular spin class and movement class, and plays in a 9-hole women’s golf league.

“The worst thing about (the pandemic) is the isolation,” she says. “The Senior Games are so much fun. … You get to know a lot of the people, especially the people in your age group. Al-though you’re compet-ing, it’s just fun and sup-portive.”

Despite her disap-pointment, Rengier hasn’t allowed a global pandemic to slow her down. With many of her normal activities curtailed, she has had no trouble finding oth-er ways to stay fit. She walks her dog in the neighborhood, and does stretching, yoga and weight-bearing exercis-es. She’s even been prac-ticing her golf swing in the backyard and plans to ride her bike as the weather improves.

“One of my main te-nets in life is: keep mov-ing,” she says.

Jack Neal likes to quote some recent advice from a doctor: “If you rest, you rust.”

Fellenbaum, 72, is nor-mally too busy organiz-ing the Senior Games to compete in them, but she does have a regu-lar fitness routine that includes Pilates and weight-bearing exer-cise classes three times a week, along with some pickleball — all on hold due to the pandemic.

These days, she’s been doing a lot of house cleaning — “My house has never been so clean!” — and trying to get 10,000 steps a day, including a regular walk with her husband.

“We have found so many trails in Lancaster County,” Fellenbaum says. “We scout around.”

When it comes right down to it, the only equipment you really need to stay fit is your own two feet, Manser says.

“Walking is one of the easiest and best forms of exercise for seniors because it strengthens the bones, helps control weight, and can lower blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease,” Manser says “Additionally, aerobic exercise such as walking releases those ‘feel good’ endorphins, which help to ward off depression and boost mood during this challenging time.”

Dave Martin competes in the Senior Games.

SENIOR LIVINGLNP | LANCASTER, PA 5WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020

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“God gave us humor because He knew we were going to need it,” says artist and author Bruce Garrabrandt.

Known for his whimsical art with comical captions, Garrabrandt says he came to that conclusion at an out-door show four days following 9/11.

Visitors to the show found his style of colored-pencil art humorous. They said they were thankful for having a reason to laugh after the recent hor-rific tragedy. Humbled by those com-ments, Garrabrandt began to focus more on drawing his self-described “random acts of artistic nonsense.”

Picture a trio of pigs on a golf course with the caption, “Sausage Links,” or two pigs talking in the front seat of a car with the caption, “Are your brakes squealing ... or is that you?”

As we struggle to understand how COVID-19 has so quickly and radi-cally changed our way of life, Garra-brandt muses how The Golden Age of Comedy resulted from America’s Great Depression in the 1930s.

Today’s pandemic shows similari-ties to that historic time, he says. High unemployment, financial crisis, bread lines and food kitchens to feed the hungry were a reality in those days. To escape personal and economic prob-lems, people turned to comedy. Radio was free and film studios offered re-duced rates.

“Americans needed to laugh then, and I think we need to laugh now,” says Garrabrandt, of Terre Hill.

In the March issue of Psychology Today magazine, Michele Kerulis, a professor at The Family Institute at Northwestern University, said: “Our current health crisis is not a laugh-ing matter, but humor releases feel-good neurochemicals and creates social bonds, vital during these tough times.”

Garrabrandt, 65, discovered that combining comedy with creative art-istry gave him a rare niche in the art world. But it took seven years drawing traditional wildlife and landscape art before he introduced whimsical wild-life drawings with punchline titles.

“Humor connects us to one another. Good comedy makes for camarade-rie,” he says.

Garrabrandt’s passion for art began in second grade when he became fas-cinated with his teacher’s blackboard colored-chalk drawings. He spent hours teaching himself how to draw. That persistence and patience paid off and resulted years later in his first book, “The Power of Having Desire,” published in 2004. The book is a tes-tament to how he became an artist without any innate talent or train-ing, but through his relentless desire to fulfill his dream. The book earned recognition from personalities such as comedian Tom Conway and Bil Ke-ane, creator of the Family Circus car-toon.

A love of language and writing, cou-pled with parental advice, took Garra-brandt to the University of Delaware, where he earned a degree in English plus certification in secondary edu-cation. After graduation, he realized teaching wasn’t his calling. Instead, employment as a newspaper adver-tising account representative seemed a good fit to use his verbal skills and creative thinking. During time off work he continued to pursue his art. At 30, he began to market his artwork

‘RANDOM ACTS OF ARTISTIC NONSENSE’Humorous artist Bruce Garrabrandt thinks we all need a good laugh right now

Artist Bruce Garrabrandt creates a new colored pencil drawing at The Artist’s Inn and Gallery in Terre Hill. VINNY TENNIS | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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on weekends at juried arts festivals and galleries. Six years later, he made the move to full-time artist and au-thor.

After 35 years as a professional art-ist and author, Garrabrandt’s artwork collection includes 10 published books and hundreds of limited-edi-tion prints. He credits his cats for writing two gift books, “My Name Is On The Deed, But The Cats Own The House” and “Yarnivore,” saying his role was only artist and stenographer.

Clever book titles complement the witty cover art, such as “Cattle Drive,” showing cows driving cars, or “The Milky Weigh,” showing a cow on a scale. Two inspirational books, “Make Yourself Ageless” and “Life Lines,” are aimed at helping people find ways to enjoy more creative, fulfilling lives.

Garrabrandt also creates tradition-al art prints of wildlife, scenery and places. He offers programs about his art and a DVD, “Nature With A Twist,” showcasing his whimsical wildlife art with original comic monologues.

His artwork is also on display at The Artist’s Inn & Gallery, 117 E. Main St., Terre Hill, the bed and breakfast he operates with his wife, Jan.

Looking back over his career, Gar-rabrandt says he feels blessed to do

what he loves in ways that touch oth-ers. And he has no plans to retire in this lifetime from what brings him great joy. Like comedian Steve Allen, he acknowledges that humorous ideas come more readily as he gets older.

“The longer I live, the more experi-

ences there are for me to draw upon (no pun intended),” he says, “and the easier it is to create playful word and picture combinations.”

For more information, visit artbybruce.com.

PEOPLE

LNP | LANCASTER, PASENIOR LIVING6 WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020

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Our top priority is supporting our residents – including ourfuture residents. Even during unprecedented times, Luthercarecommunities offer support and guidance to all seniors, whetherthey live with us or not.

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METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION

For seniors with medi-cine cabinets full of over-the-counter and prescription medica-tions, the idea of rely-ing predominantly on food to promote optimal health may be tempting, and various foods can be particularly useful to the 50-and-over demo-graphic.

Eating a variety of foods can provide all of the nutrients people need to stay healthy as they get older. Certain foods may be particu-larly helpful.

Brain-friendly foodsFoods such as avocado,

leafy vegetables, sun-flower seeds, blueber-ries and salmon are good sources of vitamin E, antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients that may help ward off dementias like Alzheimer’s disease, advises Sonas Home Health Care.

Anti-inflammatory foods

Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may help pre-vent inflammation that can cause cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Aging.com says foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, should be consumed at least twice per week.

Fruits and vegetablesFresh, canned or fro-

zen produce tend to be high in micronutrients, including a variety of im-portant vitamins essen-tial for health. The Acad-emy of Nutrition and Dietetics advises eating

dark green vegetables, such as leafy greens or broccoli, and orange vegetables, like carrots or sweet potatoes.

Energy-boostersChoose whole grains

that can provide sus-tained energy by way of healthy carbohydrates over processed grains.

Bone-friendly foodsCalcium-rich foods,

such as milk, yogurt and cheese, can prevent cal-cium from being leached from the bones, which contributes to condi-tions like osteoporosis.

Digestive system-friendly foods

The digestive system slows down as the body ages, as the walls of the gastrointestinal tract thicken and digestive contractions that push waste along may slow down. Foods rich in fiber can promote proper di-gestion by moving food through the digestive tract more easily. High-fiber foods also may help naturally reduce blood cholesterol levels.

High-iron foodsWithout enough iron

in the body, a person may feel tired and le-thargic from a reduced production of hemoglo-bin, which carries oxy-gen in the blood from the lungs to the rest of the body. A lack of oxy-gen in body tissues from anemia can be serious, says the National Coun-cil for Aging Care. Tofu, spinach, lentils, pump-kin seeds, and fortified breads and cereals are high in iron.

CATHARINE HAMMLOS ANGELES TIMES

If you’re caught in the catastrophe of travel ser-vices promised but never delivered, you have a lot of company amid the coronavirus’ wrecked vacations.

But you have a power-ful tool that may help ease the sting. It’s your credit card.

If you charged your ho-tel stay or vacation pack-age, a credit card affords protections just for such difficulties, even if this is the granddaddy of them all, under the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974.

The only hitch: You need to do a bit of work.

To their credit

Here’s an old friend you may have forgotten: BankAmericard, born in California in 1958 and said to be the first revolv-ing charge account.

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember those little machines that arrived at the table at the end of your meal. You presented your card, it was pressure-imprinted on to copies of your bill, and you and the merchant received a copy. As time went by, thieves also got copies, often out of the trash.

By the beginning of the ’70s, the credit card industry was serving customers nationwide. Bank of America’s card, now known as Visa, was joined by Master Charge (now MasterCard). Car-bon copies gave way to electronic processing, and more fraud.

Enter the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974, de-signed to protect credit card holders from charg-es for purchases they didn’t make or for ser-vices they didn’t receive. You could file a dispute with your card company, and it would investi-gate. If the card holder was found not liable, the charge was removed.

By 2018, fraud from

TRAVEL

Need a refund for a canceled vacation? Take these 4 steps

NUTRITION

Try these foods for healthy aging

debit, credit, prepaid and other cards totaled al-most $28 billion world-wide, according to the Nilson Report, which re-ports on the credit card and mobile payment sys-tem.

Services not rendered

As coronavirus slith-ers into every aspect of life, a credit card dispute is sometimes the tool of choice for those who paid for travel services they didn’t receive. It of-ten results in a “charge-back,” meaning the mer-chant is charged for the disputed item or service.

“Chargebacks have gone through the roof because they are so easy from a consumer stand-point,” said Bill Hard-ekopf, chief executive of LowCards, which covers the credit card industry. But the trend started well before the coro-navirus outbreak. And therein lies part of the problem.

People are going di-rectly to their credit card company because it’s easier than calling the merchant. “Right now, when you call customer service for anything, you have to be prepared to be on hold for an hour or more,” said Sara Rath-ner, a credit card expert at NerdWallet, a person-al finance site.

Coronavirus-related travel issues may fall un-der the Fair Credit Bill-ing Act when a merchant fails to make good on the

vacation rental or pack-age you paid for.

However, the charge must have been incurred within 60 days for a card company to help.

Travelers who paid for trips and want a refund are filing disputes when they get vouchers in-stead. So are people who need the money refund-ed to their cards because they’ve lost their jobs.

“When (chargebacks) were originated, they were supposed to be an area of last resort for the consumer,” Hardekopf said.

Now it’s often the first tool they turn to, and it has consequences.

A travel adviser told me recently that if a cus-tomer files a dispute over airline ticket refunds and the tickets were pur-chased through the agen-cy, the charge bounces back on the agency and the adviser. Chargebacks are often accompanied by penalties as well as the demand for the mon-ey. If enough are filed against a merchant, that merchant may no longer be eligible to offer that credit card to customers as a payment option.

The four steps to getting a refund

Contacting the mer-chant, whether it’s an airline, hotel or vacation property rental compa-ny, should be one of the steps, but not the first one, Rathner said.

Step 1: Gather the in-formation you have

about the transaction and the information the merchant is offer-ing. Read the terms and conditions on their web-site. Many travel-related companies have a coro-navirus section.

As dull as those con-tracts are, they are worth reading. If you are stone-walled, it’s good to be able to highlight specific language in the contract.

Step 2: Check whether your credit card com-pany offers travel insur-ance, Hardekopf said. Many cards, especially higher-end cards, offer this benefit. If your trav-el was aborted midtrip and you had to find your way home, see whether there is trip interruption insurance that can help.

Step 3: Take a deep breath and call the mer-chant. Be prepared to keep yourself enter-tained. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want but keep your cool. These agents “have been taking these calls for hours, so if you can be that nice per-son, that bright spot of sunshine” you may fare better, she said.

Step 4: If the merchant can’t accommodate your request, that’s the time to call your credit card company.

“Credit cards get a bad rap because they’re the worst financial tool you can use if you’re not fi-nancially responsible,” Hardekopf said. “If you are, they’re the best tool you can use … . You have somebody to fight for you.”

METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION