CityWatch

The baby boomers have already begun to enter retirement age, and the decisions they make could have profound implications for the economy, health care system, and future generations of retirees. Today, approximately one in eight Americans is age 65 or older. By 2030, one in five people will be considered a senior citizen. And the number of baby boomers age 85 and older will expand to an estimated 21 million by 2050. Here is how this new age mix in America’s population will impact society:

Many Baby Boomers head to work each day and wonder, "So what's the number?"

How many more years do they need to keep working? It turns out that if many of us could just keep working until age 70, we could be OK in retirement, according to a new study.

Sure, 70 isn't the magic number that most people want to hear. Even so, knowing any number might be reassuring, if you're worried that you'd never be able to stop working.

All baby boomers should be tested for the hepatitis C virus, U.S. health officials said on Thursday, citing studies suggesting more than 2 million Americans born between 1945 and 1965 may be infected with the liver-destroying virus.

Hepatitis C, which is transmitted through the blood, kills more than 15,000 Americans each year, mostly from illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Everyone age 47 to 67 who hasn't already been tested for hepatitis C should be tested once," Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC's director, said on a telephone press briefing. "The sooner you know the more you can protect your liver and your life."

As parents feel more pressure to support their children, their own financial stress grows

In a poignant scene in HBO's Girls, the parents of a young twentysomething living in New York inform her that they will no longer be giving her money every month. She will need to get a job and learn how to support herself. Hannah, the twentysomething, protests. She later returns to her parents' hotel room to beg them to reconsider. Her mother refuses. She's worked hard, she tells her daughter, and as a college professor close to retirement, she deserves a comfortable retirement, along with the lake house she's always wanted.

From their first gas credit card after high school graduation to a financial world filled with rewards cards and penalty rates, baby boomers have seen the use of credit change dramatically in their lifetimes. And now they wonder how all these changes will affect them as they head into retirement. So let's take a look at six credit questions all boomers will need to answer:

1. How do boomers’ credit scores stack up?

According to Experian's Generational Credit Trends Report, they do pretty well. Boomers’ credit scores were about 4 percent above average. They score higher than average in most categories measured, except they are more likely to have a second mortgage.

Alzheimer’s isn’t inevitable. Many experts now believe you can prevent or at least delay dementia — even if you have a genetic predisposition. Reducing Alzheimer’s risk factors like obesity, diabetes, smoking and low physical activity by just 25 percent could prevent up to half a million cases of the disease in the United States, according to a recent analysis from the University of California in San Francisco.

Here are 10 new ways you can boost your brain health now.

"I'm worried that the boss will hire someone far younger than me," is a statement often heard from older job hunters. In truth, chances are that younger candidates are in hot pursuit of that dream opportunity, and the issue of age in hiring practices is a real one.

In the face of this competition, here are a few tips to turn your years of experience to your advantage: Read More...