Lorraine Ladish is a 21st Century Communicator, helping empower women and others to achieve their goals. She is the founder and CEO ofViva Fifty!a bilingual community that celebrates being over 50. She’s worked as an editor and social media coordinator for a number of online publications. Her next book on embracing age will be published byHarperCollinsin 2017.
By choice, Lorraine always worked, but never on a payroll. She thought everyone did what they loved.
Her Dad wanted her to be a Marine Biologist because he thought it was stable and she’d make a lot of money. Now she makes more staying at home than Marine Biologists do.
Lorraine tries to inspire women to live their best life every day and to celebrate being over 50!
She wants to inspire women who speak both English and Spanish to live their best lives. When you do something you are passionate about, it makes you feel purposeful, happy and helps to avoid a downhill spiral in retirement.
The sections of her website are:
Mind
Body
Grace (Beauty)
Escape (what to do when you aren’t working)
Relationships
It turns out English speakers are looking for beauty and Spanish speakers are looking for Relationships
She caters to all types of people. There is no “one size fits all” for being over 50.
People are entering their 60s with young children
Some 50-year-old women are having children!
Some grandparents are raising grandchildren
Lorraine gave some great advice: Do what you love. Spain has a caste system that is difficult to break. She did it, and if Lorraine did it you can too! Think of what you wish you had done or would do for free, for example, YOU could write a book. Think of the one thing you want to do, and then just do it! You CAN love being over 50!
Contact information for Lorraine: Website VivaFifty.com and LorraineCLadish.com
Lorraine wanted to give her short book “REACH: From single mom on welfare to digital entrepreneur” as today's freebie. Just go to www.RockYourRetirement.com/REACH
**Note: Lorraine initially thought she would be able to make her book, REACH, free for our listeners but unfortunately Amazon no longer allows for that. So there is a small charge for the book.
Special Thanks to:
Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track…and helps with these show notes!
Les Briney, my husband, and Danny Ozment of Emerald City Pro who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific
Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays
Dave Hughes is the founder of Retire Fabulously! He originally thought it would be just for LGBT retirement lifestyle, but found that retirement lifestyle issues are largely the same for everyone.
Retire Fabulously is a website that provides the knowledge, tools and inspiration you need to plan your ideal retirement lifestyle. He is the author of “Design Your Dream Retirement,” which will enable you to envision, plan for, and enjoy the best retirement possible. Dave writes regularly for his blog, Retire Fabulously!, and U.S. News. His articles have appeared on Yahoo Finance, AOL Money, lgbtSr.org, Top Retirements, and Tiny Buddha.
About four years ago Dave was looking for information to prepare him for his own retirement, but all he could find was financial information.
He soaked up that information like a sponge, but it just wasn’t enough, so he started a blog, RetireFabulously.com
Dave is part of the LGBT community, and started his blog with the intention that he would discuss LGBT retirement lifestyle.
It turns out that retirement issues are the same for everyone, and now only about 40% of his audience are LGBT.
He told me about how we need to start preparing several years in advance to figure out what we are going to DO in retirement. We need to consider our retirement lifestyle, not just money. Dave and I are kindred spirits in that regard, and I’m glad that I’m not alone in my quest to spread the word on this issue.
Dave explained that the issues in retirement are about 95% the same for everyone, whether they are in the LGBT community or not. I asked about the other 5% and it turns out, it’s HOUSING and COMMUNITY.
I never thought about this before, but the LGBT retirement lifestyle is similar, but they have fewer options. Even though only 30% of retirees actually move after retirement, we all like to dream right? I don’t know about you, but I’ve dreamed about moving to Ecuador. Living on the equator and never being too cold or too hot really appeals to me.
Members of the LGBT community might have to worry about moving to a foreign country…OK…WE have things to worry about in foreign countries like slow internet and slow service and slow lifestyles that we aren’t used to, but LGBT community members have much bigger issues (like for example being killed or jailed). So they wouldn’t move to certain countries, or even certain U.S. states that aren’t “gay friendly”.
Whether you are LGBT or not, your housing needs to be appropriate to your lifestyle and you need community that supports you.
Imagine that you don’t eat gluten. You check out a retirement community and the only thing to eat is pizza, bread, beer, etc. That community wouldn’t be a very good place for you, no matter how nice it is. Weird example, I know… but it’s the same with the LGBT crowd. It would be very difficult for them to move into a community with no understanding or compassion for the way they live.
I actually learned a little about this several months ago when someone from GSDBA spoke to The Caregiver’s Coalition, a group that I’m part of. GSDBA is dealing with the LGBT Retirement Lifestyle issue, and they have a certification program for people who work with this community to help them show compassion and understanding, especially when we get into the nursing home question.
• Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track • Les Briney who edits the show and at the same time makes my guests and me sound terrific • Lesinda Tubalado who helps keep the website up to date • YOU the listener for letting other people know about this show by sharing on social media, and telling your friends about it
How did she become the happiness ambassador? Maura Sweeney was called “water works” by her grandmother because she was always crying. She made a decision when she was young to become a happier person, and she did! She watched older people and found out that those who were following their own minds were happy, and those who were following what someone else wanted them to do weren’t.
Maura Sweeney is a Happiness Expert and Next Generation Thought Leader:
She is an: Author | Podcaster | International Speaker | Huffington Post Contributor | Media Guest with the focus on Influence, Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and Personal and Career Branding. Featured in over 100 media outlets including Tampa Bay Times, Match.com, Midlife Boulevard, BBC Radio and overseas TV news.
We had a great conversation about how to become happy. If you need a little extra happiness in your life, head over to the podcast and take a listen.
Maura helps people find their own happiness through her blogs, videos, books, media interviews, e-courses and lectures, and she helps them connect with their inner selves. She calls it the GPS of happiness.
She has a podcast where she asks a question each week and talks about it for about 10 minutes. Short and sweet and makes you think. It’s called “Living Happy from the Inside Out”.
What do you think people should know BEFORE they retire? Instead of complicating things, ask what you most value. Simplify your life and move on to what’s next.
If you are stuck: Most of all, don’t get down on yourself. Listen to the podcast to hear the instructions, but you can also think about your childhood and find out what you used to play with, create, or think about.
Maura’s Freebie:
Maura is giving away a free e-book to our listeners. You can email her at Maura@Maura4u.com and put “Rock Your Retirement” in the subject line, and just ask for the book, “Exiting the Comfort Zone – Dance or Die”
Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track…and helps with these show notes!
Les Briney, my husband, who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific.
Sharon Drury, who volunteers her time to work on transcription for us.
YOU for telling your friends about the show, leaving comments below, and sharing episodes you really like on Facebook, and reviewing the show on iTunes
Maura is called the “Happiness Ambassador”.