As August winds down, startups wind up. For some, maybe they still think that summer is winding down and all is quiet in business and beyond. But no -- back to school, back to work, and back to starting companies. Aging 2.0 finalists have been announced, conference media organizations are ramping up, and a few leaves begin to turn – fall is in clearly the air and around the corner. Before August disappears altogether and the media engines shift into gear, here are five announcements of new technologies designed to help older adults and/or their caregivers. All material is derived from the websites of the firms:
Trends come and trends go – but some trends generate their own trends. No doubt you saw the news that one-fifth of individuals aged 65+ (as officially counted by someone) are still working at least part time -- some past the age of 70. In fact, this is the highest rate of employment level of older adults in 55 years. Perhaps this trend is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Apparently 79% of US workers expect to supplement retirement income by working for pay. Maybe they read about the recent assertion that the definitional age of 'old' is moving up to 73 for women and 70 for men. Are older workers concerned about life expectancy? Do they know that if they live to age 65, life expectancy is anticipated to be 88.8 for women and 86.6 for men? Are they worried about outliving their money (aka plummeting retirement income)? It used to be that older adults feared nursing homes worse than death. That was in 2007. Now the worry is outliving their money.
PERS is the most recognized wearable for older adults -- but what's next? Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) -- a long-standing $3+ billion market (30+ years!) that has evolved only slightly from its fear-inspiring origins. The 'I’ve Fallen' message is still 'inspiring' families and seniors to acquire one. But 30% of the market’s sales are for mobile devices. This makes sense in this time of substantial life expectancy at age 65, that 46% of women aged 75+ live alone; and now we can add older adults’ newly-discovered extended middle age. Mobility demands mobile devices which in turn boost confidence to be out-and-about. Consider walking the dog -- since one third of the 65+ population has one.
Summer lingers in that August lull before all are back-to-business. Broadcasters are substitutes; columnists are away; the world is awash in out-of-office emails. So it is seems to be the right time to recap the last month of blog posts before heading into the forward-look at conferences and events about businesses targeting the older adult market. For example, you may be looking at attending, sponsoring, exhibiting or just learning about LeadingAge, Aging 2.0 Optimize, DigitalHealth Summit At CES or Aging in America. While mulling those over, check out our new research, a July white paper on social isolation sponsored by GreatCall. Now here are those five blog posts you may have missed.
he Wall Street Journal offers advice to well-to-do older adults. This time the advice comes from Glenn Ruffenach, a frequent writer for the WSJ retirement section. The query comes from a healthy couple in their early 70s who wonder if it is time to move into a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community). They hesitate, observing that the residents seem decidedly older. A good observation – they are! Glenn says to move now, rather than wait. Really? For people in their early 70s? The median age of move-in to CCRCs is climbing – noted as of 2016 to be age 81 – and the residents’ average age is now 85. The CCRC has been a buy-in offering combining independent living homes, assisted living and skilled nursing facility (SNFs). Many faith-based non-profits are structured that way. But the nation’s largest for-profit firm, Brookdale, offers a ‘rental’ model -- Caring.com’s 2017 description – why? People are deferring the move. In 2016, CCRC occupancy has reached 90% in only one quarter.
A virtual assistant that can misunderstand you more effectively. So perhaps you never liked asking Siri questions, partly because the answer was often a website you peer at on a phone. How dumb is that? Siri was created a long time ago, but it really got its name when it was introduced into the iPhone in 2011 and dubbed an ‘Intelligent Personal Assistant’. Maybe there is a Siri improvement you wanted that will be available sometime in the fall in iOS 11. Maybe you want Siri’s English to be in Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Maybe you don’t care because you are too embarrassed to speak to Siri in public settings, like meetings, and prefer the auto-correction of your mediocre typing. Or maybe you are excited now, because Siri may, just possibly, soon work with other apps. Woohoo!
As August winds down, startups wind up. For some, maybe they still think that summer is winding down and all is quiet in business and beyond. But no -- back to school, back to work, and back to starting companies. 
Trends come and trends go – but some trends generate their own trends. No doubt you saw the news that one-fifth of individuals aged 65+ (as officially counted by someone) are still working at least part time --