Next Avenue

4 days ago | nextavenue.org | John Wasik

A new book by David Brooks explores the fact that when children move out and the career winds down, some people look to retire but others seek ways to ‘give back’More than a decade ago, New York Times columnist and author David Brooks said he "hit a valley." Facing a divorce with his children in college, he was concerned he was "the guy nobody confided in.

4 days ago | nextavenue.org | Barbra Williams Cosentino

I once had a mane of hair that would have made a lion proud. People used to tell me it was my "crowning glory."Now, my hair is still curly, a nice shade of bottle red, but, when I look in the mirror, it seems that my forehead has gotten bigger. In fact, it has not. Like the ebb tide that goes out, with water flowing away from the shore, my hairline is receding, leaving more of my face exposed. Pink scalp is peeking through the strands of hair. I am horrified, and I'm not alone in my distress.

4 days ago | nextavenue.org | Amy Nelson

"My dad was someone who I idolized," actor Bradley Cooper explains in the opening frames of his new PBS documentary, "Caregiving." "I used to dress up like him when I was a kid … To go from that to giving him a bath is quite a traumatic thing." A trauma for him and a crisis for the rest of the nation, Cooper's role-reversal with his father may be familiar to many — helping care for the person who helped raise them — but the commitment and responsibility as a caregiver came as a surprise to...

5 days ago | nextavenue.org | Deborah Lynn Blumberg

Wealth inequality, lack of access to retirement savings plans and large student loan debt leave many underwaterEditor’s note: This article is part of our “Debt Free” series, a Next Avenue initiative made possible by a grant from the RRF Foundation for Aging. In her 30 years working for the City of New York as a pediatric nurse, Natalie built up a decent pension and further prepared for retirement by tucking away money in a 403(b) plan when she could.

1 week ago | nextavenue.org | Julia Wynn

Even some psychologists don't have all the answers when it comes to understanding why family members behave the way they do. Deborah Derrickson Kossmann, a private-practice psychologist in Havertown, Pennsylvania, was shocked, bewildered and angry when she discovered the extent of her mother's habitual hoarding. For more than 30 years, Kossmann had not been inside her childhood home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where her 82-year-old mother lived.