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Stephanie Davis

Stephanie started an illegal newspaper at her middle school called The Underground—which was printed on copy paper stapled together—thus beginning her foray into the world of publishing. She went on to be editor of her high school newspaper, worked at The Red and Black (UGA's esteemed newspaper)...

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Women and Aging

Every few months or so, our great city leader, Mayor Shirley Franklin holds a Breakfast Roundtable for women. Topics of discussion have included women refugees, sex trafficking, women with handicaps, etc. Today’s topic was “We are our Mother’s Daughters: Women and Aging in Atlanta.” I brought Sandra Durbin, one of our advertisers, who runs Sunrise Assisted Living to be my guest. And it was an eye-opening discussion.

The statistics show that the average caretaker of aging parents is a 46-year old woman, who is married with children. That’s a skirt! reader! That’s me in 15 years. So this topic should be one we bring up more often.

As we listened to the expert panelists discuss the pros and cons of being an aging woman (Pro- we live longer. Con- we live poorer longer), I started thinking about my mother and who will care for her once she’s retired. “No one!” you’d think she’d say. “I’m going to live to be a 100 and work till my dying day.” That’s what I thought she’d say, being that she makes good money, has her own house, her own 401K, is an executive, single and has never depended on my father for support. But I don’t think that would be her response anymore...

After recently turning 60, I can tell she’s nervous about it. Little snippets come up in conversation here and there...Will she have enough money to retire? Will my sister and I take care of her? She makes jokes about coming to live in my basement and take care of my hypothetical kids. When she revealed that she sometimes envies her friends that don’t work, married well and divorced even better—I get the feeling she’d like to stop working so hard.

I don’t want to be depressing by any stretch and talk about getting older, I just want to be proactive. As women, we have to think about these things. Our health, our finances, our plans for the future. The panelists gave some great advice: 1. Know where all your financial documents are (including your spouse’s) and make sure someone in your family knows where yours are too. 2. Pull your head out of the sand on where you stand financially. 3. Invest wisely. And save. Stats show only 25% of women have savings! That’s insane. 3. Pay attention to your social security rules and documents when they get sent to you every year. Sometimes the government make mistakes. (I know! It’s hard to believe) 4. Up your 401K to the maximum level and take investment risks while you’re young. 5. Find out about your health and read about lifestyle changes that will keep you living healthier longer.

If me saying something makes you think for 2 seconds about your long-term physical and financial health, that’s all I want to do. To spark the conversation. I know I’m going to check out a few of my financials today. Hey! 30 is not too old to think about retiring! Am I right?

 Check out these two websites ladies: www.realage.com  and www.choosetosave.org.