Category Archives: Human Longevity

In 1899, W.E.B. Du Bois published The Philadelphia Negro, a first-of-its-kind sociological case study of a Black community, combining urban ethnography, social history, and descriptive statistics. Its novel use of data to identify racial inequity undoubtedly influenced Du Bois vision for the NAACP, which he would go on to help found, as an organization that uses empirical evidence and facts in its efforts to dismantle injustice.

In the spirit of Du Bois and others who have pursued truth and justice, the NAACP and the Brookings Institution have partnered to develop tools and resources that will empower communities with data and information. The partnerships primary project is the Black Progress Index, which provides a means to understand the health and well-being of Black people and the conditions that shape their lives.

The Black Progress Index will evolve over the course of the partnership, but its first step is to find the places where Black people are thriving most, as measured through the social predictors of life expectancy at birth. In other words, the Black Progress Index identifies and measures the social conditions that predict long and healthy lives for Black Americans.

We chose to focus on the social conditions that predict life expectancy because they are a cumulative measure of health and well-being, summarizing many biological and non-biological influences on our lives. People tend to live longer in places where they evaluate their lives positively and enjoy excellent physical and mental health. Unlike other summary measures of well-being and health, life expectancy can be readily analyzed using the same data and methods across most U.S. counties and metropolitan areas.

We highlight the areas where Black people have been living the longest because it may provide insight into the local civic actions that have produced those outcomesactions that other places may take. Each year, we will add additional focal points of well-being, building out a comprehensive examination of the living conditions of Black people.

To emphasize Black health is not to de-emphasize social inequity. The legacy of structural racism pervades the country in the form of lower wealth and socioeconomic status for Black people. In turn, this legacy influences the so-called social determinants of health, which we define as patterns of behavior and environmental conditions that have largely social causes, but also biological implications on mental and physical health. Relatively low levels of college completion, low wealth, and high exposure to violent crime are especially relevant examples of these social determinants.

A goal of this research is to identify which social factors are the most important, provide evidence on the size of their effects, and track the places that do better or worse on these factors, as well as the places that over- or under-perform relative to predictions. There may be valuable lessons from the people and organizations in places that have better outcomes than expected.[1]

While we focus on life expectancy, our research is also relevant to quality of life more broadly. Using large sample microdata from Gallup and Sharecare, we foundnot surprisinglythat Black people evaluate their lives more positively in places (measured as counties) with higher Black life expectancy. This data was not available at the county level for much of the country, so we focus on life expectancy to provide detailed geographic information. Beyond subjective well-being, we also examined other objective measures of health, including age-adjusted mortality and the share of children born at low birthweight. This analysis confirms that the factors identified in the Index are predictive in explaining these outcomes too.

In addition, the Index can be de-composed into the component parts that were shown to be most impactful on life expectancy: wealth, human and social capital (e.g., education, social networks, religion), environmental quality, safety, and family. Our hope is that understanding how these factors play out across local areas and neighborhoods can help communities take collective action and tailor policy to fit their needs.

The vast gulfs in Black life expectancy across the U.S.

In Manassas Park, Va. and Weld County, Colo., the mean life expectancy for Black residents is 96a national high. Yet in Jefferson County, Ohio, the average Black person lives 33 fewer years. That gap is roughly equivalent to 100 years of progress in living standards, medical science, and public health.

Using 13 variables chosen through a rigorous process of machine-learning and expert judgment, the Black Progress Index can explain over half of the variation in Black life expectancy across counties. The 13 indicators fall into five categories, as follows:

The top-performing counties across these 13 indicators include Cumberland County in the Portland, Maine metro area; Loudon, Fairfax, Prince William, and Montgomery counties, all outside of Washington, D.C.; Collier County in the Naples, Fla. metro area; Rockingham County, N.H., outside of Boston, and Snohomish County, Wash., near Seattle. The 20 counties with the highest Black Progress Index scores are reported in Table 1 (see Appendix Table 1 for a corresponding list of metropolitan areas and for the full list of counties as well as their population counts,click here).

In Loudon and Rockingham counties, actual life expectancy almost exactly matches the Indexs predicted life expectancy. For Cumberland County, actual life expectancy is three years shorter than predicted, and in Collier County, it is three years longer. We believe further investigation may uncover useful explanations for why the former under-performs and the latter over-performs.

Table 1. The top 20 U.S. counties with highest Black Progress Index score, actual life expectancy, and life years unexplained by model

For every county and metropolitan area in our database, we decompose the Black Progress Index into the various contributions of each of the 13 factors in our model and an unexplained (residual) component. To illustrate, consider the largest county: Montgomery County, Md. Ranking each factor by its contribution to the Index shows that the very high share of foreign-born Black adults in the area predicts an additional 3.3 years of life expectancy, making it the largest contributor to the areas high score. This is because the foreign-born share has a large average effect across counties and is very large locally (three standard deviations above the mean). The countys low rate of gun violence adds 1.3 years to life expectancy, and its high levels of college education and median household income add an additional year each. The countys Black students test scores are slightly below average, but not low enough to predict a large drop in life expectancy.

Table 2. Contribution of social determinants of health to Black Progress Index in Montgomery County, Md.

Methodology for county-level analysis

Life expectancy varies considerably across racial groups in the United States. Life expectancy at birth for Black people is 74.8, which is lower than all major race and ethnic groups except American Indian and Alaska Natives (71.8). Non-Hispanic white Americans have a life expectancy of 78.8, while Latino or Hispanic and Asian American life expectancies are 81.9 and 85.6, respectively.[5]

Differences in the causes of deathas listed on death recordsshed light on these disparities.[6] Among the leading causes of the life expectancy gap between Black people and other groups, several causes are loosely connected, if at all, to biological health: accidents and unintentional deaths as well as assault and homicide. These can be thought of as largely social in origin. Likewise, even explicitly biological causes of death have social aspects related to health behaviors, prevention, and treatment. These facts motivate our effort to focus on social factors that predict health and longevity for Black Americans.

Our main goal is to predict county-level Black life expectancy at birth, using 2018-2020 data from the University of Wisconsins County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program. Life expectancy is a clear and useful measure of longevity, but it is strongly affected by deaths at a young age, which result in more years of lost potential life.

Our analysis preceded in three stages. First, our discovery stage involved downloading and processing hundreds of variables from a variety of data sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Reserve, Facebook, Redfin, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committees Social Capital Project, the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In stage two, we ran these variables through a common machine-learning algorithm (Lasso) to select variables and rank variable importance, using life expectancy at birth and age-adjusted mortality as the target outcomes. This process eliminates much of the subjective bias associated with model selection and allows for unexpected variables to rise to the top (such as the share of the Black population that was foreign-born). The downside of this approach is that a nave Lasso model is atheoretical and can lead to suboptimal combination of variables in the presence of multicollinearity. In other words, two variables that closely measure the same constructor are highly correlated because they share an underlying causal pathwaymay cancel each other out if included in the same model, or one or both may appear insignificant if included alongside a variable that is highly correlated with it. This can be true even if they have important causal effects on the outcome.

In stage three, we categorized the variables Lasso selected into distinct constructs. Then, we re-ran models with a smaller range of possible variables to reflect the best candidates within each family of constructs. For example, we didnt need three measures of family structure (the percentage of tax filers who are single, the percentage of Black children who do not live with their father, and the share of Black loans going to single borrowers), so we selected the best-performing measure of this group. Performance was judged based on county data coverage and related data quality issues, the absolute value of the t-statistic, and how the inclusion of the variable affects other variables that might be highly correlated with it.

Our final list of variables comes very close to maximizing adjusted R-squared, while preserving constructs that were consistently important in various iterations of the model. In the end, this is a subjective process that involved expert judgment, but was informed by machine learning. In future work, we will refine this list. Many constructs were tested and ultimately rejected in the final model because they did not add explanatory power in the presence of other variables chosen. These included racial segregation, access to health care, the percentage of residents with insurance, measures of household debt, median length of commuting times, access to green space, walkability, and access to grocery stores. This result does not mean that these and other rejected constructs do not have direct or indirect effects on health or Black life expectancy. We suspect that they were rejected because of their high correlation with more predictive variables, often closely related.

This process led to 13 variables, summarized below. The categories they fall into are environmental quality, family health, human and social capital, safety, and wealth.

Table 3. List of variables included in the final Index

The last step of our analysis was to use the selected variables to predict Black life expectancy at the county level using linear regression. Each variable is significant in the direction predicted by theory, and together, they explain 55% of the variation in Black life expectancy.

Thus, the Black Progress Index predicts Black life expectancy based on 13 underlying factors. In calculating the mean for a given geography, the factors are weighted according to the model by how well they predict Black life expectancy. The residual from this model is then used to calculate unexpected years of lifepositive for areas that over-perform relative to the Index, negative for those that under-perform, and approximately zero for areas that perform as predicted. This residual can be thought of as quantifying something unmeasured by the Index, which will be subject to future research.

To assess the robustness of our model, we varied the outcomes and sample and found it performed well in different samples and using different outcomes.

Specifically, we segmented the sample of counties into 423 rural counties (defined as non-metropolitan) and 814 metropolitan counties, and ran our model separately with each. The adjusted R-squared was 0.43 in the rural counties and 0.53 in the metropolitan counties. The better performance in metropolitan counties may be a reflection of underlying causal differences or may be the result of a larger measurement error in the underlying death records or population data.

In varying the outcomes, we conducted our regression analysis using age-adjusted mortality for Black people and the percentage of Black children born at low birthweight. The first is defined as the percentage of Black people who died in each county between 2016 and 2020 using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mortality rates treat each death equally, and with age-adjustment, they are not affected by age differences across communities. Age-adjusted mortality rates are less sensitive to deaths at young ages compared to life expectancy.

Our second outcome of interest is the percentage of Black children born at low birthweight (less than 5.5 pounds) using 2014-2020 data from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program. This measure accounts for the fact that death is not the only important measure of health; we are also interested in morbidity, but in the absence of a comprehensive measure of morbidity at the county level, we chose the share of Black children born at low birthweight. This outcome is a sign of poor maternal health and health care, and thus picks up on many potential issues related to morbidity.

We predicted age-adjusted mortality and low birthweight percentages using the same 13 items from our Index, and obtained similar results as when we used life expectancy. The adjusted R-squared values were only modestly smaller than in the primary model (0.46 for age-adjusted mortality and 0.36 for low-weight births).

Moreover, where the Black Progress Index is higher, the life expectancy of other groups is also higher. Our model explains 58% of the variation in non-Hispanic white life expectancy.

Given these results, we therefore conclude that our Index variables capture social conditions that are broadly relevant to health outcomes and meaningful both in rural and urban areas.

To assess the effects from each Index component, we standardized the measures so that one unit is equal to a standard deviation. This is a useful way to assess how a meaningful change in the variable would predict health. Here, we focus on life expectancy, since it has the clearest interpretation and forms the basis of our Index.

Of the 13 Index components, the percent of Black adults born outside the United States has the largest effect. One standard deviation in this variable (about 11 ppt with a mean of 7%) adds one year to predicted life expectancy for Black people living in the county. The causal interpretation is unclear; it may be a pure composition effect, in that foreign-born Black Americans enjoy better health than the native Black population. It is well established that foreign-born Black immigrants to the United States live longer than native-born Black Americans, and the gap is strikingly large: eight years for women and 10 years for men.[7] The gap remains even among Black adults on Medicare, suggesting that health insurance does not explain it.[8] Another possibility is that foreign-born Black Americans move to counties that have other advantages associated with health.

To provide some examples, in Cass County, N.D., which is in the Fargo metro area, 73% of the Black population is foreign-born and Black life expectancy reaches 78.6. In Scott County, Minn., which is in the Minneapolis metro area, 63% of the Black population is foreign-born and life expectancy reaches 89.7 years.

On the opposite end, many counties in the South have no foreign-born Black people, according to census data. One such county is Chester County, S.C., outside of the Charlotte, N.C. metropolitan area, where life expectancy for Black people is just 69.3 years.

The percentage of Black adults ages 25 and over with at least a bachelors degree is also highly predictive of longer life, adding 0.38 years for every standard deviation (11 ppt with a mean of 16%). The individual effect of education on health is well established, and living near higher-income adults may boost health in other ways, such as by improving markets, safety, or government policy and resources.[9]

The Black college attainment rate is very high in several counties in the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. metro areas, including Forsyth County, Ga. (56%); Howard County, Md. (54%); and Arlington and Loudoun counties, Va. (51% and 50%, respectively). Life expectancy for Black adults in these places is also very high, ranging from 79.4 in Howard County to 82.4 in Loudoun County. On the opposite end, the Black college attainment rate is just 4.4% in Baker County, Fla., outside of Jacksonville, and Black life expectancy there is 76.4. Butts County, Ga., outside of Atlanta, has the same low Black college attainment rate and even lower Black life expectancy, at 73.8.

Black entrepreneurshipmeasured by the rate of business ownershipis a relatively small but still significant predictor of life expectancy. Roughly 1% of Black adults ages 18 to 64 own an employer business, and a standard deviation in ownership rates predicts an increase of roughly 0.2 years in life. The Black ownership rate is as high as 4% in Hidalgo County, Texas, where Black life expectancy is 91.5 years.

Overall, a standard deviation in each wealth measure adds 1.4 years of life. The same effect is 2.1 for human and social capital measures, 0.33 for environmental quality measures, 0.36 for family health measures, and 1.1 for safety measures.Black people live approximately 14 years longer in the counties ranked in the top 1% of the Index compared to counties at the bottom81.72 years versus 67.8 years.

Uncertainty remains about how variables influence life expectancy

The primary goal of this research is to find the social and neighborhood conditions of places where Black health is thriving. A better understanding of these social factors and how they vary across places can inform cooperative efforts to improve life prospects. Yet, the causal pathway linking these factors to life expectancy is not necessarily straightforward or clear from existing research, and more work will need to be done.

Take our measure of family health. In the average county in our sample, 57% of Black children are not living with their father, according to Census Bureau data. This matters for several reasons, but one is straightforward: When they are living in the household, Black fathers invest heavily in their children in terms of play, reading, helping with homework, and other activities. They spend much less time on these activities when they are not living in the household.[10]

Controlling for their living arrangements, Black fathers spend at least as much time as non-Hispanic white fathers do on these activities. But Black fathers are more than twice as likely to live apart from their children as non-Hispanic white fathers, so the overall effect is one of less average involvement. Father involvement, in turn, predicts healthier behavior from their children, such as reduced rates of smoking.[11] Many complex factors are shown to affect the probability of paternal involvement, including the degree of parental conflict, quality of past family relationships, and whether the father has ever been incarcerated.[12]

Another complex finding is that we observe a strong negative relationship between rates of religious membership and Black longevity, meaning Black people living in geographies with people who are more religious have lower life expectancies. This is somewhat puzzling, because people who are more religious are usually found to have better self-reported health (however, they are also more likely to be obese).[13] It is possible that areas with higher rates of religious participation tend to have other characteristics that are harmful to health (e.g., worse crime, less access to quality food, pollution). Also, the faithful may experience higher levels of suffering in ways that are not readily captured by income or education levels; people may seek religion when the rest of society devalues them.

An alternative explanation that links many of these findings is that health knowledge and access to information can have important effects on health. People with higher levels of education, numeracy, and literacy are found to exhibit both higher levels of health knowledge and engage in healthier behaviors. Having access to diverse social networkswhich we find predicts better healthmay also increase health knowledge by providing greater access to what works.

Regardless of the causal pathways, the 13 variables identified in our analysis explain roughly half of the variation between counties with respect to Black life expectancy. If a low-performing county were to become a high-performing county, predicted life expectancy would increase by an additional 14 years for the average Black resident.

Overall, this analysis will raise questions that we cannot confidently answer about the fundamental drivers of community health and well-being. We hope to refine and expand our analysis in updated versions of the Index. For now, we hope this research can encourage evidence-based analysis and policy discussions concerning the health of Black people and point toward collective action that help more communities thrive, regardless of their racial composition.

The authors thank Makada Henry-Nickie, Zinzi Bailey, Sheri Johnson, Christine Muganda, Keith Gennuso, and Regina Seo for comments and suggestions on previous versions of this report.

Appendix Table 1. The top 20 U.S. metropolitan areas with highest Black Progress Index score, actual life expectancy, and life years unexplained by model

[1] Measurement error, especially for smaller geographic areas, also causes a divergence between modeled life expectancy and observed life expectancy, and so a higher-than-predicted life expectancy does not necessarily mean that the area has some unmeasured positive effect on health.

[2] Bailey, Michael, Rachel Cao, Theresa Kuchler, Johannes Stroebel, and Arlene Wong. Social connectedness: Measurement, determinants, and effects.Journal of Economic Perspectives32, no. 3 (2018): 259-80.

[3] We find that air pollution is only weakly correlated with population density (r=0.09), but population density is very strongly correlated with the intensity of land use and negatively correlated with tree cover. For these reasons, we group population density under environmental conditions, but we do not claim that low-population-density areas have cleaner air or waterjust that they are exposed to more natural environments, including trees, depending on the climate.

[4] We considered other variables that may predict either safety or high levels of discrimination, such as the number of police officers per capita, deaths from police encounters per capita, hate crimes per capita, and anti-Black hate crimes per capita. None of these variables were statistically significant in predicting Black life expectancy in the presence of our other 13 variables, so they were not included in the final model.

[5] U.S. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2019. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 70 no 19. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2022. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:113096

[6] We studied the cause of deathas recorded on death certificatesby age and race to calculate which causes account for the largest losses in potential life in 2020 (and thus contribute the most downward drag on longevity) for Black and white Americans. Deaths at early ages count proportionately more than deaths at older ages, because the death implies a larger loss of potential life when it happens early in life. We use age 100 as the reference age, because it is the oldest observable age in the CDC records. Thus, death at birth suggests a loss of 100 years, while death at 99 suggests a loss of one year. The Underlying Cause of Death data are produced by the Mortality Statistics Branch, Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS).

[7] Singh, Gopal K., and Barry A. Miller. Health, life expectancy, and mortality patterns among immigrant populations in the United States. Canadian journal of public health 95, no. 3 (2004): I14-I21.

[8] Dupre, Matthew E., Danan Gu, and James W. Vaupel. Survival differences among native-born and foreign-born older adults in the United States. PLoS One 7, no. 5 (2012): e37177.

[9] Cutler, David M., and Adriana Lleras-Muney. Understanding differences in health behaviors by education. Journal of health economics 29, no. 1 (2010): 1-28.

[10] Jones J, Mosher WD. Fathers involvement with their children: United States, 20062010.

National health statistics reports; no 71. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2013.

[11] Menning, Chadwick L. Nonresident Fathers Involvement and Adolescents Smoking. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 47, no. 1 (March 2006): 3246. https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650604700103; Amato, P.R., and Gilbreth, J.G. Nonresident fathers and childrens well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family (1999) 61:55773; Steinberg L. We know some things: Parentadolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 2001;11:119.

[12] Perry, Armon R., and Mikia Bright. African American fathers and incarceration: Paternal involvement and child outcomes.Social work in public health27, no. 1-2 (2012): 187-203; Coley, Rebekah Levine, and Daphne C. Hernandez. Predictors of paternal involvement for resident and nonresident low-income fathers.Developmental psychology42, no. 6 (2006): 1041.

[13] Nam, Sanggon. The effects of religious attendance and obesity on health by race/ethnicity. Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives 4, no. 2 (2013): 81-88; Gillum, R. Frank. Frequency of attendance at religious services, overweight, and obesity in American women and men: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Annals of epidemiology 16, no. 9 (2006): 655-660.

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The Black Progress Index: Examining the social factors that influence Black well-being - Brookings Institution

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Scream is and will always be that slasher franchise. From its earliest conception by writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven, it undoubtedly redefined the horror genre in the late 90s, eventually leading to the powerful cinematic nostalgia wave more than two decades later. However, soon enough, it will receive its monumental sixth entry to further cement itself as a totally timeless horror title.

When discussing his new slasher film recently, the topic (obviously) led to his work on Scream; Williamson was asked if he always thought it could go on for so long. Turns out, the versatile writer wasn't always so confident. The Scream 6 creative tells Collider, "Now [I do think it can]. I've been proven wrong repeatedly. Since this last one was such a pleasure I also think one of the wonderful things about Scream is that there's a different killer in every film. There's [Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, or Freddy Krueger], they don't go away. And Ghostface changes with every movie, so we have an opportunity to change the motive, change the story, and we can always twist and turn it since it [the original Scream] was always meant to be a game-changer. "

The renowned Scream scribe then adds, "And I think this new team is awesome. They're absolutely amazing human beings. They're talented, and it's just been a pleasure to be a part of this new regime." When the topic naturally shifted to its brand new New York City setting for the next installment of Scream, Williamson was jokingly asked about the chance of a Ghostface Takes Manhattan reference to mirror the Friday the 13th-like switch-up, which actually led to the OG Scream mastermind to admit, "I think there's a joke in there."

Scream 6 will be released exclusively in theaters on March 31, 2023, starring several returning scream queens such as Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere, Courtney Cox, and Jasmin Savoy Brown, along with plenty of new blood for Ghostface to spill.

Read more from the original source:
Kevin Williamson on Scream 6 and Franchise Longevity - Bleeding Cool News

umanity is forgetting what the most important resource in this world is. Time for many may not be as valuable, especially when you are surrounded by a cruel world. The average lifespan of a human is around72 yearsand for some, that is more than enough, but deep down despite how difficult life gets we all want to live forever.

During recent research, we have seen a hand full of creatures that are able tolive more than 200 years, almost triple that of the average human. However, knowing that there has been a creature that had lived for 5 centuries after humanitys destruction of this planet is truly a mind-blowing fact.

Ming the clam was discovered off the coast ofIceland at a depth of 262 feet(80 meters) by a team of researchers from Bangor University. The team was looking to study the growth lines in clamshells as part of a project that would show how the climate has changed over the last millennium. If you ever looked at the shell of a clam you would be able to see lines that would give an indication of how old that clam is. Professor Chris Richardson from Bangor University has an interesting description for them:

They are like tiny tape-recorders sitting on the sea-bed and integrating signals about water temperature and food over time. (Quote by Professor Chris Richardson)

The team started to count the rings and initially reached the conclusion that the clam they have discovered was405 years old. Its scientific name isArctica Islandica, but it is more commonly known as Quahog. This species is actually known to live for very long periods of time, many of which had been found before wereover 200 years old.

Whilst analyzing the age of the clam,it had died the same year in 2006. It had not been very well-specified exactly what caused the death of the clam, but it was most probably triggered by having the clam taken away from its original habitat. The rough shells tell an intriguing story, but they had even more to unfold.

In 2013, a team of researchers from around the world picked up the shells to conduct a more thorough study. During this study, the researchers have concluded that the clam was actually100 years olderthan what the previous research team has analyzed in 2006, making it 507 years old and the oldest living being known to mankind.

This means that the clam was born in 1499, thesame year Pope Pius IV, leader of the Catholic Church was born. The reason why researchers named the clam the mollusk Ming is because during the period of time it was born theMing Dynastywas ruling China (1368 to 1644).

Can you believe that Ming actually lived during the same timeLeonardo da Vinci painted Mona Lisa? Alive during the timeShakespeare was writing his incredible novelsand alive during five centuries of constant wars? This clam was so lucky for not intercepted humans for 500 years, yet the moment it did it died. What does this tell you about our kind?

Experts from the University of Bangor speculate that this species could actually surpass600 years of ageand that there are probably even older specimens waiting to be discovered. During morecurrent researchit had been discovered that the secret to the longevity of Quahog clams is a slowed-cell replacement process. There is a big possibility that our planet hosts even older beings that are still alive. As much as human curiosity is pushing me and the rest of humanity to find these creatures, I wish humanity will never find them, so they wont end up like Ming.

Avid Writer with invaluable knowledge of Humanity!

Upcoming historian with over 30 million views online.

Specialized in Modern History.

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507-Year-Old Clam May Be the World's Oldest Living Being - History of Yesterday

This First Person column is the experience of Roxane Anderson, a 62-year-old social worker in Selkirk, Man.

For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see theFAQ.

I turn a page in my day-timer to the next work week. At the top of "Monday,"I write "62" in red ink, to represent the remaining days I must work in orderto qualify for early retirement. The same number of years I have been on this Earth.

My banker says I should work until age 65. According to my iPhone countdown app, that's 1,172 days away! The 62 countdown sounds better.

Am I burnt out or just getting too old? Can I find my "reset"button to get me through to age 65?

I am a registered social worker working in disability services for the province of Manitoba, counting the days to retirement.

In recent years, my work has changed. Before, I was in the field on home visits, returning to the office at the day's end to chart my case notes. Today, I spend most of my time in the office on email and paperwork. The social disconnect is not a good fit.

It's hard to fit the workload inside a seven-and-a-half-hour day. There's always unfinished paperwork and unanswered emails. The back and forth on email is dizzying. Why doesn't anyone still use the phone? I'm told, "You work with millennials, that's how they function."

When I emailed a government service to get help finding a resource and phone number for a client, this was the reply: "Google is your friend."

What? My client doesn't have internet. That's why I reached out to get a working phone number. (I choose not to email back. There's no time.)

On the cusp of retirement, I am struggling to continue in social work. At 3a.m., I find myself waking up in a sweat, thinking about what is not doneand who is still waiting for services. Did I mitigate risk? Did I ensure that clients were safe and protected? What did I miss?

Driving to work, inside the privacy of my car, I can let go of the flood of tears. This helps to get through the day.

Maybe I don't fit in anymore. Since the pandemic, my work world has changed. There are fewer workers to meet the needs of more clients. My older colleagues retired.

Normally, I'm quite good at helping my clients stay positive and strong in meeting their personal goals. Social work is about building strong relationships. I used to do lots of home visits, working with clients and their families. But, today, not so much. Is that what I'm missing? The human contact? In trying to find hope for my clients, I'm struggling to generate hope in myself.

I fear I'm burning out. Is that from workload or from growing old?

When the work computer freezes, it's time for a reboot. I'm now trying to do that for myself, too.

I try to keep a healthy perspective. I trained to stave offcompassion fatigue. Consulted with other registered social workers. Got more exercise. Improved my diet. Worked on better sleep. I spend quality time with family and friends. I've shortened how I write my case notes. I make phone appointments to cut out travel time. I'm working smarter and harder.

In three years, I'll be 65 and in blissful retirement, yet I can't get through the next three workdays. This should be the best of times, not the worst of times, and right now, I feel like I'm failing.

Perhaps I'm dreading my option of early retirement. I'll lose my identity as a social worker. I won't be needed anymore.

Then there are financial worries. Rising inflation. A furnace replacement. New shingles on the house roof. Longevity runs in my family. Will my pension be enough to sustain me in a retirement home, with meals, activitiesand a monthly entertainment nightwhen I'm 80? When I'm 90?

This time next month, I'm scheduled for heart scans due to new pain in my chest. It's either angina-based on family history or work anxiety. I'll know soon if I have one or the other or a combination of both.

It's time for a reset. The countdown has started, and in 62 days, my heart may be in early retirement.

This column is part ofCBC's Opinion section.For more information about this section, please read thiseditor's blogand ourFAQ.

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I should look forward to early retirement, but I think I'm dreading it - CBC.ca

International Coffee Day 2022: Today is International Coffee Day. A steaming cup of joe is something many people consume to give their morning a quick boost. While its charm comes mainly from its smell and taste, coffee also comes with various health benefits. From increasing longevity to reducing risk of cancer, here is what studies have found over the years:

Coffee and Longevity

Drinking one cup of coffee per day, whether caffeinated or decaffeinated, is associated with a three per cent reduced risk of death, according to a review of 21 studies totalling more than 10 million participants. The review, published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, also stated that drinking three cups of coffee per day is associated with a 13 per cent reduced risk of death.

Drinking coffee, caffeinated or decaffeinated, is associated with reduced risk for death from various causes, according to a study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It was a multi-national cohort study conducted in 10 European countries, and analysed more than 500,000 people. The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine in 2017.

A study conducted on over 400,000 people found that coffee consumption is associated with lower likelihood of death from disease. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2012.

Coffee and Cancer

Drinking both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee is associated with reduced risk of liver cancer, according to a meta analysis of human prospective studies. Coffee was found to be associated with reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, including in those with pre-existing liver disease. The findings were published in the British Medical Journal.

Consumption of four cups of coffee per day is associated with a 10 per cent reduced risk of post-menopausal breast cancer, according to a study published in the journal Nutrients in 2018.

Coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of colon cancer in women. According to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer in 2018, there is a 20 per cent reduced risk of colon cancer in women who drink more than three cups of coffee per day, compared to those who drink less than one or less.

Coffee and Diabetes

People who drink four or more cups of coffee per day have a 50 per cent lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 2011.

Cafestol, a compound found in coffee, has been found to increase insulin secretion, reduce fasting glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity in mice. Thus, cafestol could help stave off type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the Journal of Natural Products in 2017.

Coffee and Stroke

Coffee consumption can modestly reduce the risk of stroke among women, according to a survey conducted on more than 83,000 women over many years. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2009.

Coffee is associated with reduced risk for death from various causes, including stroke, according to a study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The study analysed more than 500,000 people, and was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2017.

Tea and coffee consumption are inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke in the general population, according to a large-scale study in Japan, published in the journal Stroke in 2013.

Coffee and Kidney Health

Coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of chronic kidney disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Renal Nutrition in 2020.

Coffee and Mental Health

Coffee consumption is linked with a reduced risk of depression, according to an independent meta-analysis conducted by Dr Alan Leviton, Harvard Medical School.

Coffee has antioxidant effects. Since coffee has anti-oxidative properties, it helps reduce the blood levels of oxidative-stress indicators in people who have a major depressive disorder

Coffee also helps reduce the levels of inflammation-related proteins in depressed people.

Coffee also provides the gut microbiome with nutrients to metabolise coffee constituents into beneficial substances, and promotes a healthy microbiome.

ALSO READ | Can Coffee Waste Help Neuroscience? New Study Says Yes, Explains How

History of Coffee

Coffee cultivation and trade began on the Arabian Peninsula, and by the 15th century, coffee was grown in the Yemeni district of Arabia. By the 16th century, coffee was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey.

In public coffee houses, which started appearing in cities across the Near East, coffee was called qahveh or khaneh.

By the 17th century, coffee made its way to Europe, and by the mid-17th century, there were more than 300 coffee houses in London.

The Indian Muslim saint Baba Budan, while returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, brought seven coffee beans from the port of Mocha, Yemen to Mysore, India, by hiding them in his beard. He planted the seven seeds of coffee in the courtyard of his hermitage in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, and that became the birthplace and origin of coffee in India.

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International Coffee Day 2022: How The Beloved Brew Helps Fight Cancer, Kidney Disease And Depression - ABP Live

Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander as The Frog Brothers in 'The Lost Boys.'

"Edgar Frog was the first time where I really had to create a character that was completely disconnected, completely separated from me as a human and becoming this other guy," recalled Corey Feldman as we discussed the iconic 80s teen vampire movie, The Lost Boys.

When he made it, the actor already had memorable performances in a string of classic movies under his belt, including The Goonies, Gremlins, and Stand by Me. However, his role as Edgar Frog, one half of The Frog Brothers, opposite Jamison Newlander as his brother Alan, gave him a string of unique experiences.

I caught up with Feldman and Newlander to talk about their shared experience, the influence of 80s action heroes, and the birth of The Two Coreys.

Simon Thompson: You knew The Lost Boys would be a great movie but did you have any clue about its longevity or influence?

Jamison Newlander: It would have been impossible for me at 15 to assess that, but I noticed that little by little, everybody was getting excited about it. Joel Schumacher, the director, was enthusiastic about it; everyone was excited about what Joel was doing, and that built with each scene. That's how I assessed that. Something was going on; we were making something cool.

Thompson: Corey, by then, you'd already worked on a slew of great movies. Did this one feel unique in its own way?

Corey Feldman: By that point in my career, firstly, I was able to assess a script and know that it was great and had all the right chemistry and the right workings of a great movie, but also knowing the directors. When you're working with a great director and a great producer, you know it's going to be great. Although I didn't really know Joe's work as much, I was surprised to find out later that he was the guy who wrote The Wiz. That's pretty cool. He'd also worked with Woody Allen as a costume designer and done all these other things. I was also a bit jaded at the time because, as a kid, you don't know anything other than your own life experience, and for me, every movie I did went to number one at the box office, so I didn't know anything else. Richard Donner was supposed to direct it initially, and I figured we did The Goonies together, and this was kind of a vampire, little bit older version of The Goonies, so it would be another biggie. Then it evolved into something much different. That said, thinking that Richard Donner would be a part of it, I assumed it would be a number one film, and when Joel came in, I watched his work and how he operated, and I knew he really cared. He was very passionate. The director of photography, Michael Chapman, was brilliant and took hours to set up every single shot and the scope was amazing.

Thompson: Did you ever read for each other's roles?

Newlander: I think that Corey had the standing already in the industry with audiences that I think that it was natural that he would be the lead Frog, Edgar.

Feldman: The head Frog, pulling the strings (laughs). We have a rivalry about that. Those are always the right roles for us. When they passed the director's baton to Schumacher, the first time I met with him, he was like, 'Hey, listen, I think you're right for this, but you got to make some adjustments. I need you to grow your hair as long as you can. I need you to go and watch Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and I want you to formulate a character.' For me, it was a big departure. Until that point, I was a kid, and playing a kid, it was as natural as it could be. Stand by Me was the first time where I had to dig deep and pull out some really hard emotions that I'd been dealing with. Edgar Frog was the first time where I really had to create a character that was completely disconnected, completely separated from me as a human and becoming this other guy. I really dug getting into that and creating a character and manifesting this human. When they first connected me with Jamison, it was a day where they brought in several different potential Alans, and I was reading with all of them. It was kind of like, 'Where's the chemistry going to be?' As soon as Jamison and I read together, there was just this instant magic where I just knew that he took it very seriously. He's very dedicated.

Newlander: We did both take it very seriously.

(Left to right) Jamison Newlander, Corey Haim, and Corey Feldman in 'The Lost Boys.'

Thompson: Hearing you talk about playing The Frog Brothers, you do seem very earnest. In The Lost Boys, they always reminded me of the interlude characters in Shakespearean plays who can have levity but also a key role in laying the narrative.

Feldman: And that's the fun of it, isn't it? If we weren't taking it seriously, you probably wouldn't go along for the ride. You've got these two 14-year-old boys who are taking themselves so deadly seriously, even though the rest of the world is laughing at them and saying they're just kids, and you don't even know what the hell you're doing. It's that first meeting with the first vampire, that real confrontation where it's like, 'Okay, it's not just comic books and talking about it anymore. This is a real vampire, and we're about to get killed if we don't do what we say we were going to do.' There is that pivot in the movie. I think what makes it so much fun is watching these kids get invested in it.

Newlander: Joel really pushed us in that way to develop these characters. They're quite apart from what we were like in real life, and I thought it was really cool. He did say. 'Watch those movies,' and it made a real difference.

Thompson: I was going to ask if your references were the same.

Newlander: Yeah, but I think ultimately we found our own groove with it. Maybe I was a little more Chuck Norris, and Corey was more Stallone, but that's where it naturally landed. I think that's also because I was naturally very serious, which added to it.

Feldman: A funny anecdote is that I ended up meeting Stallone for the first time years after the film came out. I went to his house, I walked in, and he's got this giant statue of Rocky, and he was like, 'Come in. How are you doing? I was like, 'I'm excited to meet you because I played you. He goes, 'Oh, yeah, that's right. You did a pretty good job.' That's one of those amazing moments when you're meeting the guy you emulated for a role.

Thompson: Talking about amazing moments, The Lost Boys was where we witnessed the creation of The Two Coreys.

Newlander: I got to see that front and center from early on. That was a pivotal summer for the Coreys. It was amazing to watch that develop, and I was a part of that because we were all very close. Aside from being in a major motion picture, we had a very kid summer.

Feldman: We all got along really well and enjoyed each other's company, but Corey Haim and I had this crazy bond. Jamison and I are still like brothers, but our thing went on a whole other level with Corey and me. It started with what was poised to be a rivalry, given that a girl was involved. I was in love with this girl, and she didn't have eyes for me. She was talking about Corey Haim all the time, and I was like, 'Who is this guy?' and she was like, 'Oh, he's in the teen magazines. Don't you recognize him? He's always next to you on the pages.' I didn't know what she was talking about, so I'd go and look. Suddenly, Joel Schumacher is in the wardrobe fitting and on the phone with somebody, and he says, 'Oh, we've got the two Coreys...' and I'm like, 'Two Coreys? I'm just one guy.' I quickly found out Corey Haim was going to be in the movie, and I was like, 'Oh boy, how's this going to go?' We were both young actors, and we're both Jewish, we're both the same height, there's so much that similar. He calls me and leaves a message on my answering machine one day. I come home from school, and there's a message like, 'Hey, man, it's Corey Haim. What's up, buddy? Yo, we're going to be working together, man. It's really cool. I thought maybe we could get together and hit the beach or whatever.' I was amazed at how friendly and open he was, and he had this amazing energy. We instantly connected, we immediately bonded, and then we were pretty much inseparable.

The Lost Boys is available on 4K Ultra HD and Digital.

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Corey Feldman And Jamison Newlander Talk The Lost Boys And The Birth Of The Two Coreys - Forbes

There are many scientists who are pessmistic about how much life extension we can get from new antiaging medicine. The new treatments will be powerful enough to change what all of our DNA is doing. It will be powerful enough to clear out 90-99% of known aging damage. We should be to detect all disease and detect minute levels of damage as it just starts to build up or cause changes in tissue.

How long could we live if we were could just enable people to follow an optimal healthy lifestyle, prevent all preventable diseases, detect all diseases at their earliest stages.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including eating a healthy diet, regular exercise and not smoking, could prolong life expectancy at age 50 by 14 years for women and just over 12 years for men, according to 2018 research in the American Heart Associations journal Circulation. Specifically, they looked at how the following five behaviors affected a persons longevity: not smoking, eating a healthy diet (diet score in the top 40 percent of each cohort), regularly exercising (30+ minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity), keeping a healthy body weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m), and moderate alcohol consumption (5-15 g/day for women, 5-30 g/day for men).

Longevity is correlated with higher income. We would need to continue the decades long trend of the rest of the world catching up to the USA and Western Europe on per capita income.

The 38,000 people who live in Monaco have a per capita income in 2022 of about 193,000. Half of the live to over the age of 93.

New Jersey has about 850,000 Asians and Asian women in New Jersey live to about the Monaco life expectancy of 93 and Asian men in New Jersey live to an age of about 89.

We either help people to more easily follow these more optimal healthy lifestyles or remove the downsides and impacts from unhealthy behavior.

If we can give everyone the equivalent of optimal human genes then people will be able to live to 105-115. Clint Eastwood, his mother and grandfather all lived into their 90s. Queen Elizabeth and her mother lived or are living to about 100.

People blessed with the right genes live to 110-122 without any mental decline.

There have been features on Korean American women in Bergen County, New Jersey and their healthy lifestyle.

The Brookings Institution, the worlds middle class is growing quickly. 140 million people annually enter the status of middle class. In 5 years, this number can go up to 170 million. The worlds middle class is expected to increase to about 5.2 billion in 2030, or 65% of the planets population then.

The padndemic did stall the trend to a growing global middle class.

There are already some groups of millions of people who have life expectancy of 93-95 years of age. There is no reason that the world cannot have everyone at the per capita income of the current wealthiest countries. Currently 80% of the world has per capita income greater than the wealthiest countries in 1920. The inflation-adjusted highest per capita income in 1920 was about $3300.

There are full body scans that are currently expensive which could be used for consistent early cancer detection. There has even been work at MIT to detect tissue that will become cancerous 5 years before it becomes cancer. Have comprehensive pre-cancer detection is possible. Treating tissue or conditions before they become cancer will have 100% or nearly 100% treatment success.

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.

Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.

A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.

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Proven Levels of Human Longevity | NextBigFuture.com

The National University Health System (NUHS) establishes the NUHS Centre for Healthy Longevity a world's first integrated pre-clinical and clinical ageing research institute that is poised to lead the Longevity Medicine field with clinical research to prolong healthspan by delay ageing.

SINGAPORE, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ageing is the climate change in medical science, where global societies are experiencing a sharp rise in the number of older adults relative to the rest of the population. Singapore will be the fastest country by 2025, with 25% of its population estimated to be above 65 years old by 2030. Although medical advancement has improved life expectancy among Singaporeans by 8.7 years to 84.8 years, one of the longest in the world; our healthy life expectancy, or healthspan, increased by only 7.2 years to 74.2 years. The grim reality is that Singaporeans are spending about 10 years of their twilight years in poor health. As the gap between life expectancy and health adjusted life expectancy increases, healthcare and caregiving costs will represent an unsustainable socioeconomic burden for society.

2 NUHS CHL has one clear mission: to enhance healthspan by five years in the Singapore population by slowing biological ageing. Its strategy is to embark on geroscience and longevity medicine-based approaches to achieve this mission. Geroscience and longevity medicine are paradigm-shifting concepts in research and medicine, that acknowledge species-conserved pathways of biological ageing, and view biological ageing as the greatest risk factor for chronic, age-related diseases. Proponents of geroscience/ longevity medicine also advocate the implementation of the use of biomarkers and interventions with the use of artificial intelligence to enhance healthspan.

3 Pre-clinical model organisms have traditionally been used in early pharmaceutical trials, but do not always translate successfully to human trials. NUHS CHL will use age-appropriate models for discovering mechanistic pathways that respond well to novel interventions, called geroprotectors. These treatments will then be translated into clinical human studies of CHL. Both clinical and pre-clinical divisions in the centre work iteratively to identify, refine and implement promising geroprotectors. The South-East Asian population has been traditionally understudied in clinical research. With the three major races, Chinese, Malay and Indian, numbering about 2.5 billion people and accounting for more than a quarter of humanity, results gleaned from the CHL's research will have significant global impact, particularly in Asia.

4 NUHS CHL is also the clinical and translational partner of the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme (TRP) at NUS Medicine, whose research to slow ageing, and improve healthspan for the broader population has received generous funding ($5 million) from the Lien Foundation. Termed 'Hacking Ageing', the research initiative comprises three broad themes, which will contribute to the creation of an integrated biomarker-artificial-intelligence (AI) platform that will be the world's first in testing supplements and repurposed drugs combined with lifestyle interventions in the Asian population. This will allow for better early detection, risk stratification and development of personalised, preventive and therapeutic strategies to improve healthspan. Lee Poh Wah, CEO, Lien Foundation said, "Through the 'Hacking Ageing' initiatives, we hope to contribute to the national agenda to shift the healthcare paradigm from the present state of reactive 'sick care' towards a population health prevention approach. Socioeconomic factors are often at the root of health inequalities. As a society, we have a moral duty to ensure anti-ageing therapeutics are not confined to the realm of the rich and exacerbate existing disparities. Developing biomarkers and interventions that are accessible to all in the community, is necessary towards narrowing this gap and democratising healthy longevity. A takeaway from our Gym Tonic programme is that seniors want, and can, get strong on their own terms. Healthspan encompasses not just the physical but the cognitive and emotional dimensions too. We need to mainstream longevity science, and arm everyone with the knowledge and tools to extend the period of life spent in good health."

5 The first research theme funded under the 'Hacking Ageing' initiative is a series of clinical studies to test novel nutritional supplements and repurposed drugs to slow ageing in middle-aged adults (40-60 years). The second research theme is to use deep omics data to personalise these supplements and repurposed drugsand other interventions for optimal healthspan extension in middle-aged participants. The thirdresearch theme focuses on extending healthspan in older adults throughstrength training exercise, harnessing the Foundation's Gym Tonic community of seniors.

6 Professor Brian Keith Kennedy, internationally recognised for his research in the biology of ageing and for his work to translate research discoveries into new ways of delaying, detecting, and preventing human ageing and its associated diseases, is helming the Centre with co-director, Professor Andrea Britta Maier, a geriatrician by training and intensivist of chronic diseases. The 1,600 square feet Centre for Healthy Longevity (CHL) located at Alexandra Hospital and a laboratory at NUSMedicine, will conduct trials and execute validation studies with healthy participants from the age of 30 years old. The Centre will also develop and test these interventions using newly identified biomarkers of human ageing. Once the approaches are validated, the Centre will develop strategies that integrate a combination of nutritional, medicinal and exercise approaches for personalised adoption in the Singapore population. The ultimate goal is to bring the individual closer to his/her state of optimal peak performance during the entire lifespan (e.g. screening to start from 30 years of age).

7 CHL will be looking at blood-based biomarkers, probably the most investigated group due to a large amount of data accumulated in clinical trials.

8 "Developing new interventions to slow ageing and developing new biomarkers to measure ageing, are what we are trying to do here in Singapore through the new Centre," says Prof Kennedy, "and then, we can recommend inventions to see if they can slowly reverse aspects of ageing in the Asian population." Co-director, Professor Andrea Maier added, "The body's ability to fight diseases reduces dramatically with age. If we can address the physiological changes of ageing, we may be able to slow or stop the onset of disease. In three to five years, healthy longevity will not only exist as a lab-proven concept, but will become part of everyone's life."

She elaborated, "The aim of geroscience is to prevent age-related diseases like the occurrence of dementia, cancer, lung diseases, osteoarthritis or sarcopenia, all the diseases we know of. So next time, tell your GP, your biological age, not your chronological age, for a more targeted, customised and precise prognosis and treatment or intervention plan. This also gives the physician a better association with risk of outcomes one will not want to have like impairment and death."

Anyone who is keen to participate in the above various studies can contact [emailprotected] for more information.

SOURCE National University Health System (NUHS)

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Prolonging healthspan by delaying ageing -- NUHS opens Singapore's first Centre for Healthy Longevity to increase healthy lifespan of Singapore...

Its no secret that, on average, building companies last about 5-7 years. So what is the secret to success for home builders that have been in business for 10, 20, or even 30 years? I sat down with Tony Visconti, founder and owner of Bella Custom Homes, and Stacy Brotemarkle, vice president and interior designer, to find out.

A third-generation home builder, Tony has been in the home building and development industry for nearly 46 years. Stacy has been with the team since 2009 yet has more than 20 years of home-building and interior design experience. Although many boast they are the best in the business, the two shared with me a few secrets that they believe are the key ingredients to true success and longevity.

The team at BCH is dedicated to its clients which includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. As a fixed-price builder, Bella Custom Homes clients know their price going into the project. Their clients get a detailed set of specifications with everything going into their new home. This way its not a guessing game. Tony shares that everything is out in the open from the beginning.

If something goes wrong, we own it, Tony says. If they have questions, we tell them the truth. Nothing is sugarcoated.

Stacy adds, Honesty, integrity, and transparency have been the cornerstones of Bella Custom Homes. Those have all contributed to our longevity in the custom luxury home building industry.

This applies to understanding the industry and economics of your business. Tony mentioned that many home builders spread themselves too thin in regards to the timeline of the build cycle.

You dont want to cram your calendar with builds right on top of each other. Spread it out so you have time to build, breathe, and start again. Maybe start out with one a month instead of once a week, Tony adds.

BCH saw the benefits of taking a risk during downturns. While it was low inventory, they saw an opportunity to take a risk and saw the payout in return. However, when facing inflation, it may be a better time to be more risk-averse. Its all about understanding give-and-take and the inner workings of your business.

For Bella Custom Homes, this means using licensed architects, engineers, designers, and an accounting firm to build out their team. You dont want to wind up in a bind because you didnt have the right team of professionals by your side.

Our architects are classically trained, Tony mentions. And some have even taught previously. So they arent usually wrong when giving advice to our clients. That is something we pride ourselves on. We want whats best for our clients.

Bella Custom Homes is known for its classical and timeless architecture, but they can build any style of home that you desire.

Something we value is having a talented team of craftsmen working on our projects Stacy adds. Regardless of the price point of a build, our clients are going to get the same framers, same trim carpenters, same flooring installers because this is the team that weve culminated and we trust to get the job done.

Typically, you are starting with a blank canvas when building a home. The home buyer may have a list of wants for the home, but its really up to the builder to add in that wow factor.

Weve had a lot of clients tell us that their homes are better than being on vacation, Tony says. Most of our clients love the romantic architectural features we add, which is just one way we like to exceed expectations.

In order to be successful, home builders should look at the process as fun, enjoyable, and exciting because they are getting the privilege of making lifelong memories for their clients. Successful builders dont take that opportunity for granted.

Backyards are a feature we really like to take advantage of, says Stacy. We love to create an oasis where it makes it feel like youre at a resort. So many of our clients like to entertain so creating a destination that really wows them is another way we exceed expectations.

Tony mentions that Murphys Law is a huge part of this business. When something can go wrong, it typically goes wrong. However, in order to be successful, you have to be on top of things and cant pretend mistakes dont happen.

Everybody is human, they will make mistakes, Stacy mentions. But the important thing to remember is that oftentimes, everything can be fixed or changed. And we are a team that is determined to make things right.

This is probably the No. 1 secret ingredient to the success and longevity of your business. Clients are looking to you, as a professional, for your expertise. In order to have happy clients, its best to put yourself in the position to educate them along the way and guide them in their decision-making process.

We want happy clients. We want them to feel like they are truly getting the quality of work that they are paying for, says Tony.

Bringing new ideas to the table and creating the homes design inspiration is the fun part for me, Stacy says, During the design process, you get the opportunity to brainstorm with your clients. It becomes a fun challenge to find a tangible visual to showcase the clients wants and wishes.

Both Tony and Stacy are very passionate about what they do. And it shows in how they treat their clients. Tony believes in the importance of being approachable and available to his clients. Additionally, Tony is a Graduate Master Builder while Stacy is a Certified Graduate Builder so both have a wealth of knowledge they love to share with their clients.

We never work a day in our lives, Tony says. This is a business that once youre in it, youre in it for life.

Were available to our clients at all times. From selecting a lot to attending architect meetings, were there, Stacy adds. We enjoy the process and want to help guide our clients throughout. We also provide perspective to our clients. They might not be thinking about the big picture or future plans, so we like to be that soundboard for them.

BCH has repeat clients and has even built through families. Referrals are our best marketing and we take great pride in that. The team is grateful for all the clients that have trusted them to build their dream homes thus far, as well as the relationships forged, and look forward to building many more as Bella Custom Homes enters its 30th year of business in 2023.

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What is the Secret to Longevity in Real Estate? - CandysDirt.com - Candy's Dirt

Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky discuss their approach to helping clients create a savings plan that makes sense for a successful future.

Listen to the interview on the Business Innovators Radio Network https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-jeff-stukey-jay-olshansky-ph-d-with-of-wealthspan-advisors-discussing-how-aging-science-impacts-retirement/

Wealthspan Advisors is a company that came into being because two scientists in the field of longevity study joined forces with two experienced financial advisors with a vision of helping people realize their most significant wealth and health by being aware of both and the impact each has on the other. By introducing aging science into the wealth planning conversation, they start with a foundation based on the clients unique attributes and build a unique plan for them. The plan focuses on their healthspan and the gap that may exist with the lifespan and healthspan of their spouse, if applicable. Its a conversation theyve likely never had and an experience theyve likely never heard of, but its instrumental in financial decision-making.

Aging science can play a crucial role in informing these decisions by helping to understand the physical and cognitive changes that occur with age. There are several factors to consider when planning for retirement, including health, lifestyle, and income. Aging science can help to understand better how these factors may change over time and what steps can be taken to mitigate any negative impacts. For example, research into aging has shown that physical abilities tend to decline. This can significantly impact the ability to continue working or enjoying leisure activities. However, there are ways to offset this decline through exercise and other healthy lifestyle choices. Similarly, cognitive decline is a natural part of aging, but some steps can be taken to protect the brain. Brain-training exercises, social activities, and a healthy diet are all important in maintaining cognitive function.

Aging science can also help to understand the financial implications of retirement. Overall, aging science can provide valuable insights into aging and the changes that occur over time. This information can inform decisions about retirement planning and help ensure a comfortable later life.

Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky say, Its our job to find out who you are, where you are, and what you want to accomplish so we can design a plan together to get you there. We will concentrate on several topics: risk management, distribution or income planning, RMD and tax planning, estate planning, and longevity planning. The financial products are only recommended because they will help you accomplish your goals thats the only thing that matters. As independent fiduciary advisors, we are held to a legal responsibility to make recommendations that are in your best interest with no conflicts of interest based on how we get paid. The fact that we are independent also means we dont have any proprietary products or company quotas we need to meet. So, you can rest assured that any recommendation concerning any financial product is made with your best interest in mind.

Get a copy of their book, Pursuing Wealthspan: How Science is Revolutionizing Wealth Management, visit: https://www.wealthspanadvisors.com/

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/zNvfsSK-Jxw

About Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky, Ph.D

Jeff has been in the financial services business for over 20 years. Most of his time has been spent in executive-level roles helping train hundreds of financial advisors around the country on how to better plan for and serve their clients. He deeply understands financial planning and the financial products that can be used to create the desired outcome for clients. After watching his parents work hard, but struggle financially for most of his childhood and early adult life, Jeff set out to help clients become more educated and get better advice to help them grow and protect their wealth so they could live their best lives. Because of the experience gained over the last 20+ years, Jeff has been able to communicate well with clients, understand what they are trying to accomplish, and help put them in a position to really thrive in and throughout retirement.

Jay Olshansky received his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Chicago in 1984. He is currently a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Chief Scientist at Lapetus Solutions, Inc.The focus of his research to date has been on estimates of the upper limits to human longevity, exploring the health and public policy implications associated with individual and population aging, forecasts of the size, survival, and age structure of the population, pursuit of the scientific means to slow aging in people (The Longevity Dividend), and global implications of the re-emergence of infectious and parasitic diseases. Dr. Olshansky is on the Board of Directors of the American Federation of Aging Research.

Investment Advisory Services are offered through Wealthspan Investment Management, LLC, a state-registered investment adviser. The commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be deemed as a solicitation to invest, or increase investments in any Wealthspan Investment Management, LLC products, or affiliated products. The information contained herein is not intended to provide any investment advice or provide the basis for any investment decisions. Please consult a qualified professional before making decisions about your financial situation. Information and commentary provided by Wealthspan Investment Management, LLC are opinions and should not be construed as facts. There can be no guarantee that any of the described objectives can be achieved. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Media ContactCompany Name: Marketing Huddle, LLCContact Person: Mike Saunders, MBAEmail: Send EmailPhone: 7202323112Country: United StatesWebsite: https://www.AuthorityPositioningCoach.com

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Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky, Ph.D with Wealthspan Advisors, Interviewed on the Influential Entrepreneurs Podcast Discussing How Aging Science...