The Web is a fascinating source of ideas and community. Our research staff has evaluated hundreds of Web sites covering publications, media and resources most pertinent for adults 50 plus, including magazines, best of Boomer news and blogs, online Boomer communities, and even radio and television sites designed for maximum Boomer appeal. We've selected the best sites–the most useful and comprehensive of the bunch–and provided concise descriptions of each.
Rate the sites and suggest others!
With its discount prices, mind-boggling catalog, and free shipping, Amazon has always been the online bookstore to beat, both for new and used books. Book lovers are strongly encouraged to share their own reviews and create and share their own lists of favorites in any category that catches their fancy. Endlessly interesting for bibliophiles.
Fanatical readers can keep up to date with reviews of the latest hot new releases alongside long, insightful essays from some of the world's best writers and deepest thinkers. This is where people like Joan Didion, Vaclav Havel, and George Soros come to share their views. Always worth a visit.
The New York Times Book Review
As the media frets over the decline of book review sections in newspapers, The New York Times is still going strong, making 26 years' worth of reviews searchable here and adding podcasts and best-of lists to keep you interested. Have all the highlights e-mailed to you on a weekly basis.
Penned by a 57-year-old woman in Florida, this blog does a great job of rounding up links to recent articles of interest to Boomers. Sign up for an RSS feed that will deliver postings directly to your browser to get the latest thoughts from this conscientious blogger.
This blog, a "trip into the heart of the Baby Boomer generation," is penned by Boomer marketing consultant Brent Green, who seems hellbent on proving that Boomers are a huge market worth, well, marketing to, in the face of critics and naysayers who would contend otherwise. His passion makes for interesting, if sporadic, blog entries.
British blogger Anne Harrison is a "trained retirement coach and trainer" who explores Boomer issues while weaving stories of her own career experiences throughout the links and articles she collects. It makes for interesting reading.
Building your own blog is easy and free at this site, which encourages Boomers and Seniors to join the blogging crowd by easily setting up a blog and then just typing away. Still fairly new, there's plenty of room for more bloggers to show up. If you're more of a reader than a writer, browse by category to see what's on people's minds.
Executive coach John Agno takes a self-help approach with his blog, encouraging Boomers to find ways to make and save more money while living full and interesting lives. He's also very good at recommending books of interest to Boomers looking to lead more well-rounded lives.
Tech-savvy, that is. Here's a blog devoted to the light-hearted demystification of technology for Boomers who need to learn to be brave enough to embrace the kinds of gadgetry that could make their lives easier. Especially useful for anyone trying out a new life of self-employment from a home office.
This site breaks down Boomer life into logical category and delivers several useful articles for each area. If you'd rather have the info come to you, sign up for free newsletters on health, travel, money, lifestyles, or relationships. Looking for fresh ideas? Head for the blog section, where more than 200 people opine about Boomer life. Feel free to build your own.
Not quite finished yet, this community nevertheless shows great promise, organizing Boomer life into 12 main centers of interest and providing articles, tips, and shopping for each. There's also a blogging section, and this one of only a few Boomer destinations that invites you to submit your own artwork and creative writing for possible inclusion in an online gallery.
Here's a sort of catch-all site for everything related to women over 45. Much of the site is devoted to a fairly thorough directory of useful Web links for Boomer women, and there's also an essay section where anyone can contribute their deep thoughts, plus 39 fairly active discussion boards on every imaginable topic.
Focusing its attending on the younger end of the Baby Boom spectrum (Boomers born on and after 1954), BOOMj delivers a mix of news feeds in eight categories, original articles and videos, and a nascent social network for like-minded visitors to seek each other out and meet. (You must sign up for free to take advantage of all of the site's features.)
Celebrity Boomers are the main draw here, with videos, Q&A pages, and periodic live chats featuring people like Dr. Bob Arnot, Gary Player, Denise Austin, Montel Williams, and Stephen Covey. Sign up for free to take part in the discussions, and stick around to have a look at the site's informative section on "Caring for Your Parents."
Drumtable.com wants to hear your life story, or to be more specific, it wants you to write a story from your life, illustrate it with photos or videos, and post it either for a close circle of friends or the general public to view. Currently in pre-launch, the site is just getting going, but the stories posted so far are well done and may inspire you to indulge in a bit of autobiography.
A totally free and engaging site and community for Boomers, Eons takes a kitchen-sink approach to catching your eye, with articles, blogs (create your own), a social network, a LifeDreams page where you can share your goals, a LifeMap builder that lets you create a visual timeline of your life, and a Travel section. It's also pretty much the only 50+ site that includes obituaries of famous people, helping to put everything into perspective.
Packed with audio clips, videos, blogs, polls, and discussion boards, Growing Bolder is one of the most interactive of all the Boomer-oriented sites. Produced by TV and radio veterans who "got frustrated by the refusal of mainstream media to even acknowledge that the 50+ demographic is the real power in today's economy," it's an entertaining destination for new ideas on adding some verve to your lifestyle.
"Explore. Express. Enrich." LetLifeIn.com lets its Boomer visitors post their own little articles on whatever aspect of life interests them. Other registered visitors can then rate the articles on a scale of 1 to 10 to help you find those which are most useful and interesting and avoid any clunkers.
Another Boomer community that's hoping to ride on the coattails of the MySpace phenomenon, My Boomer Place has typical social networking features. You set up your own page with as much personality as you can muster and then invite others to become your online buddy.
An up-and-coming online community that hopes to evolve into "MySpace for grownups" when it gets up to full steam in 2008, Second Prime is currently getting underway with news and lifestyle links, an invitation for users to set up and share their own home pages, and the rollout of discussion forums.
That's TBD, as in "to be determined," as in what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Still in preview mode, this online magazine/community is filling up mainly with active discussion boards on all the usual lifestyle topics from work and love live to travel and tech. Feature articles are short, but expect more as the site comes to full fruition.
ThirdAge is the kind of female-oriented midlife site that exhibits intense interest in subjects such as menopause and bone health. Though its categories cover all the basic lifestyle topics, it's health, and women's health in particular, that seems most top of mind here. Worth a bookmark for women concerned about how aging may affect their health.
Highly used social networking news site. Provides all the best links to social related sites, as well as, the latest news about them.
Top site for women who want to connect with each other for personal, professional & spiritual growth! Membership in www.awomensplace.org opens the door to one of the web’s fastest growing networks of knowledgeable, informed women. Opportunities you may not find elsewhere in the huge virtual world await you here at A Women’s Place.
Great site seeking to inspire people over 60 to celebrate the joys, navigate the challenges and discover the meaning of aging. With resources on retirement, aging, drugs and more, ELDR brings an enlightened, entertaining and sometimes edgy approach to aging through essays, stories, reviews, interviews and artwork. Regular columns include ELDR Law, ELDR Yoga and ELDR Tech and ongoing topics include Family, Caregiving and Brainpower, among others. ELDR offers fresh viewpoints on social issues and new ideas on health, travel, finances and activism!
An online community for the active baby boomers. Find the latest information on health, fitness, nutrition, and more for the active senior lifestyle.
Popular online community created exclusively for experienced adults ages 50-plus. Join and connect with other members from 10 to 10,000 miles away, learn from their experiences, and explore other environments around you.
Premiere comedy website created by baby boomers for boomers, hosting an array of daily content from well-known comedians on the topics of health, travel, romance, finance, entertainment and more. Drop by for a good laugh!
One of the fastest growing social networking sites for seniors on the web. Developed to give boomers and beyond a place of their own!
Worldwide community for baby boomers. Chat and learn about others’ experiences on tons of topics and categories relating to boomers, such as oldie music love, history, hippies, veterans, love, friends, fun and much more.
Judy's Book is an online community where smart shoppers find and share the best deals, sales and coupons - both from online and local retailers. Recent customer reviews of products, services and current deals. Get cash back on everyday purchases and commissions on deals you share. Browse their search engine with over 40,000 coupons from the best coupon sites on the Web.
Free daily site brings a whole new way to talk culture, politics, gossip and more. Run and written by Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Liz Smith, Joni Evans, Mary Wells, Sheila Nevins, Joan Juliet Buck, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Reed, Joan Ganz Cooney, Judith Martin, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, and Marlo Thomas—who for years have been talking to each other about everything under the sun: their families, their work, their worlds. They’ve shared what they think, observe and experience each day. And now they want to share it with you.
Celebrate the joys and discuss the challenges of older age sexuality. This useful site is presented by Joan Price, ageless sexuality advocate and author of Better Than I Ever Expected: Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty, a sassy, sexy book combining her personal story with tales from sexually seasoned women and tips from experts. Join her in speaking out and proving that our society's view of seniors as sexless is wrong, wrong, wrong. Please comment and ask questions. Welcome to the community!
RetirementRevised.com is the companion website of Retire Smart, a column written by Mark Miller that appears in more than 30 newspapers each week. For millions of Baby Boomers, retirement is an opportunity for reinvention, rather than taking it easy. Mark is helping write the playbook for the new career and personal pursuits of a generation.
This marketing/consulting firm positions itself as the leading expert on the Boomer Generation and its effects on overall American society as it ages. Of most interest are write-ups on eight books, most by consultant Ken Dychtwald. Check out "The Power Years: A Guide to the Rest of Your Life," first published in 2005.
Boston College Center for Retirement Research
For deep thinking about trends in retirement and public policy, head for the freely downloadable reports that this think tank provides. Recent topics include the trend toward later retirement, the Dutch approach to old-age pensions, and the Medicare mess. Don't miss the downloadable "Social Security Fix-It Book" to learn about new ideas for funding the program far into the future.
They can't really be secrets if anyone can read them, but why quibble? This vibrant selection of tips and tricks for a better life is fun to explore whether you're into health, wealth, business, travel, or self-improvement. The advice isn't specifically targeted at a 50+ audience, but you can subscribe to Bottom Line Retirement magazine here to get the most relevant information for your future planning.
Microsoft's Bill Gates is a Boomer, so why shouldn't MSN have a site just for him and all the other 50+ people out there? A lively mix of articles, lifestyle guides ("Your Sex Life After Divorce"), videos, and message boards, this well-edited destination provides plenty of food for thought, plus all the MSN conveniences that put searching and shopping right alongside the articles.
Newsweek knows you're out there, and it wants to attract your attention with this special online collection of articles, op-eds, galleries, quizzes, and podcasts about the past, present, and future of the Boomer generation. Read about getting your kids through college, Carly Simon's new CD, trends in competitive poker, and anything else that appears in Newsweek and may be of interest to the 50+ crowd.
The most useful feature of this online resource for retirees and Boomers at the older end of the scale is its weekly newswire, which delivers links to a few dozen relevant news items to you e-mail inbox in a single message. It's pretty much the easiest way to stay current on all sorts of news and information about aging.
This unattractive but somewhat useful grab bag of links and services for seniors is most notable for its included search engine, which is specifically oriented toward seniors and flags those results which it considers especially "senior friendly." You'll also find home exchanges, travel guides, senior dating, and even a guide to online radio stations of interest to the 50+ crowd.
Arthritis Today is a lifestyle magazine for people with arthritis, providing valuable trusted information on health, fitness and nutrition. Many boomers may encounter some form of arthritis in their advancing years. Get in the know now, and join the fight to prevent, control and cure arthritis and other related diseases.
It's the gardening part of Better Homes and Gardens that really excels online. View slideshows and videos that show you how to make your yard look a whole lot better, and click on the regional section to get specific tips and tricks for your climate zone.
How's your triathlon training coming? This magazine, dedicated to "Masters-level" athletes (that is, 40+ years old), covers just about every competitive sport and all the gear, training, and nutrition that goes into it. Interesting sidebars cover all aspects of fitness, including one man's "hip replacement diaries." Much of the content requires a subscription (two years for $30) that will also get you the print version. Sign on if you take your sports seriously and intend to compete locally or beyond.
As the "official magazine of grandparents," GRAND doesn't put all of its print content online, but there's enough there to provide plenty of ideas for grannies and grampas who aren't quite ready for the rocking chair yet. Read about "four ways to be a super-cool grandparent”, or, if you're new at all this, check out the guide for first-time grandparents.
This exceedingly well-designed site has enough cooking, gardening, crafting, and housekeeping ideas to keep you busy for years, even decades. Wonderfully searchable and cross-referenced, it has content from every corner of Martha's vast empire, including plenty of instructional videos. If you like Martha, you'll love this site.
This award-winning magazine for women over 40 wants to you be "healthy, stylish, successful, adventurous, and connected," just like recent cover star Katie Couric. Plenty of articles in each of those categories serve to inspire positive changes in your life.
You might assume that Nature.com would be full of stories about zebras and hippos, but in fact, this is one of the Web's best sources for the latest research on scientific and medical breakthroughs. Much of the content is behind a subscription wall that costs $95 per year, but it's it for those with a passionate interest in all aspects of the natural world.
Thinking about "having some work done?" This magazine has all the latest insights on new cosmetic procedures, surgeries, and skin treatments. After you've done your research, type in your ZIP code to find qualified physicians in your area who specialize in the procedures in which you're interested.
This fascinating site is always a fun read. Not just for gearheads and sci-fi freaks, it looks at the coolest new products and technologies you can buy now, tells you how they work, and gives you solid buying advice. Do-it-yourselfers will also find an endless supply of projects to try, each rated on a scale of difficulty so you don't find yourself getting in over your head.
"Smart ways to live well." That's the promise of the leading health
magazine, whose online presence covers every health, fitness, and food topic you're curious about, all in easily searchable format. The topic of "aging," for example, is covered in a whopping 131 articles. That should keep you busy.
A familiar friend with a sleek Internet face, Reader's Digest online covers just about every topic under the sun, but head straight for the RD Living topic to find comprehensive guides to Food, Family, Home & Garden, Love, and Money. Much of the content skews toward a Boomer-age audience, so there's lots to learn.
"Live well, enjoy the journey." That's the motto of this bimonthly magazine that presents a variety of lifestyle features and upscale leisure ideas to a 50+ readership dealing with everything from parental caregiving to summer home rentals. Search the site for articles of particular interest or merely browse around to get inspired by a bunch of good ideas for better living.
SmartMoney, the personal finance magazine that has all the smarts of Dow Jones behind it, is a great place for keeping up to speed on money matters and for tracking your retirement portfolio. Click on the retirement section to play around with lots of scary worksheets that will likely reveal that you need to save more.
Why keep a dusty collection of old travel magazines on your bookshelf when everything you need to know is searchable online? At T&L, Destination Guides for locations all around the world are a one-stop research resource including all the travel tips you need plus links to archived articles about the destination.
Woman's Day is particularly strong on health topics that will be of interest to Boomers. Online clubs focus on topics such as weight loss, Diabetes, and bone health, and there's even a walking club you can join to chart your exercise progress.
Your trusted news magazine for authoritative, in-depth reporting and world news coverage that is geared towards the 50-plus. U.S. News helps you make informed choices about key life decisions by providing the latest scoop on topics like Nation & World, Health, Money & Business, Education, Science and more. A supplement to the magazine, this site keeps up the pace by offering continuously updated headlines on business and financial news from around the globe. Highlight topics of interest based on the information you provide and personalize your U.S. News with their feed of blogs and breaking news headlines. U.S. News… news you can use.
AARP wields its mighty power on behalf of Boomers and seniors in all sorts of ways. Any interest group with tens of millions of members is bound to get Washington's ear. Consider this site a starting point for any kind of research you need to on health, aging, and political issues that affect your life.
If you're passionate about a particular hobby or social issue, About.com probably has a bookmark for you. Hundreds of online guides updated regularly in blogging style by more than 500 experts cover every aspect of life. Whether you're into table tennis, the green lifestyle, NASCAR, gardening, or British travel, there's a helping hand to keep you informed on your area of interest.
This AT&T service is nothing more than a straightforward and easy-to-use online version of your phone book's white and yellow pages. Use it as your phone book or to take a stab at tracking down old friends and classmates. You'll also find a useful reverse lookup for those mysterious phone numbers that show up on your Caller ID.
A spinoff of the Boomer site Eons, Cranky tries to be an "age-relevant search engine," bringing back search results that are most appropriate for the 50+ crowd. Members of Eons can rate the sites that Cranky finds to help the best ones float to the top. It's especially useful for health and retirement issues.
Created by the people who published the "Information Please Almanac" that Boomers may remember from their parents' bookshelf, this online almanac puts all the obvious calendars, conversion tools, search boxes, and news links on a single page. One of the site's best features: a particularly well-done atlas with crisp, clear maps that outshine many other online efforts.
Google Maps is an excellent competitor, but Mapquest still rules the roost when it comes to getting turn-by-turn driving directions that are easy to view online, e-mail to someone else, or print out for your travels. You can also overlay things like hotels, schools, or restaurants on a city map to see what's where, and access Mapquest Mobile on a variety of cell phones and other gadgets to get easy map access when you're already on the road.
The self-proclaimed "single best source for facts" offers up everything from a link to an atomic clock to current gas and oil prices plus enough links to daily photos, newspapers, games, gossip, and opinion columns to keep you busy for hours. Most useful is the site's attempt to bring together search boxes for multiple sites all on one page. It can help you get more lookups done in less time.
The kind of site that can replace a few fat books in your den. It includes Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com as well as a tightly edited Web directory, and a few helpful articles on the fundamentals of successful research. You can also keep your mind sharp by playing word games and memorizing the word of the day.
Give Weather.com your ZIP code, and it will bombard you with enough forecasts, satellite animations, radar sweeps, and long-range predictions that you'll know exactly what to wear not only for the next three hours (the hour-by-hour forecast is probably too much information) but also for the next ten days. Also consult the Planning Ahead section, which helps you figure out when it's the best time to go skiing or sailing or to plan an outdoor wedding.
One of the most important new Web sites of the past several years, this massive collaborative encyclopedia, available in ten languages, is written and edited by anyone and everyone who cares to contribute. While that might sound like a prescription for chaos, the results have proved to be relatively error-free, amazingly comprehensive, and remarkably up-to-date. Use it as a jumping off point for research on any topic.
An arm of Consumer Report’s National Testing and Research Center, comprised of highly-trained social scientists using state-of-the art techniques to survey well over one million consumers each year for their feedback on a broad range of experiences with products, services and health care. Discover such things as how well a product held up over time, how often it had to be repaired and at what cost.
Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around you. Use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people you meet. Facebook is made up of many networks, each based around a company, region, or school. Join the networks that reflect your real-life communities to learn more about the people who work, live, or study around you.
YouTube is the leader in online video, and the premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email. People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover the quirky and unusual.
The best way to discover the people, places and conversations in your community. Enter your city, neighborhood, or zip code and start exploring your community. Great online resource for keeping up with news and opinions in your neighborhood, and finding out the inside scoop on local places or events: schools, new real estate developments, playgrounds, bars; meeting interesting new neighbors, and sharing your local knowledge with them.
Browse a variety of maps on everything from theme parks to transit systems, with their easy-to-use navigational controls. Get turn-by-turn directions, customizing your route to avoid traffic. Utilize their latest feature, “street view”, to see actual images of your road of travel to avoid potholes or steep turns. Pan-in on images and get a 360 degree view. Explore and add your own information about a place and share it, or see what others have added.
Their mission is to provide information to enhance the time spent online by seniors using the internet. They deliver a comprehensive directory of informative content and links to other sites of interest specifically to seniors.
Skype created a little piece of software that makes communicating with people around the world easy and fun. With Skype you can say hello or share a laugh with anyone, anywhere—and if both of you are on Skype, it’s free. Enhance your experience with web cams, enabling you to actually view the person you’re chatting with!
Boomer411 is a place to save, share and discover your favorite baby-boomer content in an organized and highly flexible way. You can use Boomer411 to do save and tag content (any URL) to your account in Boomer411. Access your bookmarks anywhere in the world with just a web browser and an internet connection. You can organize your bookmarks in flexible hierarchies, with the option of sharing your bookmarks or keeping them private. You can even keep track of your friend's bookmarks, or the bookmarks of someone with similar interests!
A lifestyle magazine devoted exclusively to you—today's baby boomer generation. As you strive to get the most out of your best years, boomer will inspire you to lead enriched, educated, purposeful lives by immersing you in fresh, insightful stories, articles, and research with one central focus in mind—you and your generation.
This relatively small but growing site is a lively guide to an active
retirement. In fact, it's the only Boomer site around that has a special section devoted to the RV retirement lifestyle. Other sections cover typical midlife territory, with the travel and "where to retire sections" among the site's strongest.
A low-key site that posts articles in seven lifestyle categories, Aging Hipsters is most notable for the ease with which it lets its visitors comment on the stories and makes those comments easy to see. Given that the site has been around for more than four years there should be much more content here, but what's available is interesting.
Billed as the place where "fun, fashion, food, family, and faith merge to empower and inspire Boomer women around the world," Boomer Babes Rock features a monthly downloadable PDF-format "dream-zine" with links to Boomer resources. There are also promotions for Boomer-oriented books and a blog penned by site creator Allison Gappa Bottke.
Here's one for the ladies. BoomerGirl caters specifically to women of a certain age looking for fresh ideas in love, business, beauty, travel, and more. Learn about a walking tour in France, new recipes for summer salads, the benefits of gray hair, and job-hunting strategies. Comments are welcome on any story, and a legion of bloggers provides plenty of commentary as well.
This interesting site is produced by noted psychologist Dr. Dorree Lynn, who writes eloquently on Boomer topics including sex after 50, spirituality, grief, and more, while also hosting expert writers on a wide variety of topics from tech to travel. There's lots of content, and it's fresh and updated regularly. A worthwhile stop in your Web surfing.
If you remember JFK, then you must be at least in your late 40s, and that makes you the target audience of this nostalgia-drenched site which revels in memories of the good old days. Essays about tailfins, "Leave It to Beaver," formica, and Pinewood Derbys abound, with each daily entry also available as a podcast. Feel free to suggest your own favorite memory from the Eisenhower and Kennedy years.
Targeted at the young end of the Boomer spectrum (up to age 55), this site calls itself a "personal trainer for life," with an impressive array of articles, quizzes, and online tools all of which are designed to inspire creative thinking and new ambition.
Retirement Living Information Center
Of particular value at this understated site is a simple state-by-state directory of active retirement communities as well as assisted living facilities, with direct links to locations that have their own Web sites. The information is useful as a broad first cut as you research where you might want to live next or as you search for care for your parents.
The best-looking online Boomer magazine by far, ReZoom is an excellent guide to life "for an ageless generation" that "isn't quite ready for an AARP card." A wealth of articles covering travel, entertainment, wellness, finance, and more will catch your eye, and ReZoom also has its own music channels (provided via Rhapsody) as well as video profiles of inspiring Boomers.
BoomerCafé… it’s your place. In fact it’s the original place on the Internet that focuses on us: baby boomers with active, youthful lifestyles and gives all baby boomers a “voice.” Unlike traditional magazines which predictably put out a brand new edition every week or every month, BoomerCafé is changing all the time. What this means is, you’ll usually find something new from the menu to read.
Online golf publication for Boomers. Reports on news, courses, travel, equipment, instruction, health, apparel, real estate, and yes, even pro tour issues, in a fashion that will make the game more enjoyable for Boomers. Now swing away!
“A place for everyone who’s become senior before their time.” This trusted site now has over 4,450 pages of humor, nostalgia, senior advocacy and useful information for seniors 50+. Suddenly Senior—the daily e-zine for everyone over 50 who feels way too young to be old!
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