SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast

In America: Tackling Rising Utility Costs & Affordable Living for Seniors with AARP

SeniorLivingGuide.com Season 4 Episode 106

In this episode, we dive into the world of senior advocacy with Zayne Smith, Senior Director of Advocacy at AARP Florida, shares his insights on the pressing issues facing seniors today, from financial security to healthcare challenges.

Zayne highlights the growing housing crisis, discussing not just affordability but also accessibility issues affecting seniors. She shares sobering statistics on the rise of homelessness among the 60+ population and the financial squeeze many seniors face.

Tune in to learn about AARP's role in consumer protection and their nonpartisan approach to educating the public. We also tackle the impact of rising utility costs on seniors and provide practical strategies to manage these expenses. Whether you're a senior yourself or caring for an aging loved one, this episode offers invaluable insights into navigating the complex landscape of senior living and advocacy.

Don't miss Zayne's expert advice on monitoring utility bills, seeking assistance programs, and engaging with consumer groups and elected officials. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to better understand and support the senior community.

SeniorLivingGuide.com Podcast sponsored by TransMed Care Long Distance Medical Transportation & GoGo Grandparent 855-464-6874 (ext 81714)

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Darleen Mahoney [0:01 - 0:58]: Today we are joined by Zane Smith from aarp. She is joining us on the podcast. She's the Senior Director of Advocacy at AARP Florida. She's leading efforts on consumer protections, housing and financial security. She has represented AARP Florida and various coalitions and task force course and has recognized and was recognized as a 2023 above and beyond award recipient for her influence in Florida public policy. And today we are going to take a deep dive into the world of AARP advocacy and learn about pressing issues in Florida and other places as well. And I am super thrilled to have you join this episode. So can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became involved with aarp? 

 

Zane Smith [0:58 - 2:21]: Yeah, sure. And thank you for having me. You know, I've been with aarp now for 12 years and I came from a background of legal advocacy in the Deep south, focused on different issues that impacted low income and underserved and under the radar communities and had an opportunity coming from Alabama to go to Florida and work with AARP on a bunch of aging issues. And it just appealed to me. I've been an advocate at heart. I went to law school, knew I didn't want to litigate, but wanted to leverage that education and that passion to do good for the world and hopefully leave an imprint that helps people that are either voiceless or struggle to really have a seat at the table when it comes to policies that impact them personally or their loved ones. So AARP provided that opportunity and for 12 years now, I've really enjoyed focusing not just here in Florida, but across the country on issues that impact the 50 plus community. You know, there's so many different areas of this country where if you're older, as we age, things go under the radar. You are, you become unseen, you face different challenges that maybe younger generations don't think about. So AARP has provided that opportunity to really raise a voice on a lot of significant issues. And I hope as I age, the world's a little bit better. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [2:22 - 3:25]: Yeah, I love the work that AARP does. And you're absolutely right. Seniors are so underserved and they are sometimes just really unseen and forgotten. And I think that's so sad. But I do think that once you develop a love for seniors, you do have that love for seniors and you really do want to advocate for them in a very, very passionate way. So I appreciate that because I too have that. You know, I really developed such a love for seniors and the need to really reach out and be a resource to them probably over the last ten years or so. And so I think that it's something that has really just become such a big part of me. So I love being a part of it and I'm so glad you are as well. And AARP for sure. So as AARP is committed to champion policies, what are some of the advocate, the advocacy work that AARP does well. 

 

Zane Smith [3:25 - 4:48]: Across the country, there's some things that just resonate with anyone, no matter where you live. And I think the top priority is long term financial security. And one of the things that AARP is really looking to protect and ensure is Social Security. You know, that's the safety net that was promised to us almost 90 years ago. August 14th will be its 90th year. That was there for people as they age to have a little bit of income. You work hard, you paid into it, and people deserve to get it back as they age and no longer have a steady income. We're fighting against food insecurity across the country. A lot of our older residents are going hungry or are lacking true accessibility to nutritional food. So that's a big priority of AARP advocating for health care. We all know the healthcare industry is very complicated. Network of insurers and providers and prescriptions. It's hard to navigate. And if you don't have someone in your corner, you don't have someone fighting to keep those costs reasonable, or you don't have, you know, a group of people that are there to lend aid, even if it's just a ride to the doctor's office or a ride to go pick up your prescriptions at the pharmacy. Life can be tough. And so aarp, probably one of the biggest priorities outside of long term financial security is access to affordable and adequate healthcare. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [4:49 - 5:10]: Yeah, the medical health care is so complicated. I think people think, oh, you know, once I get on Medicare, I'm good to go. They don't realize Medicare is just the tip of the iceberg. So there's all the different parts, and what are those different parts? And those different parts cost money. 

 

Zane Smith [5:11 - 5:58]: They all cost money, but they also take a level of acuity that if you're not familiar with all the legalese or the medical speak or the insurance speak, you can find yourself thinking you have a policy that's going to cover a significant health issue, when in fact you don't or you're going to be left out in the cold when it comes to medical bills rolling in. And we all know if you've ever had a recent trip to a hospital, you probably get five, six, seven different bills from one trip. And it can be complicated. And it can be scary, too, because you see the price tags associated with it. And even though Once you turn 65, you get your Medicare, it doesn't cover everything, and you're left with some significant bills if you haven't planned accordingly for some of the health concerns you may have arise as you age. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [5:58 - 6:59]: Yeah, 100%. My dad moved about an hour and a half from where he was originally located. He had dementia, moved over here. So I had power of attorney. I took over everything. And I had his health insurance card for his part, something I can't remember now, but I took him to his doctor's appointments, et cetera, and the bills started coming in and they weren't getting paid. And I'm like, okay, so what's going on here? Because this should have been paid. They were being paid previously. Come to find out what he had purchased, which I did not realize was based on location. So he had his doctor bills based on, I don't know, a certain radius. Did not know this. So, yeah, we were in a little bit of trouble, so I had to change everything over. But in that interim, his bills, they had to be paid out of pocket. And clearly he didn't tell me that he didn't know. He didn't have the cognitive ability to tell me. 

 

Zane Smith [7:00 - 7:21]: Right. And. And that happens a lot. And sadly, it happens a lot more than you think. And, you know, what you described, you planned, you know, you got all the proper, you know, ducks in a row to be able to help make the decisions, assist him in getting his health care that he needed, both from a medical and a legal perspective. And there's still, you know, pitfalls that people fall into. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [7:21 - 7:37]: And who knew that plan even existed? I had no idea, so I didn't know it was a thing. So another thing that I think is something that you guys do take, do consider, and do talk about is affordable housing. Affordable housing is becoming more and more of an issue. 

 

Zane Smith [7:39 - 8:49]: It's probably top of mind for most people. And I think Florida is not unique in that across the country, housing. We're in a housing crisis. And not just affordable, but accessible. Right. I think there's some misnomers out there when people talk about affordable housing that it automatically means it's accessible, either financially or in a physical way for people with mobility issues or with issues as you age going up five fights a stair is not accessible, even though it may be affordable. So we're facing a housing crisis, and it doesn't just relate to the physical dwellings that are available with housing comes the cost of insurance. And we know across the country, natural disasters are on the uptick. And it's no longer just coastal communities. Right. We're seeing middle of America facing floods of epic proportions. We just had, unfortunately, Helene, which was a hurricane that impacted Florida, but moved through, you know, the deep south, wreaking havoc. And so housing affordability and all the things associated with that insurance, property taxes are a real concern for Americans and a lot of older Americans. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [8:49 - 9:14]: Yeah, absolutely. And then heating and air conditioning. I know that here in the great state of Florida, we're going into the summer months and those AC bills are going to skyrocket because it gets blistering hot and we have to kind of keep cool here. So making sure that you're able to afford that, because seniors sometimes, to save money, will turn off that ac and that's when you can, you can run into some real trouble. 

 

Zane Smith [9:15 - 10:05]: Yeah. Heating and cooling costs are certainly a concern. And like you mentioned here in Florida, to have to choose between running your AC at 80 degrees, because let's be real, we're not talking about people turning it down to 65 and having a nice cold apartment, home, condo, wherever you live. We're talking people 78, 80 degrees in their home. It becomes a health issue for a lot of seniors. I don't know that a lot of people are aware that as we age, heat and cool really do impact significantly our overall health and well being. You know, we saw in a very extreme case after Hurricane Irma here in Florida, when the power went out at a nursing home, residents passed away. And it was because of the heat. And, you know, with the rising cost of monthly electric bills, people are forced to choose between groceries, gas, prescriptions, and AC here in Florida. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [10:06 - 10:22]: Yeah, exactly. So there's a lot of different things that are impacting seniors every day that AARP really considers, thinks about and becomes resources for. I love that. So what are you hearing from your members about what are their overall concerns about the cost of living? 

 

Zane Smith [10:24 - 10:53]: You know, I think it's being stuck in between a rock and a hard spot. Right. So they're not seeing if they're income restricted, which that's a certain category where people are relying on Social Security or any type of retirement savings they were able to accrue over their working life. So you don't have increase in income, you just have a steady income. Right. And so as everything continues to rise, whether it be the cost of groceries, your utility bills, prescription drugs, you name it, whatever, everything keeps going up, but their income doesn't go up. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [10:53 - 10:54]: Exactly. 

 

Zane Smith [10:54 - 11:28]: And so you have people that are really struggling day to day to afford where they're living. So I think the homelessness of the 60 plus is going up. We're seeing that across the country, especially here in Florida, where more and more older residents are having to leave their homes and start living in cars or start utilizing public assistance programs in homeless shelters. In talking with a bunch of the housing advocates here in Florida and in other states, there's a definitive uptick in homeless seniors in America. And that's pretty sad to see happening. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [11:29 - 13:21]: Yeah, I think families become a little bit more fragmented. I know that as I grew up, all of our family was like in the same area. We had big family get togethers. And since probably in the last 15, 20 years, everyone's kind of moved away. Everyone. It's very fragmented and it's not out of any particular reason. People just get jobs and they move the kids. All the different things start happening. And so no one's really close anymore. We don't have big family get togethers. And I think that's becoming more and more common. And I think that kind of lends to kind of what you're talking about, where seniors find themselves, maybe where their family is no longer close and can take care of them. And then I think that we're kind of living in a time where those same seniors that are living month to month on that Social Security, that they maybe lived paycheck to paycheck their entire lives, they maybe never received any kind of government assistance. They never lived off of any kind of housing assistant or anything like that. But they did work a good steady job. They fed their families, they, they paid their bills, but they never had extra to save for that retirement. And they never got. Had a job that had pensions or pensions weren't offered, which, you know, if you find a job with a pension, you need to like have a happy dance on a TikTok or something because that just doesn't occur anymore. So I think you're just now finding where more and more are coming to that point in their lives where now then they, they can't live, you know, they can't earn that extra money to fill in that gap because they just don't have the ability to do that because they're older and they just can't find a job or they can't work or they're older that you just. Your money is what your money is. You can't go find a better job and you can't fill in that gap. And then they really find themselves in a position where they really don't know what to do. 

 

Zane Smith [13:22 - 14:05]: And I think you're peeling back another layer of that onion of considerations. As we age, we are seeing across the country, especially here in Florida, an uptick in older individuals trying to return to the workplace because the affordability has become an issue. And they are facing significant challenges now with age discrimination. You know, they, they don't want to be hired over the younger worker that's applying, or they may have too much experience and would cost too much for an employer to hire versus a person that's young, maybe no experience, but they can, you know, hire in an entry level salary. And so we're seeing that kind of explode now across the country as well as returning to the workplace as an older worker is tough. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [14:05 - 14:56]: Right, right. You almost think of, when you think of the older worker that they voluntarily go back to work because they're bored and they just want to be a Walmart greeter. Well, it's expanded beyond the Walmart greeter where they're, they're going in and they're busing tables or doing some really hardcore work where it's a physical thing. And that's, that's hard on a senior. People don't, you know, you know, I'm not super old, but I'm telling you, the older I get, the more tired I get, the more more I physically feel the age coming on. So I can't Even imagine it 15, 20 years from now. You know, it's just, oh, anyway, I'm with you moving on from that. So, so for aarp, so what are they doing to protect those consumer costs on a national level? 

 

Zane Smith [14:57 - 16:29]: So we do a few different things. The main, I think we advocate for, no matter what arena we're talking about when it comes to consumer costs, is transparency and accountability. You know, there are decision makers in all 50 states and in Washington that get to kind of set the rules of how much a power company can increase their monthly power bill or a water company or, you know, any type setting costs for things around insurance premiums or car insurance. And so AARP really advocates across the country, in all 50 states and in Washington to really create this sense of transparency around how the decisions are made and what's influencing those decisions and what is actually fair and necessary and justified, and then holding the decision makers accountable. And we hold them accountable by educating the public, educating our members. You know, I think here in Florida, we can point to we're in the midst of the country's largest electric utility rate increase request and we have a power company that is looking to get excessive return on equity or profit. And so one of the things we're not only advocating for as an organization, but we're educating the public and telling them, hey, raise your voice. You know, this is your opportunity for the Florida Public Service Commission to hear from you about how this unnecessary profit increase is going to personally impact you, you know, sharing those stories. And so really, it's about transparency and accountability, and it's not just happening here in Florida. We're doing it across the country and in Washington. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [16:29 - 17:16]: Yeah, that's absolutely fabulous. Yeah, it's good to hear that people really do need to raise their own voices to be heard. Advocacy groups are incredible, and they're that push forward to get in front of those, you know, decision makers, the people that cast the ballots, the people that make the rules. But the voices at the level of the, you know, the consumer, the voters. The voters, those are the ones they really, really need to reach out. And I think sometimes we get lackadaisical thinking that other people are gonna do the work for us. And you really have to be an advocate for yourself. You know, you have to be an advocate for yourself. When you go to the doctor, you have to be an advocate for yourself. And anything that you do, you really do have to continue to advocate for yourself, the things that matter to you and your family the most. 

 

Zane Smith [17:17 - 18:12]: So, yeah, you nailed it on that. And I think the other piece of that is education is key, right? It's super easy as a human or as an individual in your own community, in your own home, to be what I call a keyboard warrior, where you can just get on a social media platform and try to blame the other side or blame someone when you don't really know yourself what the issue is and how it may actually impact you personally or your loved ones. And so we really strive at AARP to educate people on the issues is don't trust us and don't trust them. Go find out for yourself how this is going to impact you. And so I think that's the key. And what we do in advocacy, no matter what the issue may be, is education. A better educated populace turns into better advocates for themselves and for their community and for their families. And then that then holds the accountability piece true to all these decision makers. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [18:12 - 18:53]: I love that because, you know, you hit the nail on the head. We've turned into a nation of keeping keyboard warriors, and I think that that has diminished the education side of it, because you're getting your information from other keyboard warriors or from misinformation. I know my son's told me some things and I said, where did you hear that? I saw it on YouTube. Okay, yeah, so that's not legitimate. I don't know who provided you that information, but let's educate ourselves. So, you know, I think that that's something that's definitely becoming more and more of a of part problem. So as far as AARP and the educational piece, that's something that can be a resource on the educational side, correct? 

 

Zane Smith [18:54 - 20:39]: Absolutely. And you know, there's like aarp, there are a lot of fantastic organizations out there that are truly nonpartisan, that pull resources and research from both sides of the aisle, from the experts in the field, compile, you know, lists of, you know, books or writings or publish published material for people to go educate themselves. You know, I think it's important when we do self educate on an issue, no matter if it's about caregiving or utilities or, you know, prescription drugs that you know who you're getting your information from. And I know you kind of hit on that. Like YouTube's probably not the best source, but going to fact find and verify who you're receiving the information from, knowing. Is there a political bias involved in this, this written piece? I think that's important. And I, I just feel like people have gotten kind of lazy and have kind of sat back and just let people tell them what to think as opposed to going, wait a minute, that doesn't necessarily make sense or that's not what I thought I, I understood it to be. And instead of going and checking, people just throw their hands up or like I say, get on the keyboard warrior path and start pointing fingers. But you know, AARP as a nonprofit and as a nonpartisan organization, we're one of the few large scale that don't have a pact. So we don't run a political action committee, we don't endorse political candidates, we don't put money into politics in any kind of race, whether it be federal, state or local. We're a true nonpartisan. You know, we have our members that from both sides of the political spectrum often gripe at us. And my theory is if we're catching it from the right and left leaning members that we have, we're doing something right because we're in the middle and we're making both sides angry with us. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [20:39 - 20:42]: You are 100% doing something right. 

 

Zane Smith [20:42 - 21:47]: We are. So I take that as a badge of honor. When I get my emails, I call them nasty grain sometimes. But when I've got some of our members that are really frustrated because we're not doing X or we are doing Y. But again, when you have a nonpartisan organization that really tries to put out information that is in the interest of the group that we represent, which is the 50 plus, those type of resources are valid. I know we have members of Congress and legislators across the country from both sides of the aisle that utilize our research by the experts and put it into developing legislation or making decisions. And so I think I pride myself on working at AARP in an organization like this that truly is a nonpartisan. And I wish more people took the time to really research where information is coming from, who they're involving themselves with and, you know, would raise their hand to, you know, volunteer with groups that mean something not just to them, but to, to the, what they want the world to be or their community to be. Because there's a lot of good groups out there and that are worthwhile of everyone's time. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [21:47 - 22:58]: Yeah, absolutely. So I did want to kind of loop back around because I know that we talked a little bit about utility rates as they're increasing. You know, specifically, you know, you mentioned the state of Florida, but honestly, nationwide, it's, it's, it's a problem. And you know, for seniors, they are on that limited budget, so they're making X amount of money, but then everything else is increasing. So cost of housing is increasing, cost of food is increasing, cost of utilities. So they're getting less and less money for disposable income. Not that they had a lot anyway. So they're going to have to give up something. So what are they going to give up? Are they going to give up something nutritious to eat? Are they going to give up, you know, you know, going out as far as, like, they're not going to go anywhere, they're going to give up gas money. Are they going to just stay at home and watch television and not have any kind of social interaction, which is something that they need as well. So they're just going to have to give up something to make up for the same thing that they already have so they're not getting anything extra. So what are some things that they can do at home to kind of look at their, their kind of monitor and kind of see and save money on that utility side and kind of see what's going on there to see if any of the utilities are affecting them? 

 

Zane Smith [22:58 - 25:20]: Yeah, no, I think that's a great question. And there's a few things people can do, you know, monitoring Your monthly bill is, is part of ensuring that your usage, like if you see a spike. So if one month you're seeing, you know, $100, like give or take, right. 100 bucks for your bill, the next month, all of a sudden it's 200, I think it's time to go look at your bill because maybe something's not correct. If it's a water bill that goes up like that, maybe you have a leak and you can call your water department out. Or if it's an electric issue, you can take a look at the, the usage and try to identify where you're getting power drained that you're not using. And then talk to your, your utility company. I know across the country utility companies have all sorts of program where, if it's a electric issue and you have concerns, they'll come out and try to address it with you. They'll figure out where can you save, what kind of energy conservation products could you use? How can you insulate your home to not have to run your air conditioning so much with water leaks? You can call your water company, they'll come out and see if they can detect an underground water leaks to help you learn how you can either stop the water leak if it's your responsibility, if it's the city or county's responsibility to fix the water leak. But knowing and monitoring what your bill and your usage looks like is a great step. There's also assistance programs that are on the books. States and federal programs exist to help curb the costs of utilities. A lot of low income seniors qualify for a program that's called LIHEAP that allows for you to have the cost of your monthly power bill cut in half in many situations. So calling your utility company is one place where they'll have that kind of information. What programs exist, what you might qualify for. It's just knowing, knowing and being aware of your usage and your power bills or your water bills or your gas bills and then being proactive in finding out how you can cut the cost or is there an issue going on that'll help save money? I know that's not a silver bullet. And you know, like you said, people are having to choose between, you know, going out for dinner or maybe rationing their prescription drugs or maybe not getting the groceries that they need. So there are some hard choices, but if you're more informed, there's, there's ways you can try to help stop some of the increasing costs as well. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [25:20 - 25:35]: Yeah, and you may not know the answer to this, and maybe you do and Maybe I'm completely insane for asking it, but are there any utility specific senior programs? Do utility companies offer specific rates for senior for seniors? 

 

Zane Smith [25:36 - 26:20]: I think that's a great question. Federally, there's nothing that's like age restricted. Typically they're based on income. And so a lot of seniors do fall into those kind of programs because there's a limited income or a static income states. Each state and each utility company, frankly can decide what they want to do as it relates to older residents. And so I think you're asking a great question. I don't know the answer off the top of my head. I know in Florida there is no age specific, you know, rate. So it's not like, you know, if you're a 65 plus resident, you have a lower kilowatt per hour rate than someone who's like me, who's 44, you know, and in the same power company that doesn't exist in Florida, but it could in other states or it could with other power companies. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [26:20 - 26:23]: Okay, yeah, just food for thought. So. 

 

Zane Smith [26:23 - 26:27]: Yeah, yeah, no, I, I think it's a good food for thought. Sounds like a good advocacy campaign. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [26:27 - 26:35]: Yeah. So if you were to advocate for yourself, what are some advocacy things that you could do to kind of push that needle forward? 

 

Zane Smith [26:37 - 27:50]: So I think there's a few things. One, get engaged, right? Like no matter what age you are, where you live, we have the luxury of a more virtual world. So whether it be in person or in virtual groups, get engaged in consumer groups. Folks that have their kind of their thumb on the pulse of what's happening around the country or in your community. So volunteer for consumer groups or you know, sign up for newsletters so you can educate yourself around different issues, around what it means to you. Get to know your elected officials. And again, you can do that from the comfort of your recliner. Right. Learn what your elected officials their, their views and their thoughts. Because a lot of what we're seeing around the country when it comes to cost setting in communities, think utilities, insurance products, those decisions are made in the capital cities across the country. So those are your elected officials. So engage with your elected officials, reach out, ask for a meeting, tell them how increase in X, Y or Z is impacting you, your family, your well being and just stay engaged with your community. Because if you're having feelings or you're unsure about things, I would guarantee a lot of your community members feel the same way. And so there's always power and strength in numbers as well. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [27:51 - 27:58]: Yeah, absolutely. So what are some other resources that might be helpful to our audience today? 

 

Zane Smith [27:59 - 28:39]: Well, I would encourage. Yeah. Now, aarp, we're not a single issue organization and we have a wealth of information. And I would encourage the listeners to go to www.aarp.org for the nationwide view of all things AARP. If you want to dig down to state specific. So if you're here in Florida, if you're in Texas, or if you're in California or West Virgin, you can filter by state. And so you can get resources from the www.aarp.org. you can put backslash FL for Florida or backslash TX for Texas. So use your state abbreviation and that'll take you to everything state specific. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [28:39 - 29:07]: Okay, very good. And I know that in the past, some of the things that we've talked about regarding AARP that I love, because this is something that it's not regarding this podcast, but fraud and scam prevention, that is huge for specifically our. For everyone, to be quite frank with you. But our seniors in general, they become a higher target. So learning about that, because that is ever changing. Those frauds, fraudsters and scammers are always coming up with something new and creative. 

 

Zane Smith [29:07 - 29:08]: They are slick. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [29:10 - 29:21]: They are scarily slick. And with AI getting more and more, some of the stuff that's coming out on AI every single day that I see makes my mind go. It just blows. It just. 

 

Zane Smith [29:21 - 29:22]: Yeah, I think they know before we. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [29:22 - 29:57]: Know it is so scary. So really keeping up to date on that. And if you're not a senior and you're a caregiver listening to this podcast, honestly, go in there and look at it, because you need to have that conversation with your senior, because they are the target. And one of the things that I know that we've talked about is don't make them feel bad if they become a target of that scam, because a lot of times they won't share that with you afterwards. And then it's really hard to kind of fix and go backwards. And then you guys have all kinds of webinars and virtual classes, all kinds of fun interactives versus just going and reading. So I think that that's really cool as well. 

 

Zane Smith [29:58 - 30:02]: Yep, stay engaged. That's the way to. The way to do it these days. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [30:02 - 30:11]: Yeah, absolutely. I love your. The resources that you provide. Well, I really appreciate you joining me on this podcast. Is there anything else that you wanted to share that we didn't talk about before we sign off? 

 

Zane Smith [30:12 - 30:26]: The only thing I tell people is educate, engage, and try to live well. We're all in this together, and AARP is here to be a helpful resource for anyone as they age. And so thank you for having me today. This has been a fantastic experience. 

 

Darleen Mahoney [30:27 - 30:58]: I have so enjoyed speaking with you today, Zane. It has been so much fun and I did learn so much. Hopefully our listeners did too. And definitely if you're listening to this podcast, go check out aarp.org and I will include that link into the description and all the apps for this podcast so you can go visit it. Check out the resources that they provide and if you enjoy this podcast, we are available with over 100 podcasts anywhere you listen to podcasts such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GoodPods, and many more. Thanks for listening.

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