In New Zealand, a company has developed flooring tiles that absorb the impact of falls.

In Japan, a wearable robot suit called the Hybrid Assistive Limb uses sensors that read nerve signals and tell the suit how to move, assisting people who have weakened muscles or disabilities.

In the United States, the Center for Aging Services Technologies is working on a mattress pad that can assess vital signs like heart rate and breathing, and transmit the data to health-care professionals.

In a host of ways, virtually every American community and institution will have to adapt to aging in the next 25 years. More…

The most popular states to which professionals choose to retire are Florida and Texas. During the past two decades, 9 percent of all Americans over age 60—some 4.4 million people total—relocated, according to an AARP Aging and Migration report.

“Each state has a different taxing system, so find out what tax benefits individual states offer by contacting the municipal office in the city of your dreams,” advises Steven Gershman, a certified public accountant with KatzAbosch in Timonium, Md. “Do your research before deciding on a state to relocate to.” More…

The 2008 financial meltdown devastated retirement portfolios, turning the lifelong dreams of countless Americans into bitter disappointments. A double whammy for many retirees was realized when they discovered their supposedly balanced investments were anything but and asked their brokers what happened.

Advocates for retirees say in some cases people failed to understand their brokers’ fiduciary role. Though a broker’s business card might say “financial adviser,” often his first duty is to his firm. More…

Your initial reaction may be: Retirement? I’m YEARS away from retirement. I don’t have to think about that now.

Think again.

If you’re more than a decade away from retirement, now is the best time to begin preparing. Younger workers, of course, can use the power of compound interest to ensure a smooth financial picture in retirement. More…

Americans are a staggering $6.6 trillion shy of the savings they need for retirement. That’s the figure arrived at by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research in a report published Monday, Sept. 20, 2010.

To get there, the researchers made an interesting and highly optimistic set of assumptions: All retirees will take out a reverse mortgage. And they’ll put More…

To live the rich life expresses a goal for most of us, but unfortunately it has become an elusive dream for many modern-day retirees.

Today’s retirement living involves more than just leaving a job; it’s the beginning of a new chapter of life. Many baby boomers have hit their retirement target age and are eager to say goodbye to the employment ball and chain and hello to leisurely pursuits of travel and recreation. Others have been forced into early retirement by business restructuring and budget cuts but are none too optimistic about reemployment prospects. More…

With the Great Recession still lingering, many people face difficulties in managing their cash flow, assets and debts. Planning for retirement has gotten a lot more complicated in the last two years for millions who have lost jobs and/or seen the value of their homes and retirement accounts dwindle. Some who a short time ago thought their Golden Years appeared rock solid now face the possibility of outliving their money. For many, these worries are profound, and they are very real. More…

Need a real break from the daily grind? Timothy Ferriss, best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, offers the following tips for getting away from it all:

The “Mini-Retirement”
1. Give up the idea of the Two-Week, “Too-Weak” vacation. Two weeks is barely enough time to de-stress from the pressure of being overworked, Ferriss argues, let alone give you time to dream, plan or refocus. It also shortchanges your locale, because you don’t really get a chance to know the area, the people or the culture. More…

After years in the work force filled with stress and 80-hour work weeks, retirement can be a long-overdue blessing. It’s time for you to settle down and enjoy the golden years of your life, and one of the most important decisions to make about retirement is where to live. More…

If you are concerned about having the ability to retire as early as you had previously intended, you’re not alone. Many people planning for retirement have seen their savings shrink during the past decade.

With retirement confidence at an all-time low, according to recent surveys conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, many Americans now plan to work until a much later age. More…