Contest seeks new image for longer-living Americans; Following Census Bureau Report of improving health, seniors will submit age-defying, un-wimpy activities

KIRKLAND, Wash., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 65 no longer means over the hill, but old stereotypes remain, according to LTC Financial Partners LLC, the nation's most experienced long term care insurance brokerage. To change perceptions, they are running a contest to show just how alive and capable today's seniors really are.  

The "Over 65, Into Over-Drive" contest, which starts today, solicits examples of robust, dynamic activity. Americans 65 or older are invited to submit their stereotype-breaking physical and mental feats. Entrants must complete the following sentence in 25 words or less: "I am over 65 and ..." Examples of entries are:

 

  *  I am over 65 and ... I'm in training for the New York Marathon.

  *  I am over 65 and ... I play golf better than my dentist, who's half my

     age.

  *  I am over 65 and ... I just took up hang gliding.

  *  I am over 65 and ... I'm teaching rocket science (really!) to local

     youth groups.

  *  I am over 65 and ... I just got the first job of my second career, as a

     standup comedian.

The contest may seem tongue-in-cheek but the intent is serious. As 77 million baby boomers approach a robust retirement and ever-increasing lifespans, seniors continue to suffer from a wimpy image. On March 9 the U.S. Census Bureau reported improving health and wealth among senior Americans, along with a projected doubling of the 65-plus population over the next 25 years. "The new reality needs to get into people's heads," says Jonas Roeser, Director of Marketing for LTC Financial Partners. "It's 2006, not 1806. Today's seniors are healthy, active, and dynamic. But the public still associates retirement age with slowing down, losing memory and so forth. That's all wrong."

Submissions should be "basically true, but poetic license is allowed," says Roeser. All submitters will receive a free copy of the guidebook, "Dignity for Life -- Facts That Can Protect Your Assets and Quality of Life."

All submissions will be posted on the Internet. Twenty winning entries -- a selection of the most interesting and diverse -- will be announced to the media, on June 12. A submission form is available online, at http://www.eranova.com/LTCFP/over65contest.htm.