Episodes
Feb. 19, 2024
A Remarkable Saga of Career Reinvention—Across 50 Years
Hudson Cooper is proof-positive that career reinvention can be a lifelong enterprise—past our 50s and continuing well into our so-called “retirement” years. Hudson initially thought he would have a career in medicine and then...
Feb. 12, 2024
How to Have Those ‘Missing Conversations’ about Later Life
In an era of increasing longevity, we have the opportunity to lead vital and meaningful lives far into our later years. But there are lots of decisions facing “longevity adults” that require thoughtful, sometimes difficult, c...
Feb. 5, 2024
It’s 2024: Do You Know Where Your Job (or Retirement) Is Headed?
Over the last several decades, the job market has gone through a roller-coaster of change: the Black Monday stock market crash, the 1990s recession, 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2008 financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, fo...
Jan. 29, 2024
A Substance Abuse Counselor Presents his New “ABCs of Recovery”
Every week, we see a stream of news stories about opioid addiction, drug overdoses, and mental health issues—people from teens to seniors coping with stress, burnout, depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicidal ideation. We ...
Jan. 22, 2024
How to Get Long-term Care—Without Pulling Your Family Apart!
When we think about our later years, we know that because we’re living longer these days, we need to create a realistic financial plan for retirement—to make sure we don’t run out of money. But we still have a hard time talki...
Jan. 15, 2024
Can We Promote ‘Compassionate Care in Our Health Care System?
In an age when health care is driven by specialization and technology, Dr. Stephen Post is a rare and remarkable blend of scientist and humanist, a best-selling author and transformative speaker who has inspired thousands of ...
Jan. 8, 2024
What It Means to be Curious in Life—Beyond Googling
As we head into another new year, we wonder what lies ahead in the coming months. We’re “curious,” we say, about what will happen in the November elections; what’s in store for us in new TV shows and movie premiers; the outco...
Dec. 18, 2023
During This Time of Turbulence, a Rabbi Offers Interfaith Wisdom
As we close out another year and welcome in a new one, it’s an opportune time to pause and contemplate where we are in our lives, personally and as a nation. Are we happy and productive as we move into our later years? Spirit...
Dec. 11, 2023
A Crossword Master Reveals a Trove of Tips, Tricks and Stories
Since the launch of the New York Times Crossword in 1942, crossword puzzles have captivated problem solvers with engaging word games. For an estimated 50 million people, crossword puzzles are part of daily life, and for many,...
Dec. 4, 2023
What Will Science—Driven by AI—Look Like in our Lifetime?
For centuries, science has been driven by human intellect. But for those of us who’ve grown up mostly in the last century, the course of science has been taking a dramatic shift with the ascent of artificial intelligence. Wha...
Nov. 27, 2023
The Ultimate Issue for Caregivers: How Do You Care for Yourself?
As National Family Caregiver Month comes to a close, we offer the last in a series of 45 Forward conversations on a critical topic for every family caregiver: How do you care for YOURSELF? Because if you don’t, you will be of...
Nov. 20, 2023
A “Shadow Expert” Reimagines Age, Shifting from Role to Soul
Connie Zweig has many roles in her current life: retired therapist, writer, Citizens Climate Lobbyist, wife, stepmother, and grandmother. But she’s most widely known as the “Shadow Expert,” a pioneer in the field of “Shadow W...
Nov. 13, 2023
Unique Programs that Support Caregivers of People with Dementia
November commemorates both National Family Caregivers Month and Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, a special time to support and honor the unique challenges faced by family caregivers of older adults with dementia. In today...
Nov. 6, 2023
An Elder Care Expert Reflects on a Career Supporting Caregivers
As we celebrate National Family Caregivers Month, today’s episode of 45 Forward celebrates a special leader in the elder care field, Laura LaFauci, who reflects on her years of varied experiences helping seniors and caregiver...
Oct. 30, 2023
How ‘Beloved Music’ Can Benefit Individuals with Dementia
If you’ve ever seen the documentary, “Alive Inside,” a documentary that shows people with Alzheimer’s responding to personalized music—music that has been deeply meaningful to their lives—you’ve surely been amazed to witness ...
Oct. 23, 2023
Planning a Longer Lifespan with Multiple Careers in Mind
Navigating one’s career all the way through to retirement can be challenging and unpredictable—but also rewarding and inspiring, given the many societal shifts we’re facing these days. Industries are undergoing rapid change a...
Oct. 16, 2023
How to Release Yourself from Negative ‘Expired Mindsets’
As we look back and review our lives, many of us realize that we’ve become stuck in a cycle of repetitive behavior patterns that keep us from moving forward, trapped within unresolved, often painful mindsets. How do find ways...
Oct. 9, 2023
The “Aging Wisely Project”: Redefining a New Stage of Elderhood
As Scott Fisher and Ben Green approached their 70th birthdays, the two lifelong friends decided to dig deeply into the challenges of healthy aging. Faced with the prospect of retirement, declining bodies, and the insistent re...
Oct. 2, 2023
How Patient Advocates Help You Navigate the Healthcare System
If you’ve ever been faced with the sudden task of overseeing a loved one’s care when they’re admitted to a hospital, or when they’re being discharged to rehab, or transitioned back home, well, you know how confusing and overw...
Sept. 25, 2023
How Sports-Minded Seniors Can Learn to Protect their Joints
Everywhere you go these days, people are playing pickleball. It’s especially big among those age 55 and older, who account for more than half of the passionate players of this fast-growing game. With pickleball providing cons...
Sept. 18, 2023
With Fall in Full Swing, It’s Time to Get Organized—Again!
September is a pivotal time to pause, get organized, declutter our lives and plan for the future, whether for the next few months, the next several years or our retirement. But getting organized is not so easy for most of us,...
Sept. 11, 2023
The Legacy of 9/11: How Do We Ever Recover from Grief?
Each year, September 11th marks a solemn anniversary, when our nation remembers and honors the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. More than two decades later, it’s still a difficult and emotional day, as families and comm...
Aug. 21, 2023
How a Passion for Teaching Led to Spreading ‘Simple Happiness’
Graduating from college as an outstanding student in French, Jim Ryan began his career as a high school foreign language teacher on Long Island. But over the years, his passion for teaching would take him on an unexpected jou...
Aug. 14, 2023
The Inspiring Tale of a Fulfilling, Changing—and Unretiring—Life
When we graduate from college, we often have little idea of where we’ll find ourselves in the second half of life. We wonder how our career will evolve; how we will grow a family and move into our middle ages; what surprises ...