Welcome to the second quarterly issue of Prime for 2025 and thank you for continuing to pick up our publication!
If you miss the stories and information that you used to find in the monthly edition of Prime — and you’ve got a computer, tablet or smartphone — you’ll now find a Prime story every week as part of The Reminder’s newsletter blast! Sign up to get your weekly e-newsletter — highlighting the top stories from our eight weeklies — plus stories from Prime and our monthly lifestyle magazine,Go Local, at https://thereminder.com/contact.
We’ve titled this the Planning Issue — and anyone who is approaching full retirement age this year or in the near future (66 years and 8 months for those born in 1958, 66 years and 10 months for those born in 1959 and 67 years old for those born in 1960 or later), planning for that next phase of life should be a big priority.
And in these uncertain times, that retirement plan may take on a different look than what you imagined a few years ago. Trends towards phased retirement, unretirement, never retiring, career changes, entrepreneurship ... you name it ... it’s on the table now.
But whatever your retirement planning looks like these days, there should be several parts - including a financial aspect and a social/emotional aspect. It’s the social part of retirement planning that often trips retirees up, according to many studies.
So to help you prepare — or adjust — your retirement planning — at whatever point you are — Prime reached out to some local experts.
We asked questions about when to start saving (for your kids), how to catch up, how spending changes in retirement - and is it ever too late for a financial plan — and the financial advisors who work with UMassFive Credit Union answered.
We also asked a local career coach — Tiffany Greene of Longmeadow — about ways to prepare for the social and emotional shifts that happen when you step away from that daily work schedule. With 25 years in HR before opening her coaching business, Green has plenty of insights and advice to share.
You’ll find all this insightful information in this month’s feature story on page 13
And that isn’t all the planning advice you’ll find in this issue. Got travel plans? Prime’s travel writer Sandra Marsian — and her colleagues in the travel business — pass on tips for navigating the new European visa, airline baggage changes and finding those all-important vacation values. Get their advice in Three Big Questions on page 12.
You’ll also find a wealth of apps and websites for planning everything from your estate to your next vacation in this month’s Tech column on page 17.
Getting hit with spring allergies? Prime has reached back into the archives to highlight the natural alternatives to allergy medicines suggested by our longtime alternative medicine columnist, Jonathan Evans, who left us too soon, passing away in January 2024. That column, originally published in April 2019, is on page 16.
Prime wants to send you to the ballgame!
April marks the beginning of baseball season, and Prime has a chance for you to see a game close to home, on us! We’ve got a four-pack of tickets to the Hartford Yard Goats and we’ll be awarding them to a lucky reader! To enter the drawing, fill out the form on page 7 — or visit our website www.primeontheweb.com.
There’s no ignoring that times are turbulent and uncertain, and we at Prime are aware of the stress that shifts in programs and other services may place on readers. Our annual guide to resources that may be able to offer advice or assistance, Savvy After 55, is available online at https://www.primeontheweb.com/savvy.
I hope it proves helpful. As always, thanks for reading,
Debbie Gardner
