By Mike Costanza

After decades in real estate development, Anthony DiMarzo still enjoys going to work.

“I just love the business,” said the president, CEO and owner of Mark IV Enterprises, Inc., a top real estate development and management firm in the Rochester area.

That dedication to his work, along with hard work, good business skills and an eye for a good deal, has helped make the 68-year-old one of leading local developers. Mark IV Enterprises has grown to encompass about 150 properties throughout and beyond Monroe County, including commercial properties, apartment complexes and pioneering senior residential communities.

Not bad for someone who began his working life being paid in cookies.

DiMarzo’s career path began in a small grocery store that his parents bought on Rochester’s Verona Street after coming here from Gaeta, Italy. Their children helped in the store when they were not in school. DiMarzo remembers pulling a little red wagon full of groceries to customers’ homes as a child.

“I would get a cookie in exchange,” he said, chuckling at the thought. “Not bad.”

By the time DiMarzo got his driver’s license, he’d put aside the red wagon but continued working at his parents’ store. Three times a week, he would get up at 5 a.m. and drive the store’s van to the Rochester Public Market, where he and his father would buy goods for the grocery. After they’d unloaded back at the store, DiMarzo would head to Jefferson High School. After school, he’d head back to the store and deliver more groceries.

It was while helping his parents that DiMarzo got his first taste of the real estate business. They had purchased properties near the family store for rental or sale.

“I used to go with my mother to rent them [and] show them,” he said.

Those experiences gave him the idea of buying his own properties. Delivering groceries around the area had given him the chance to look over good prospects. He bought his first property, a Verona Street house owned by one of the grocery store’s customers, when he was only 16, DiMarzo said.

That first deal seemed to reflect a time when a good reputation counted more than an expensive suit in a business deal, and bank financing wasn’t needed to clinch it. DiMarzo said the owner of the property, who knew him and his family, held its $5,000 mortgage.

“The first deal was written on a brown bag [from] the grocery store,” he said.

The teenager made a deposit of $500, signed his name on the bag and walked away with the keys.

DiMarzo converted that house into one that was suited for two families, rented the properties and began looking for others in the neighborhood to purchase.

After graduating from Jefferson, he headed to Syracuse University to study finance and real estate.

“I went to Syracuse with 16 [rental] units under my belt,” DiMarzo said with pride. When he graduated from SU, DiMarzo married and spent the next two years working in the family grocery while expanding his real estate holdings.

“My belief is, if you look at a piece of property, you find the right use for it,” he said. “Whatever it takes to get that use, because you believe that that’s going to work, then that’s the right thing for that area.”

That was a heady time for Rochester. Business was booming, the area’s major employers were hiring and their new employees needed places to live. To capitalize on that growing market, DiMarzo joined with his brother, Patsy, his sister, Angela, and her husband, Lou Basso, in 1967 to form the Mark IV Construction Company.

The new company, which was the predecessor of Mark IV Enterprises, focused on home construction, real estate development and management. Its first large project was the construction of a 110-unit apartment complex in Charlotte, just a short bus ride from Kodak Park, the film giant’s huge distribution center.

“Eighty percent of our people who rented there were [from] Kodak,” DiMarzo said.

The firm continued building apartments until the mid 1980s when demographic and market changes prompted a shift of its focus, DiMarzo said. As a result, Mark IV began building upscale homes as large as 3,000 square feet and then smaller patio homes and town homes. DiMarzo estimated that Mark IV built and sold about 1,500 town homes in Monroe County alone during that period. It also broke into the construction of commercial real estate, building such mixed-use projects as Country Village, a 60,000-square-foot property in Greece that offers shops and offices for rent.

Donald Riley, the supervisor of the town of Greece from 1972 to 1989, encountered DiMarzo when he came to Greece seeking permission to build. He said he liked what he saw in the developer.

“He’s very artistic,” Riley said. “He can actually look at an empty space and have a pretty good handle on what he wants it to look like.”

Riley said that DiMarzo’s personal skills also stood out, particularly when he sat down with Greece residents who were concerned about the effects his projects could have on their own properties and lives.

“People get used to living near an open space, and even though they don’t own it, they almost think of it as theirs,” Riley explained. “When someone wants to come along and build something, it’s feared.”

DiMarzo worked to quell those concerns.

“He was willing to sit down with them in their houses and backyards, not to cajole them or work them, but to show them what he wanted to do,” Riley said.
Riley said that that kind of attitude toward the community helped Mark IV build three projects in Greece during his tenure as supervisor. Riley has since left public service and is now Mark IV’s vice president for marketing and development.

As local adults grew older, they began seeking housing and living arrangements that allowed them to retain their autonomy while obtaining services or other assistance they might need. DiMarzo sensed an opportunity for Mark IV. “We saw a market coming that wasn’t being handled, [and] that wasn’t being satisfied,” DiMarzo said.

Mark IV began meeting those needs with its Legacy Senior Living Communities. The communities give older adults the chance to live independently in apartments or townhouses, while making use of the additional services they need to continue doing so. Those services include full-service dining facilities, libraries, personal laundry services, transportation services, as well as security and fire systems, individual emergency call systems, and a 24-hour staff.

Since the first Legacy community, Legacy at Willow Pond, was built in Penfield, five others have sprouted around Monroe County, and there is one in Ontario County.

Rick Herman, CEO of the Rochester Home Builders Association, said the development of the Legacy communities reflects an ability to see and make use of an opportunity for real estate development.

“Tony is a very astute businessman,” said Herman, who has known DiMarzo for about 25 years. “He was one of the pioneers in our area to say that the Baby Boomers are getting older, and they’re going to want different types of housing.”

Those qualities also led Mark IV to look beyond the suburbs for development opportunities.

“He was one of the first builders from the Rochester Home Builders Association that reached back into the city of Rochester and urban development,” Herman said.

As evidence of this, Herman pointed to Corn Hill Landing, the apartment complex that Mark IV completed on the Genesee River. Corn Hill features upscale apartments, thousands of feet of retail and restaurant space, boat docks, an underground garage and other amenities.

Under DiMarzo’s leadership, Mark IV has grown into a leading real estate development firm that has built and owns properties throughout the Rochester area. The complete list of those properties includes about 2,000 apartments, another 1,000 or so apartments and town homes in the firm’s Legacy communities, and as many as 12 commercial properties, DiMarzo said. The firm has also built and sold about 3,500 town homes. Most of those properties are in Monroe County, though a small number are in Ontario County.

“Our tax bill is over $20,000 a day,” he said. Mark IV manages all its own properties through management organizations developed especially for that purposes. The firm employs about 350 in winter, and as many as 450 in the summertime.

The work of developing a property has grown harder over the years, DiMarzo said. Whereas he clinched his first deal with a signature on a paper bag, a developer or construction company can only break ground on a new project today after filing tomes of paperwork, and obtaining the approval of multiple government boards or committees.

“It’s just an unlimited barrage of stuff you’ve got to go through,” DiMarzo said. “That’s probably the most challenging thing for me, now.”

Whereas that process once took as little as six months, it can take a great deal longer nowadays. Mark IV spent nearly six years getting approval to break ground on one of its newest projects, the Champion Hills Country Club in Victor, which opened in May of 2010. The facility and its 120-acre golf course abut Legacy at the Fairways, Mark IV’s local senior living community.

“You see that in Florida all the time, but up here you really don’t see too many integrations of golf courses to residential [quarters],” he said.

Though DiMarzo is a golfer, has traveled extensively and enjoys spending time with his family, he admits to spending much of his time at work. Even with those gray hairs, the father of three grown children and grandfather of five still puts in 11-hour workdays.

“I’m not running up the stairs, but I’ll run into any project, and I’ll work with you all the way,” he said. At one point, DiMarzo even took the time to hold office as CEO of the Rochester Home Builders Association.

DiMarzo might turn his business over to the younger generation some day — his sons Christopher and Steven are both vice presidents at Mark IV — but that could be far in the future.

“I don’t see retirement.”

Four things you didn’t know about Anthony DiMarzo…

• One of his first jobs was as a translator. DiMarzo’s parents were Italian immigrants who spoke little English when they bought a grocery store on Verona Street, but they could converse with the neighborhood’s other Italian immigrants. They initially turned to their children for help serving those who spoke only English. “It was a family business,” DiMarzo said.

• It’s all in the hair. DiMarzo credits hard work and not an abundance of special skills for his own achievements as a developer. “See all this gray hair?” he said, smiling, “it didn’t happen overnight.”

• Size didn’t matter. DiMarzo entered real estate while working at his family’s grocery store. Some might call that a small beginning. “The store was approximately 500 square feet,” he said from his desk at Mark IV Enterprises, “about the size of this office.”

• Or maybe it’s in the fingers. Though approaching 70, the president of Mark IV doesn’t sound as if he’s slowing down. “I’m out there pushing my finger around, saying, “Come on, let’s get this done, and I want it done this way,” he said.

By Dean M. Lichterman

From taxes to Tai-Chi,  from tourism to training, four Flower City women are proof of that, and they use their skills to help others and create successful ventures in and around Rochester.

Betty Perkins-Carpenter

At 80, she still runs her Penfield business, Senior Fitness, Inc.

Seven years ago, Betty Perkins-Carpenter decided that she needed to get her doctoral degree. She accomplished that goal – at the age of 75.

“I went back to school at age 72 to work for a PhD because physicians and professors told me that I must have a PhD if I wanted the medical field and academia to pay attention to my work. I graduated at 75 ½ and am still working at 79,” said Perkins-Carpenter. “It was brutal, studying and running a corporation, but it was worth all the effort. Especially gratifying is the fact that others have returned to get their advanced degrees because they felt, ‘If ‘you can do it, then I can do it.’ ”

The doctorate is in health administration. She also holds a bachelor of science degree in physical education administration and a master’s degree in child care administration.

Perkins-Carpenter turned 80 in January. She uses her knowledge to help fellow seniors through her business — Senior Fitness, Inc. — in Penfield.

“Our business is dedicated to providing seniors with vital, life-enhancing health and fitness information,” said Perkins-Carpenter. “Our goal is to educate and motivate this very important class of citizens about the benefits of physical fitness and fall prevention.” With the acclaimed 6-Step Balance System, she said, “We give seniors the tools to prevent falls, reduce their fear of falling and reduce injuries if a fall occurs with.”

She previously worked for the YWCA and the Air Force. Perkins-Carpenter is also the only person to have coached both men’s and women’s Olympic diving teams.

“My years of training our diving teams and exposure to the elite Olympic athletes gave me pertinent knowledge about motor memory,” said Perkins-Carpenter. “What I was observing and learning in those two corporations actually led to the founding of Senior Fitness. We were already doing water therapy with seniors for over 20 years and the pre-school children taught us more about falling.”

Sandy Baker

Rochester grandma still in charge of four businesses

Running a business can take up a lot of time and energy, and Sandy Baker, of Rochester, owns four of them. She works as a tour guide for Exotic Tour of Ethnic Markets, Gourmet Specialty Markets Tour, Here’s to Your Health Markets Tour. She’s a consultant through How to Deer-Proof Your Garden, a nutrition cooking instructor at the Cancer Project, and she offers cooking demonstrations and classes as “Chef Sandy.”

Baker started in the food business when she was 13. She declined to reveal her age for this story, but did say that she has two grandchildren.

“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t work. As a small child, I worked in my parents’ organic gardens and whenever I wanted, I could sell surplus fruits and vegetables to neighbors,” said Baker. “By the time I was 13, my parents helped me set up a fruit stand, which eventually grew into a large retail and wholesale produce business.”

Baker started her market tour company 12 years ago and followed that two years later with How to Deer-Proof Your Garden. Her “Chef Sandy” business began eight years ago, and her work with the Cancer Project started six years ago. In addition to her other endeavors, she is a nondenominational minister, acts in commercials and also with a comedy improv group.

Baker keeps herself in shape by exercising and doing yoga, meditation, diaphragmatic breathing exercises and eating an organic vegetarian diet.

“My health comes first. My family [and close friends] come second. My career comes after that,” Baker said. “For example, if someone asks me to do a market tour, I check with my daughter to be certain the children have no piano recitals, chess tournaments, etc. scheduled at that time.”

Diane Macchiavelli

Brighton Pathways to Health, a holistic business in Brighton, is her most recent business

In her own words, Diane Macchiavelli, is “passionate about helping and guiding people to find their way to wellness. Seeing them begin to live a life beyond their imagination and watching them grow gets me up and going every day.”

She helps people through her latest business: Brighton Pathways to Health (BPTH), which she describes as “the integrated health center that I am developing.”

BPTH has five practitioners. Macchiavelli is one of two practitioners of acupuncture. It also has one massage therapist, an art therapist and a teacher of jin shin jyutsu (a form of Japanese acupressure) along with life coaching.

“I started BPTH because there is a need in Rochester for people to receive integrated health care. The non-Western forms of medicine are as ancient as the people on this earth itself,” said Macchiavelli. “Treating people holistically, taking the entire experience of the human — the body, the mind and the spirit— into consideration and actually treating these three aspects together in one form of treatment is really important. And it’s really effective.”

Macchiavelli lists her age as “59 going on 60.” She has been operating a business since 1984, when she owned a design and production firm in Washington, D.C.  Macchiavelli moved to the Rochester Area in 1992.

She earned a bachelor of science degree in 3-D design from the University of Maryland and holds an advanced certification in acupuncture from the Worsley Institute of Classical Acupuncture (Florida and England) along with national certification in acupuncture and oriental medicine.

“I practice a very unique form of acupuncture that is designed to treat the whole person. We do not separate the mind, the feelings and the emotions from what is happening with our bodies,“ said  Macchiavelli. “We view the human being as part of nature, not separate from nature. And tending to the ‘garden’ or ‘landscape’ of the body, the mind and the spirit in the way that a master gardener would tend a beautiful garden to ensure that it is growing and thriving, is at the root of how we practice classical five-element acupuncture.

“We want people to thrive in their lives, and feeling well throughout their entire body, their minds and their spirit is a key to this goal.”

“A fledgling business that is taking off like skyrockets,”  Macchiavelli said of the two-year-old business. Macchiavelli has been teaching tai chi at OASIS, a learning center for seniors, and at a church fellowship hall. She also writes articles on acupuncture and Tai Chi. Her hobbies include going to the movies, dancing and travel. She has no children.

“I’m grateful for the many opportunities that I have been given and for the extraordinary life I am living. I wake up every day excited, eager and curious to find out just what is going to be presented to me, to us human beings, in this world,” said  Macchiavelli. “I have complete faith in a higher power, a supreme consciousness, and that I will continue to learn how to serve humanity in small ways as best I can.”

Birgit Ray

69-year-old grandma ready to take on more clients at her tax business

If you need your taxes done, Birgit Ray is here to help.

Ray has been preparing taxes for 29 years. After taking a course “out of curiosity,” she started working for H&R Block in 1981.

After working there for four years, she was offered a promotion. Ray considered the offer, then declined and decided to go it on her own.

“They wanted to make me a manager,” said Ray. “It would be enormously stressful for a minimum wage, so I became independent.” She’s been on her own for 25 years.

“I started from scratch with the Pennysaver. I got people in Perinton and Mendon Ponds,” said Ray. “I traveled to their houses initially, it was all a big travel thing and now most people come to my home office.”

That office is in Greece. She said she has about 400 clients and is still willing to take on more.

Ray, who is 69, recently passed the certified public accountant exam, and that has also increased her client base.

“I do corporations, partnerships, individuals, you name it,” said Ray. She said she does “everything from a tiny return for a teenager and their first job to a real-property corporation with 48 properties, and everything in between.”

Ray grew up in Germany. Over the years, she has worked in India, Denmark, France and Spain. She has a doctorate degree in history and political science.
“It was wonderfully adventuresome,” said Ray.

She has grandchildren who are 4, 5 and 7.

By Sandra Scott

Toronto is a world-class city closer to Central New York than New York City with just as much to offer. Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario, Canada’s largest city, and one of the world’s most diverse cities. There are museums, historic sites, theatrical presentations, sports venues, shopping galore, and diverse dining options.

Toronto has an excellent transit system with money-saving day or week passes but the best way to get an overview of the city is on one of the bus tours. There are several fun ways to learn about the city. The Sightseeing Toronto and the Grayline offer hop-on bus tours with commentary while Hippo Tours offers land and water tours of Toronto. The 40-passenger Hippo splashes down into Lake Ontario with great views of the city and Ontario Place from the water. The hop-on tours stop at CN Tower where the view of the city is expansive. There are several guided walking tours that explore the ethnic neighborhoods, parks, architecture and art but for a personalized tour check out TAP into TO. The free greeter program pairs visitors with like-minded Torontonians. Public transportation is included. Greeter programs are a wonderful way to create a personal connection with a city.

World-class museums

The most unique museum in Toronto is the Bata Shoe Museum. One does not have to have a shoe fetish to enjoy the museum. The history of footwear starts more than 4,500 years ago with replicas of the Ice Man’s shoes, which are the oldest shoes associated with the museum and follows the evolution of shoes through the years as they were adapted to changes in culture, environment and uses. Ancient funerary shoes, chestnut-crushing clogs, and celebrity footwear are all part of their extensive collection.

Nearby is the Royal Ontario Museum with its Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition. The crystal is composed of five interlocking, self-supporting prismatic structures that co-exist but are not attached to the original ROM building, except for the bridges that link them. The inside is just as spectacular. Explore world cultures from the early Canadians to the ancient Chinese. Naturalist will love the Bat Cave with animatronics and atmospheric sounds. Discover the real stories behind these mysterious creatures of the night.

Another do-not-miss museum is the Ontario Science Centre where the learning starts before visitors enter the Front Yard. Learn about the urban landscape and play music on a water fountain. Inside there is something for everyone and every age with their newest exhibit, “Nature Unleashed,” that explores the dynamics of earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural forces.

Besides the big three museums visitors can step into the past at Black Creek Pioneer Village, an authentically re-created 1860s Ontario country village and tour Casa Loma, the Edwardian Castle home of Canadian financier Sir Henry Pellatt. The Art Gallery of Ontario is home to over 73,000 works of art,

Show time

Toronto is considered second only to New York City in North America when it comes to theatrical performances. The Entertainment District is home to theater, symphony, ballet and opera. Attending a production at The Royal Alexandra Theatre is a treat in itself. The Beaux-arts building has survived more than 100 year in beautiful shape. The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts was built specifically for ballet and opera. Broadway shows are always popular with some opening in Toronto before they do in New York City. For sidesplitting laughs check out the Second City, the venue that inspired Saturday Night Live. Step into the 11th century at the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament, which combines dinner and a show. Cheer for your brave knights as they engage in a tournament of sword fighting and daring-do on horseback. It is just one of many dinner theater presentations.

Neighborhoods

Toronto is a vibrant city made up of eclectic, vibrant neighborhoods. The ethnic diversity means there is great food and fun festivals that include the Corso Italian Festival and the annual Chinatown Festival. Try spanakopita in Greektown, handmade pirogies in Little Poland and dim sum in Chinatown. At the Sultan’s Tent diners can experience dining in a tent and belly dancing while enjoying Moroccan food. Try some of their Toronto street treats including hot dogs, healthy choices, and ethnic foods served by sidewalk vendors in a variety of locations. Take a trip around the world of food without ever leaving Toronto.

More fun

No matter how long the stay, it is impossible to experience all that Toronto has to offer. Take in a sports event at the Sky Dome or Air Canada Centre. Toronto is the undisputed Hockey Town.

Toronto may be a cosmopolitan city but it is easy to escape to the outdoors and still be in the city. Parks and city trails make biking, hiking, jogging and skating fun, and don’t forget the islands, which are only a 20-minute ferry ride to any of the three islands.

Those who find shopping a must-do activity will be spoiled for choice.

Not to miss are the trendy shops of Yorkville, the famed Eaton Center with over 300 shops, and Honest Ed’s, which sports the sign “There’s no place like this place, anyplace!” There is nothing like Kensington Market, a maze of narrow streets lined with Victorian houses with goods from around the world. The Hudson Bay Company is uniquely Canadian but there is more — antiques, paintings, bargains shops — truly something for every shopper.

More information

Adults need to have a passport or an enhanced driver’s license in order to enter Canada. Wolfe Island is part of Canada. Children traveling with both parents do not need a passport but if they are traveling with one parent or someone else they should have a letter of permission from their parent. Visitors planning to visit several museums should check out Toronto CityPass, which offers substantial reduction to the area’s major attractions and can avoid standing in long ticket lines. For more information check www.seetorontonow.com or call 800-499-2514.

Q. You picked up an instrument for the first time while living with you family in Cleveland Ohio. What was that moment like?
A. I was 7 years old, and our family had an old violin that my grandfather had brought from Slovakia—White Russia, actually. I started to play. The next thing I knew, I was studying at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, which was one of the teaching arms of the Cleveland Orchestra. Students that were accepted into the Music School Settlement never paid anything—that was all full scholarship. I never missed a lesson, and I just loved it.

Q. You practiced the violin most days of the week—including all day Saturdays—for 10 years. What drew you to music so strongly?
A. I enjoy the intricacy. The thing that had the greatest hold on me during my lessons and my years of practice was the possibility to do something and hone it, sharpen it, make it as good as you possibly could, and then be proud of it, as opposed to slipping by. I also took clarinet. I would leave school around 2:30, take the bus across to the other side of Cleveland, [for lessons] and get home around 9:30 or 10, and that would be my Wednesday.

Q. And yet, when the time came to seek a career, it was to medicine that you turned. What took you in that direction?
A. I did a lot of volunteer work at a hospital—that’s what began to build my love for medicine and helping people. I can [also] honestly say that I was an extremely good technical player, but it became clear that I was not a virtuoso.

Q. Once you decided to specialize, you went into neurosurgery. Why pick that field as your specialty?
A. Even in med school, I was fascinated by the intricacy of neuroanatomy. Later on, I was in a surgical internship, and I was waiting for my wife to pick me up [at Strong Memorial Hospital]. I said to myself, “I love surgery, and I’m fascinated by the nervous system.” Bang! I said ‘My heavens, there is such a thing—neurosurgery.’ That was it.

Q. What kept you coming back to your work day after day for over three decades?
A. Absolute excitement. Particularly in the last 15 years, when I was working in the area of the stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. My work was almost exclusively with implanting electrodes in the brains of Parkinson’s patients, [for the purpose] of controlling their symptoms. There was a small group of us, maybe at one time 75, in this world actively working in this area when computers began to be involved in targeting very, very specific, precise targets within the brain, where a millimeter or two millimeters was the difference between success and failure. The other part of it was that the patients were in such desperate straits. This person has not been able to pick up a cup of coffee or use a fork for the last 15 years because the harder they tried, the more their hands shook. They had used up all the medicines there were; there was no possibility for them to have anything else that helped their lives.

Q. Do you still play music?
A. It goes in spurts. I had not played until my retirement, when I started playing again, and I can tell you it does not sound as it used to. I do it for fun. I don’t plan to push myself up to performance quality.

Q. You are writing a book about several German composers, and how they died. Can you tell us about it?
A. In the last 15-16 years I’ve given annual lectures at the Eastman school, a series called Dead German Composers and How They Got That Way. It’s the medical and the musical history of Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Hummel, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Bach, Brahms, Strauss, von Weber, and Haydn. I love to go hunting in libraries, and find old books, and piece together segments of these stories from multiple sources and then plug them into the overall pictures of the composer’s lives. Each lecture took about a six months. Each will be a chapter in the book of the same title.

By Mike Costanza

However old you are, martial arts training can help you kick the aging process backwards.

“I feel better than I ever have in my life,” says JoAnn Moda. Then, the 60-year-old grandmother with the black belt in taekwondo returned to pummeling a punching bag.

Moda studies taekwondo and elements of other martial arts at Grand Master Avent Self Defense and Fitness, where she’s enrolled in the executive class. All in the class are 35 years old or older.

“It’s something that a person of the age of 50 can start, and do for the rest of their lives,” says Michael Avent Sr. Avent, the owner of the Gates martial arts school, has a seventh-degree black belt in Taekwondo. In keeping with tradition, his students address him as “grand master.”

The term “martial arts” covers many disciplines, each of which involves different types and systems of kicks, punches, throws and other actions. Whereas judo practitioners use techniques that allow them to grip and throw their opponents, practitioners of karate use powerful blocking, kicking and punching movements to defeat them. On the other hand, taekwondo makes more use of the greater strength and length of the legs.

“There’s a lot of kicking; there’s a lot of aerial techniques; there’s a lot of bounces,” Avent says.

Taekwondo students can proceed through several levels of training, each of which involves the learning of a new set of “patterns” or sets of kicks, punches and other movements. Each level of training is represented by a different color of belt. The white belt is the lowest, followed by yellow, green, and other levels up to black.

“My current pattern, there are 39 moves to it,” Moda says. The black belt itself has 10 levels, though no one has ever advanced past the ninth.

Examining the benefits

Though many might take up martial arts for the purpose of self-defense, just the act of doing so can confer its own benefits. Studies have shown that those who practice martial arts have experienced overall improvements in cardiovascular fitness, along with greater physical strength, balance and flexibility, and other benefits. The benefits of such training can also reach into the psyche. A 2001 study found that college students who were studying taekwondo experienced lower levels of depression, anger, fatigue, confusion and tension than those who were not taking the training.

Avent formed the executive class several years ago in order to bring those kinds of benefits to older students who might be less up to flying through the air and throwing roundhouse kicks than their younger counterparts. The class allows students to excel at martial arts within the limitations imposed by age or any physical conditions that might have cropped up. The training focuses on Taekwondo, but also includes elements of other disciplines as well as self-defense training.

“When they do their kicks, they’re just doing them to the limitation that they’re comfortable with,” Avent says. “We don’t really expect them to kick over their heads.” Those in the class can also train in the use of the traditional weapons used in martial arts, such as nunchucks—essentially two sticks joined by a short chain or rope.

Though executive class members don’t have to throw those flying kicks, that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to do so. Moda has exercised, walked and hiked throughout her life. She was looking for a new challenge at 56 years old, when she decided to sign up for Taekwondo lessons with another instructor. The North Chili resident admits that she’d never expected to learn how to kick, punch, and roll her way around a practice mat.

“When I grew up, the martial arts were for skinny, jock Asian men,” she says.

Moda says martial arts training has helped her stave off the effects of aging. Though the registered nurse still has arthritis of the thumbs, neck, and back, she says that the stretching exercises that are part of her training have cut the pain of those conditions so much that she no longer needs medication to deal with it.  The physical activity has also helped her attack the mental challenges that aging can bring.

Staving off old age

“Focusing, discipline, even remembering is becoming more and more of a challenge,” she says. “The more I progressed in this program, the more I found myself focusing and remembering.”

Julio Olmeda, who wears a yellow belt with a green stripe, took time away from his workout with the executive class to talk about the benefits of martial arts training.

“It’s helped me out physically and psychologically,” the 71-year-old says. “When I finish a workout, I feel good.”

Olmeda says the training has also helped him lower his cholesterol and blood pressure, and has even made his job easier. The Kodak retiree works part time as a security officer for a local retailer.

“I’m more confident, not afraid to communicate with anybody,” he says.

Martial arts training can be a boost to the ego in other ways, as well. Moda picked up a few well-earned compliments after earning her black belt last June.

“The accolades that I had received from the young and old really, like, made me step back and say, ‘Wow, I really did accomplish something special in my life.’”

To contact Grand Master Avent Self Defense and Fitness, call (585)-690-9424.

I live in mortal fear of forgetting some key password, and, of course, you are warned ad nauseum not to carry the password or PIN for your bank and credit cards in your wallet or on your person for fear that some nefarious individual will steal them.

Just for fun, I counted all of the passwords and PINs I have to operate the various accounts associated with them. I was dumbfounded as I stared at the number – 65.

How am I supposed to keep 65 codes squared away and brought to mind instantaneously when needed? Well, the sad truth is, I can’t, so I have to cheat. I write them down. Wait! I know what you are saying, but here’s the genius of my solution: I write them in code, so only I can decipher a long string of numbers that probably looks innocuous to someone who might find my list.

To make matters worse, my online bank requires me to change my password every six months, so it seems that just as I succeed in memorizing the existing combination, I get a message that it’s time for a change. Several other online providers do the same, so, invariably, for the first couple of attempts after a password change, I absent-mindedly type in the former password and get scolded by the computer.

Now, I have tried to memorize my ATM PINs so I don’t have to carry them in my wallet. (I am a customer at three banks.) For awhile I was carrying them in my shoe, figuring it would be the last place a thief would look, but it was kind of awkward to take off my shoe and fish around for the little slip of paper I had squirreled away into a side compartment. I also got strange looks from other ATM patrons behind me when I performed this little caper.

Since I am not always the steadiest guy on one foot on the planet, I usually need to prop myself up by holding on to a post at the ATM machine. Once I asked the guy behind me if I could lean on his shoulder. He was nice enough to say “yes,” but I can only imagine what he was thinking.

After three times, I scrapped the shoe “solution” and just memorized the PIN. Once or twice, I have gotten the PINs of the various banks confused, and, on one occasion when I entered the wrong number three times in a row without realizing what I was doing wrong, the ATM ate my card and wouldn’t give it back. I was told I needed to contact the bank to reset my number.

Imagine my joy when I heard the other day that the U.S. Commerce Department is proposing a new online security system that will eliminate the password maze. This would require a single sign-in using something like a digital token, smartcard or fingerprint reader. Once I am logged in, I would have access to any website that has signed up for the program.

John Clippinger, co-director of the Law Lab at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and a supporter of the proposal, says passwords don’t provide good security because most people choose character combinations that are easily hacked.

According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the most frequently used passwords are: 123456, password, 12345678, qwerty and abc123.

I was stunned to find out that it would take just 10 minutes for a hacker’s computer to randomly guess your all-lower-case six-character password. It would take four hours to solve a seven-character password, four days for one of eight characters and four months for one of nine characters.

If you had a combination of six lower- and upper-case characters, it would take 10 hours and as long as 178 years for a nine character lower- and-upper-case password.

Better yet is a password of upper and lower case characters and a symbol, which would take a hacker anywhere from 18 days to 44,530 years to randomly crack, depending on whether there were six or nine characters.

And, oh, yes, all of this doesn’t take into consideration the varying usernames I have. There are 29 unique usernames by which I am known, and, sometimes, these are even more difficult to remember than passwords or PINs.

By Jim Terwilliger

In earlier columns, we discussed the importance of making an informed decision about when to start receiving Social Security retirement benefits.

Most recently, we covered the sometimes-complicated strategies available to married couples. An equally complex set of opportunities and decisions can be faced by previously-married retirees.

Benefit options for widow(er)s and divorcees are many and all need to be considered when doing Social Security planning. The rules are confusing and must be followed carefully to maximize benefits.

Widowed Retirees

A surviving spouse is eligible to receive survivor benefits equal to 100 percent of the deceased spouse’s actual retirement benefit, as long as the couple was married for at least nine months. These benefits can start as early as age 60.

Benefits are reduced, though, if taken prior to full retirement age (FRA) — age 66 for surviving spouses born between 1945 and 1956. At age 60, the survivor-benefit reduction is 28.5 percent. Between ages 60 and 66, the reduction is pro-rated.

Taking a reduced survivor benefit prior to FRA does not cause the survivor’s own benefit to be reduced. For example, a high-earning widow(er) might claim a survivor benefit anytime after age 60 and then start his/her own benefit at age 70 in order to earn maximum delayed credits on the latter.

This strategy offers the opportunity to maximize benefits over the full retirement time period, depending on the relative earnings history and ages of the husband and wife.

Age 60 is an important age for survivor benefits for another reason. If a surviving spouse remarries before age 60, survivor benefits are not available as long as that new marriage remains in effect. Remarriage after age 60 does not affect these benefits.

Divorced Retirees

Many folks are not aware that retirement benefits are available to divorcees — spousal benefits or survivor benefits. The result is that such potential benefits are often not considered in the planning equation.

A divorcee can receive spousal benefits, based on the ex-spouse’s work record, if the marriage lasted at least 10 years and the divorcee is not currently married.

As with married couples, the FRA benefit is equal to 50 percent of the ex-spouse’s FRA benefit. Eligibility starts at age 62, with the spousal benefit reduced at that age by 30 percent compared to the full benefit at FRA.

Prior to FRA, the benefit is the higher of own or spousal. At or after FRA, one has a choice. This allows the option of delaying one’s own enhanced benefit to age 70 while receiving a spousal benefit between ages 66 and 70.

If the couple has been divorced for at least two years, the ex-spouse does not need to file for his/her own benefits in order for the divorcee to receive spousal benefits. Otherwise, the ex-spouse must have filed.

A divorced spouse does not need to know the whereabouts of the ex-spouse or his/her earnings record. Social Security will do the research in order to qualify the divorced spouse for benefits.

Also, taking such benefits will not affect the ex-spouse’s own benefits nor the benefits available to the ex-spouse’s new spouse, if there is one.

A divorcee is also entitled to survivor benefits following an ex-spouse’s death.

The divorcee can qualify for survivor benefits at age 60 (reduced amount), FRA (full amount equal to the ex-spouse’s actual benefit), or anywhere in between if the marriage lasted at least 10 years. Otherwise, the rules are generally the same as those described above for widow(er)s.

Opportunities

There are a number of opportunities for widowed and divorced retirees to maximize Social Security income over a lifetime by choosing allowable sequences of spousal, survivor, or own benefits.

And in the previous two articles in this series, we discussed options for never-married and married-couple retirees to maximize their lifetime benefits. One thing is clear. Do not try this on your own. Making a hasty or ill-informed decision when planning a benefits strategy can cost you tens of thousands of dollars.

The general rules of thumb described in this series should never be used without first seeking professional help. Each household has circumstances that impact the selection of an optimal strategy.

And while Social Security personnel are equipped to describe options and answer questions, they are not expected to provide advice.

This is why Social Security planning needs to be a key part of any credible retirement plan.

James Terwilliger, CFP, is vice president, Financial Planning, Wealth Strategies Group, Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Company. He can be reached at (585) 419-0670 ext. 50630 or by e-mail at jterwilliger@cnbank.com.

2010 was certainly a wild ride and 2011 will probably be just as eventful. The message that came through to me this past year is that we have to rely on ourselves to accomplish what needs to be done. Government policies are constantly changing along with the politicians that put them in place. Social Security and Medicare may be totally different in the future, the job market may remain weak, and interest rates may stay stagnate.

Your financial plans for the future are in your hands more than ever before. That is why it is ever so important to insure for long-term care. We insure our homes and cars but we don’t readily insure ourselves to protect our families in the event of a long-term illness.

The biggest threat to our security and the security of our loved ones is a long-term care illness. The cost of care can have devastating effects on our family’s financial and emotional well-being.

The average cost of nursing home care in the Rochester area is approximately $116,800 per year and home care for someone afflicted with Alzheimer’s can be a 24/7 job.

The simplest way to transfer the risk of long-term care is to purchase a LTC insurance policy. Many of you, however, have probably read articles about carriers leaving the LTC insurance market and others raising premiums on current policyholders. This can cause a bit of anxiety about the products.

To understand why this is occurring, one needs to look at the lapse ratio of LTC insurance policies — how many people drop their policies, and current interest rates.

LTC insurance is a relatively new product. It has been in existence for about 35 years. When the companies started marketing policies, they made certain assumptions about the lapse ratio. The assumption was that approximately 5 percent of policyholders would drop their coverage. In reality, only about 1 percent to 1.5 percent of policyholders canceled their policies. This confirms the value of the coverage. The result is that more claims are being paid on older policies.

This low lapse ratio and exceedingly low interest rates have lowered the cash reserves of the LTC insurance carriers.

In order to fulfill their promise to pay claims and maintain their cash reserves, the carriers have had to raise premiums on older existing policies as well as make internal rate adjustments for new buyers.

This correction in the industry should not deter you from planning for long-term care. The current LTC insurance carriers are committed to the industry. Now is actually a good time to purchase the coverage because carriers have a better understanding of their claims history, are offering better features and options, and are pricing their products more accurately.

Here are some of the LTC planning options you can consider in 2011:

• Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance: There are multiple carriers offering policies geared toward home care that offer an array of inflation protection options and in some instances cash payments that allow anyone to take care of you anywhere.

• NYS Partnership Plans: Whether you plan to reside in New York or move out-of-state, these economically priced policies should be investigated. They provide either total or partial asset protection, include 5 percent compound inflation protection, and offer home care riders for added flexibility. You can transfer or gift some or all of your assets without having to worry about the five year Medicaid look-back period.

• Life Insurance With Long-Term Care Rider: If you are concerned about never using your LTC insurance policy (that would be a good thing) and wasting premium dollars, there are several universal life policies on the market that will allow you to accelerate your death benefit and use the funds for LTC expenses.If you never become disabled, the full death benefit is paid to your heirs tax free. If you do require care, you will have the benefits of a stand-alone long-term care insurance policy. The policies can be purchased with a single or annual premium. Some companies will return your initial single premium if you decide that the policy does not meet your needs. It’s a win/win strategy.

• Employer/Association Plans: If you are a business owner, you can initiate a discounted LTC insurance program for key management and/or employees as well as their families. If you are a member of an association, a LTC insurance program can be implemented giving all members and their families a discount on the coverage.

There are several tax advantages with stand-alone LTC insurance policies. NYS offers a 20 percent tax credit on the premiums. The federal government offers a tax deduction, and there are tax advantages for businesses. In addition, you may be able to pay for your premium tax-free through an annuity.

With so many uncertainties in life, take control of your future in 2011. LTC planning is important to your family, can be managed and customized to your needs.

Susan Suben, MS, CSA, is president of Long Term Care Associates, Inc. and a consultant for Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Company. Contact her at 800-422-2655 or e-mail susansuben@31greenbush.com.

Tax season means it’s time to consider financial strategies for 2011.

Several Rochester certified public accountants offered insights on the recent federal tax legislation, and what 55-and-over taxpayers should be aware of.

Genie Ackerly McKeown, a CPA and certified financial planner with Conlon & Co. CPA’s in Rochester, said that the Congress finally dealt with the now-expired Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 — also known as EGTRRA  — and all of the tax relief that it contained.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 was signed into law in December.

The measure resolved uncertainty over tax legislation for the immediate future but after 2012, “Tax regulations are once again completely up in the air,” McKeown said, creating “a very unfriendly environment for both personal and business tax and financial planning.”

‘Significant Changes’

“Many significant changes that will affect individuals have resulted from passage of the 2010 Tax Relief Act,” she said.

Perhaps the one affecting the broadest number of individuals is the extension of the EGTRRA tax rates, McKeown said.

Many older Americans continue working to make ends meet. The package includes a 2 percent reduction in the Social Security payroll tax in 2011, from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, for taxable wages up to $106,800.

Another area receiving considerable publicity was the federal estate and gift tax. McKeown said that due to the lack of action by Congress, the federal estate tax was allowed to be abolished in 2010 and the pre-EGTRRA 55 percent maximum estate tax rate and $1 million individual exclusion were scheduled to be revived in 2011.

The 2009 maximum estate tax rate had been 45 percent, with a $3.5 million exclusion.  The 2010 Tax Relief Act provides temporary relief through 2012 from the return of the pre-EGTRRA estate tax and addresses the 2010 estate tax question, she said.

The 2010 Tax Relief Act revives the estate tax in 2010 through 2012, after which it will expire.

The new maximum estate tax rate is now 35 percent, and the exclusion amount is $5 million per person.

“The 2010 Tax Relief Act also reunifies the gift and estate tax that had been decoupled by EGTRRA, as a result, after 2010, lifetime gifts can now be made of up to $5 million without incurring a gift tax,” McKeown said. “The EGTRRA lifetime gift tax exclusion had been $1 million.  The annual gift tax exclusion remains $13,000 per donor in 2011.”

A new development in the tax act provides for “portability” between spouses of the estate and gift tax exclusion, she added.

A surviving spouse will be able to elect, on a timely filed estate tax return, to take advantage of the unused portion of the predeceased spouse’s estate and gift tax exclusion, McKeown said.  If a predeceased spouse has an unused estate and gift tax exclusion of $3 million, a surviving spouse with a $5 million unused exclusion could claim the combined unused exclusion of $8 million, she explained.

In order to provide relief for estates of decedents dying during 2010, the 2010 Tax Relief Act enables these estates to make an election to not come under the revived 2010 estate tax.  McKeown said those estates now have the option of claiming the 35 percent tax rate and $5 million exclusion, on a stepped-up basis or no estate tax with the modified carryover basis rules under EGTRRA.

Energy Tax Credits

Additional provisions of the legislation that taxpayers may want to examine closer include energy tax credits. McKeown said the tax relief act extends, though reduces, the energy tax credit through 2011.

“The reduced credit applicable for 2011 is 10 percent of the costs of qualified energy property placed in service in 2011, with an aggregate lifetime maximum credit of $500 for all tax years ending after December 31, 2005,” she said.

The bill allows a tax credit of up to $200 for Energy Star-qualified windows and skylights and up to $500 for Energy Star-qualified doors for 2011.
Another area the bill addresses is IRA charitable contributions.

“The 2010 Tax Relief Act extends through Dec. 31 a provision known as the ‘Charitable IRA Rollover,’ which allows taxpayers age 70½ or older to make tax-free transfers of up to $100,000 per year directly from their IRA to charities,” McKeown said.

The law, originally enacted in 2006, expired at the end of 2009, but has now been renewed for an additional two years, retroactive to January 1, 2010, and ending Dec. 31, 2011.

Individuals over age 65 may be eligible for an increased standard deduction, said Tim Hern, a CPA partner at Rizzo & DiGiacco in Pittsford.
Additionally, low-income individuals over age 65 may be eligible for the Elderly tax credit if they do not itemize, Hern said.

“If Social Security income is a taxpayers’ only income, they probably do not need to file a to file a return. If they have other income in addition to Social Security, then they may have to file a return and may owe some tax,” he said.

Additional income can include wages and interest.

Many seniors have substantial medical bills.

“Medical expenses can be deducted to the extent that they exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income,” Hern said.

Hern also referred to the fact individuals over 70½ years old must take required minimum distributions from an IRA account – which is taxable in the year taken, unless it is a ROTH IRA, Hern said.

For high-net worth seniors, it could be worth investigating a ROTH conversion, Hern said.

Changes being made to traditional and Roth IRA’s in 2011 include recently introduced opportunities to convert between traditional and IRA accounts, regardless of income. Roth IRA’s generally differ from traditional IRA’s in that contributions are made after tax, but are offset by having to pay no taxes when funds are withdrawn at retirement.

Opening and contributing to a Roth IRA is currently restricted to those with an adjusted income limit of $122,000 for individuals and $179,000 for couples. The maximum annual contribution to Roth IRA’s is $5,000 for individuals under age 50 and $6,000 for those over 50.

Contributions can be made to a Roth IRA for a year at any time during the year, or by the due date of the return for that year, not including extensions.

Contributions can be made by the due date, not including extensions, for tax return filing. Most people can make contributions for 2010 by April 15, according to www.savingtoinvest.com

The $658 billion federal tax bill extends breaks put in place under former President George W. Bush. It represents “a substantial victory for middle-class families across the country,” President Obama said when the bill was signed.

The bill stopped taxes from automatically going up on Jan. 1. It remains in effect for two years.

By Amy Cavalier

Wouldn’t it be great to have a GPS to guide us through life? Enter Lynette Loomis, a certified life and business coach. According to the International Coach Federation, a life coach partners with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.

“Most people spend more time planning a single vacation than they do planning their life,” says Loomis.

You could define a life coach as kind of an “insightful cheerleader.” Loomis enjoys “helping people discover their magnificence.”

“All of us have gifts that we don’t recognize in ourselves,” she said.

Just as professional athletes rely on coaches to help them master their sport, people can use a little coaching in every day life, she says.

“Anyone who excels at what they do has someone supporting them, mentoring, coaching them along the way,” Loomis adds.

And for individuals 55 and over, life coaching can help you reinvent yourself or find a new passion.

“I think at this stage in life we have usually had one or more careers and are ready for a new career or the change of life that is called retirement,” says Bob Emens, 60. “ We are so immersed in the responsibilities of parenting and career building that we need to open up to the endless possibilities of life after 55.”

With a background in marketing, communications, and counseling, and several degrees under her belt, Loomis decided to pursue a career in coaching about 10 years ago.

A former vice president of marketing and Medicare at Preferred Care, she became certified to coach individuals through the Coach Training Alliance. She graduated from Corporate Coach U to train as a business coach. Today, she is the proprietor of several businesses. In addition to Your Best Life Coaching, Loomis also offers marketing consulting under her business The Marketing Strategists.

As a life coach, Loomis works with individuals from 20 to 70 years old, and from all walks of life. In her business coaching she tends to work with sales people, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and even someone who might be having a performance issue at work. People seek out coaches out of passion or pain, Loomis says.

Perhaps you’re 80 and you want to make peace with the sister you haven’t spoken to in 10 years. Maybe you want to write your first book, or explore volunteerism. Perhaps you recently lost your spouse and need to find a way to fill the emotional void.

“People my age grew up at a time when there were traditional and nontraditional women roles,” she explains. “There may be some women who didn’t work outside of the home and their whole identity was being a wife and a mother. Now the kids are grown, maybe her husband has died, and for the first time in her life, she gets to chose who she wants to be now, not just who she’s supposed to be.”

Older clients, like Dick Bennett, 60, and Emens, sought out Loomis for assistance starting up their own businesses after retirement. A retired history teacher, Emens said he couldn’t just “sit at home.”

“I knew when I retired, I wanted to have some purpose,” he says. “I wanted to do something productive.”

Falling back on his lifelong love of photography, Bennett helped started up Image City Gallery on University Avenue in Rochester. Bennett says Loomis helped him make connections in the business community, develop his business plan, and market it. She helped Bennett price his services, set up a website, and even get over some of the anxiety he had about going out to photograph strangers.

“She helped me with a lot of the incidental things I might not have thought about,” he says. “Even now if I have a question, I can e-mail her and she can get back to me with some options, ideas and impressions.”

Proprietor of Luke’s Mill Creek Farm, Emens sells products made from garlic scapes, or the flower stem that grows through the center of a hard neck garlic plant. After 25 years in the engineering field, Emens says, he had to break the corporate mindset to set out on his own.

“One’s mind is programmed to go to work every day and concentrate on the goals and mindset that the company or your career requires to succeed,” he says.

“When I tried to think outside the box, I had been used to, I was having difficulty, especially since I had never had my own business.”

Loomis gave Bennet valuable advice not only on business considerations, but also in how he needed to grow personally to achieve them.

“Once I saw improvements it became clear to me that I needed to consult with her from time to time to stay on track,” he says.

When it comes to helping clients set and attain their goals, Loomis begins by looking at where they are and where they want to be in their life, career or business. Then together they develop a plan on how to bridge the gap. She helps them anticipate the obstacles that may pop up along the way.

“We play out the worst case scenarios, get those fears and anxieties out on the table, and deal with them one by one, and most of the time, it’s never as severe as we thought it would be,” she says.

Along the way, Loomis challenges and supports her clients. Sometimes that requires some homework. For example, say your goal was to become a creative writer. Loomis might ask you to interview three creative writers and see how they got started or she might have you submit three articles for publication in an effort to build your portfolio. For a client looking to become an entrepreneur or inventor, Loomis may have them do research to explore whether or not there’s a market for their product or service.

Bennett says Loomis helped “put his feet to the fire.”

“It helps me become accountable for my decisions,” he said. “When we decide I need to do something, the next time I go see her, I’ve done something. I’m not just wasting my money ignoring what she said.”

Procrastination is the thief of time, 16th century poet Edward Young once said. Loomis says she understands how easy it is to stall. However, if a client isn’t serious about moving forward, she says, out of integrity, she can no longer work with them. She’s had to fire clients before.

“I’m not going to charge them and let them go nowhere week after week,” she says. “We talk about, are they ready for this or are they ready to make the commitment, because there’s more than just my time. There’s an emotional investment.”

Loomis recognizes making changes to better one’s life isn’t easy.

“People get scared because they’re changing their life’s paradigm,” she says. “For most of us, there’s a comfort zone and then there’s a rut. Most of us tend to revert back to what we know, what’s familiar, even if that’s not a comfortable place, or a joyful place, or an exciting place, so as a coach, I’m there to help you climb out of it.”

Sometimes, Loomis says, a client may decide that perhaps the goal they had set wasn’t something they wanted to do after all.

“Then we move onto what they want to try next,” she adds.

Loomis’ past experiences as a counselor come into play as a life coach. Being successful, she says, requires you to be in touch with your emotions and to be able identify what sets you off.

Those qualities can be particularly important if you’re say, the CEO of a company. Being in a position of power requires an individual to be very directive and high energy, Loomis says, and to be a good listener. If everyone in the company is intimidated by the CEO, and is afraid to provide feedback, or present other options to them, “a good idea goes unsupported and a poor idea goes unchallenged.” That can prevent the company from moving forward, says Loomis.

“If that CEO can create a non -confrontational environment where people feel safe expressing a different opinion, the company does better because you have a wealth of experience to work with, rather than if everyone just says ‘yes’ to the CEO,” she explains.

You might be thinking, why do I need a life coach? I have friends to bounce ideas off of. The difference with Loomis, is she is objective.

“I have no vested interest in a particular outcome,” she says. “I’m interested in helping you arrive at the outcome you want. I care deeply about my clients. I share your disappointments and celebrate your successes.”

Bennett says Loomis taught him a process to achieve goals, and helps him focus on the task at hand, and not be misdirected by cluttered thoughts.

“I don’t think Lynette can give just one good idea,” he says. “She’s full of them.”

He says investing in a life coach will pay off.

“I think personally, if you’re seeking a life coach, then the money is secondary, because if you work at it, she can guide you to happiness,” he says.

Loomis sees clients in their home or office, and also can coordinate group coaching. Sometimes it’s just a matter of responding to a quick email question, and there’s some clients that she’s never met, only spoken to over the phone. That’s the thing about coaching, she says, you can have clients all over the world. Some people may only need her help for three months, while Loomis has had other clients who’ve been with her for years. As for the cost, Loomis says she can work within clients to find the plan that will best fit their goals and their budget.

Besides the joy of connecting people and helping them accomplish their goals, Loomis says it’s a great privilege when someone trusts you enough to let you be part of a major life journey with them. She says changing careers in her second half of life was the best move she ever made.

“Let’s spend the last third of our lives fulfilling our dreams, growing, enriching the lives of others, and having exciting, interesting and enriching experiences,” she says. “We’re not retiring from life. We’re retiring from a job. There’s a difference.”