FG
Financial Gerontology
Nanatechnology:
The Financial Advisor
as Gerontology
Gadget Consultant
The March 2005 Financial
Gerontology column was titled “The
Financial Professional’s Role in Com-
prehensive Geriatric Assessment.” In
that discussion I argued that the finan-
cial professional plays an important
role as a source of information (and
referral) in advising clients about a vari-
ety of health issues. The key element
here is the relationship of trust between
advisor and client, especially the mid-
dle-age client who is worried about his
or her older parents. As noted back
then, if the elder parent has chest pains,
call 911 or a physician, not a financial
planner! But in less acute circum-
stances, such as when the 60-year-old
child notices that his father increas-
ingly cannot find his keys or remember
names, the financial advisor may be
the first trusted family confidant con-
sulted; and if so, you should know and
advise that forgetfulness is not the
inevitable predictor of Alzheimer’s dis-
ease. In other words, it behooves the
financial professional to know some-
thing about geriatric health conditions
as part of a more engaging relationship
between advisor and aging clients.
It was in this context that the
March 2005 discussion suggested that
you should know about and be able to
discuss the meaning, the availability,
and the likely costs of something
This issue of the Journal went to press
in June 2008. Copyright © 2008,
Society of Financial Service Professionals.
JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONALS / JULY 2008
known as comprehensive geriatric
assessment—a specialized team
approach to dealing with both usual
and atypical health changes in older
persons. As I noted then, this infor-
mation and referral function is not
likely to be a profit center for the advi-
sory practice. Rather, anything that
assuages your middle-aged client’s
worry and panic about his father’s
memory problems will only strengthen
the value and trust dimensions of the
advisor-client relationship.
Absent the urgency of unexplained
memory loss, it is in this same context
of trust and confidence that you should
also become an informed “gerontology
gadget consultant” to your clients. It is
a truism to observe that no one wants
to go live in a nursing home. Research
project after research project and anec-
dote after anecdote describe the
anguish of the child when elder parents
can no longer live in their homes and a
decision has to be made to move either
into assisted living, or worse, into the
dreaded nursing home. The psycho-
logical costs of such transitions, my
academic as well as my personal expe-
rience teaches, can be more dire than
the substantial financial costs.
The growing 21st century alter-
native is “aging in place.” Most of us
want to stay in our own homes as we
age as long as is possible. At some point
a move into a residential facility with
some or full social and health/nursing
assistance may be necessary, but most
of us would rather age in place as long
as feasible. Enter the connections
between “aging in place” and the mul-
tiple roles that technology will play
over the next several decades as zillions
and zillions of boomers age into the
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later years of their life span (with impli-
cations for both their health span and
wealth span). There’s even a National
Aging in Place Council which, among
other activities, has published an online
newsletter since 2005 (www.naipc.org).
As noted in the following para-
graphs, there is a range of technologies
that will (and currently do) facilitate
the goal of aging in place. As an advisor
whose income derives primarily from
financial information, services and
products, you will probably not make
any money on becoming a gerontology
gadget consultant. But, as with provid-
ing your client information about com-
prehensive geriatric assessment, you will
be providing valuable and timely fam-
ily-aging information that will
strengthen the client-advisor relation-
ship and make it more valuable.
Nanatechnology:
Overcoming the Digital Divide
No, that’s not a typo. Nanotech-
nology, of course, refers to technologi-
cal devices, “machines” that are smaller
than the period at the end of this sen-
tence. Nanatechnology refers to the
many kinds of technology and com-
puter hardware and software for your
grandparents, Nana and Gramps.
(Author disclosure: I gained the right
to use this term when I became
“Gramps” for the first time in Novem-
ber.) As computers and the Internet
have become (literally) household fur-
nishings, we hear much about the “dig-
ital divide”—the haves versus the have-
nots when it comes to access to this
technology. Often the divide is socioe-
conomic: many people simply cannot
afford computers. But there is also sub-
stantial discussion about a generational

digital divide; evidence that old people
don’t use computers, e-mail, and the
Internet as much as younger and mid-
dle-age people do.
To the extent that there is evidence
of chronological age differences in the
kind and amount of computer use,
such differences could be a consequence
of aging, e.g., declines in vision, hear-
ing, and manual dexterity. But it is
probably more likely that instead of
being “aging-caused” use patterns, these
age differences reflect a generational
effect, since personal computers, the
Internet, blogs, and Facebook weren’t
part of everyday life until recently.
Equally germane to the issue, research
indicates that people who use comput-
ers at work are more likely to have and
to use home computers, something not
part of the everyday experience of
today’s generation of elders. On the
other hand, through SeniorNet and
similar educational organizations and
Web sites, and with PCs available in
virtually all public libraries and senior
centers, computers are increasingly
accessible to all ages (generations).
Nonetheless, because images of a
generational digital divide (usually seen
as the effects of aging) persist, it is
important that family counselors—
including, and perhaps especially,
financial advisors—understand the
impact that current and emerging tech-
nologies can have in maximizing the
aging in place goals of older clients and
their families. Consequently, this edi-
tion of Financial Gerontology presents
a small sampling of nanatechnologies.
In the words of the late Dave Gregg,
long-time president of The American
College, this is a bird’s eye view and
the bird is flying fast.
JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONALS / JULY 2008
FINANCIAL GERONTOLOGY
Health Technology
While there are no doubt both
more and more sophisticated typolo-
gies of nanatechnology, our examples
here are sorted into just two cate-
gories: health technologies and qual-
ity of life technologies.
The interaction among elders,
their families, and caregivers in the
context of health care is perhaps the
greatest challenge for both nanatech-
nology and nanotechnology. The most
exciting developments in this domain
are coming from the Center for Aging
Services Technology (CAST;
www.agingtech.org). CAST is a non-
profit association of businesses, foun-
dations, academic and applied
researchers, health and social service
providers, and especially technology
developers and entrepreneurs, all focus-
ing their attention on the interface of
technology and aging. The publicly
available CAST video titled IMAGINE
offers a futuristic view (but it’s near
future) of interactive health technol-
ogy, and it is not science fiction.
IMAGINE offers an intergenera-
tional story that sensitively illustrates how
technology can bridge the digital divide.
It tells the fictional story of a three-gener-
ation family living in different parts of
the United States. Through two-way
interactive computing and video tech-
nology, the widowed grandfather can
interact with his children, his grandchil-
dren, his doctor and nurse, and even with
his card-playing buddies. The health pro-
fessionals can both monitor his health
and interact with him (video computer
teleconferencing hardware and software)
about his medicines, food, activity, sleep,
and other matters. Monitoring devices
in his home can tell, for example, if he
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has left the stove on when the cooking is
over or shut it off. Introduced by Jeff
Bridges, the video can be viewed on the
CAST website (www.agingtech.org/
imagine_video.aspx) alongside a written
educational guide and a companion
video discussion by health and technol-
ogy experts. I recommend it highly.
While IMAGINE is a fictional rep-
resentation, and some of the technolo-
gies have yet to be woven together as
they are seen in the video, it is not
“Flash Gordon” and most of the tech-
nologies are already being used to facil-
itate aging in place. The Motion Picture
& Television Fund (MPTF), my new
employer, is located on a 40-acre cam-
pus that includes a continuum-of-care
set of buildings: a long-term care nurs-
ing facility, Alzheimer’s units, assisted-
living apartments, and independent-
living cottages. We are using several of
the elements seen in IMAGINE to pro-
mote the health, safety, and life satisfac-
tion of our 350 residents. And because
we have retirees who live independently
on the campus as well as some who live
in assisted living apartments, we are
developing and testing the technology
described below for both residential
contexts, with the goal of then config-
uring the technology for use by older
persons who are aging in place in their
own homes in the community.
Although the average age of our
residents is around 88 years, our mantra
is that “it’s never too late” (abbreviated
as IN2L) to introduce residents to the
use of technology. A major function of
nanatechnology in this regard is to
reduce isolation and to provide resi-
dents with engagement and informa-
tion as well as opportunities for exer-
cise—both mentally and physically.

The “edu-tainment” software content,
for example, allows the residents to play
word games, watch familiar movies and
television shows, engage in armchair
travel, and see pictures and videos of
their children and grandchildren.
There is a physical activity com-
ponent as well. Recall the early PC
game “Flight Simulator,” now about
25 years old. With the appropriate
steering wheel, using their IN2L-
equipped PC, MPTF residents can
fly an airplane or engage in NASCAR
driving. The system also connects
bicycle pedals to the computer, allow-
ing a resident to cycle segments of
the Tour de France and other venues
seen on the computer screen
(www.IN2L.com). The hardware
components of these systems are also
senior friendly. For example, because
many current older persons (espe-
cially men) do not type and are not
comfortable with standard computer
keyboards, we provide a variety of
huge roller track balls, gigantic key-
boards, and touch-screen input
devices that can be configured alpha-
betically instead of in the traditional
QWERTY format.
An especially intriguing example
of the-future-is-now meets aging-in-
place is to note how the Wii game sys-
tem is being enthusiastically endorsed
by elder game players. Bowling tour-
naments, baseball games, and even
boxing matches among seniors are
becoming commonplace. Rather than
listing the growing number of rele-
vant Web sites, I suggest you simply
Google “Wii, Elderly” and be pre-
pared to be surprised (the YouTube
illustrations of elder Wii players are
especially instructive).
JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONALS / JULY 2008
FINANCIAL GERONTOLOGY
“Quality of Life”
Nanatechnology
The range of what might be called
lifestyle or quality of life nanatechnol-
ogy is substantial, including e-mail
(there are now special e-mail
“machines” that do not require a gen-
eral purpose PC or laptop),
“braingames,” travel and health Web
sites and simulators, and on and on.
For this part of our bird’s eye view I
focus on telephone communication.
Cell phone technology is, of
course, primarily communication tech-
nology. But when you discuss this with
middle-aged clients, you will find that
there are safety and health dimensions
involved as well. As part of the larger
aging-in-place effort, the middle-aged
child wants both to contact the elder
parent and to be contacted on a con-
tinuing and efficient basis. The con-
text is similar to providing a cell phone
to a young child; safety is an important
reason for the phone.
The health aspects of regularized
communication have also been docu-
mented. An isolated elder is more likely
to suffer declines in health. On a gen-
eral level, being socially engaged with
relatives and friends adds a psycholog-
ical boost to mental and physical
health; being isolated has the opposite
impact. And there are the more spe-
cific benefits of not being isolated.
Knowing (or monitoring) if the older
person is feeling well, has eaten, has
taken his or her meds, has not had a
major change in activities, or is sud-
denly “feeling blue” are all part of reg-
ularized communication.
Looking at “traditional” cell phones,
the small numbers, complex menus,
cameras, and dazzling array of clever fea-
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tures on most models inhibit many eld-
ers from using the technology. A new
product line of cell phones has recently
emerged that simplifies the device in
order to encourage purchase and use by
older customers for whom both aging
deficits and generational experiences
may deter use. These newer phones have
larger screens and larger digits, have
fewer and larger buttons, and can con-
nect the user to a human “operator” by
dialing the traditional 0. Brought to
market by small firms and entrepreneurs,
most of the major cell phone carriers
now offer these kinds of phones. Since
I’m not recommending specific brands
or models of phones, I suggest that you
simply Google “cell phones, elderly” to
see the array of this expanding dimen-
sion of nanatechnology.
In one model, for example, there
are only three large buttons: one that is
programmed to call only one number
“at the push of a button,” a second
button to call 911, and the O operator
button. One model has a simulated
dial tone so as to be familiar to older
users. Reality check: Do you think
your cell phone has a dial tone? Go lis-
ten. Generational digital divide: Last
year when I mentioned the dial tone
part of this story to undergraduates, a
hand shot up in the back of the room:
“What’s a dial tone?”
[Note to gadget engineers: On
many Web sites these days, as well as
on my PDA, I can select/increase the
size of the font to work with my
“Gramps” eyes. When will you give me
this option in my cell phone?]
For free long-distance phone calls
between grandparent and grandchild,
your clients should know about Skype,
the Internet phone system

(www.skype.com). Skype has two
enchanting attributes:
1. The very easily downloadable and
installable software and all phone
calls, including international calls,
are absolutely free. There is no
“telephone” as such, but rather
computer-to-computer (VoIP, voice
over Internet protocol) calls using
your PC’s existing speakers plus a
microphone (microphones are a
low-cost addition, but see below).
If necessary, it’s possible to call from
a computer to a real phone (either
land line or cell), which costs only
about two cents per minute within
the United States and more for
international calls.
2. Exploiting today’s broader band-
widths, Skype offers video phone
calls (“wave to Gramps”), also free.
Some newer laptops have built-in
Web cameras; if not, you can buy a
USB-plug-in webcam for as little
as $15 (not a good idea) or as
much as $400 for fancy photogra-
phy. All webcams come with built-
in microphones, so you get that
too. I’m totally satisfied with the
$29.95 webcam I purchased from
a local Staples. In fact, after using it
for a week I bought two more: one
for my high-tech daughter spend-
ing her spring semester in Val-
paraiso, Chile, and one for my not
JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONALS / JULY 2008
FINANCIAL GERONTOLOGY
so high-tech wife, only an occa-
sional e-mail user. Skype also
allows free “conference” calls (just
audio, not video), so three genera-
tions can be on the same national
or international Skype call. I sus-
pect Skype will be around to help
bridge the generational digital
divide for awhile; currently there
are about 50 million registered
users worldwide in the Skype
“white pages” phone directory.
A colleague recently told me how his
tech-savvy nephew has patched together a
“system” to monitor his mother’s health
remotely by cell phone. The nephew
installed a few webcams in his mother’s
apartment, in which the signals are fed
into a PC in the apartment and then sent
to a private Web site. At any time the
nephew can use his browser-equipped cell
phone to “dial” into the Web site and
monitor his mother. While the techniques
to link all the pieces may not (yet) be
widely known, the technology is all off the
shelf and costs less than $200.
Finally, a few months ago I
“invented” a no-cost online infotainment
“game” that combines cognitive stimula-
tion, social engagement, and intergener-
ational interaction. The only technology
required was the PC currently available in
the lobby of my mother’s (age 94) nurs-
ing home. Previously a million-words-a-
minute secretary/typist, her fingers don’t
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work well now, so I do the “keyboard-
ing.” Using Google maps, we requested
directions from her girlhood home to
her high school in Chicago (circa 1931).
Google plotted the driving directions. In
those Depression years Mother walked
(of course) the 15-20 blocks to save the
nickel streetcar fare, a story she has told
five gazillion times, but now she could
point it out to me “in person.” The user-
enlargeable video-enhanced Google map
with all the street names provided us with
a delightful hour of nostalgic story-telling
interaction. Next time, together we are
going to Google where she and Dad
went on their honeymoon: Nanatech-
nology that is virtually free.
Over the next decade, the genera-
tional digital divide inevitably will
shrink as tech-savvy boomers (with our
even more techno-obsessed kids) move
through middle age into old age. In
the meantime, I’m confident that the
many currently available nanatechnol-
ogy products and services will help to
bridge that divide. With a little inves-
tigation and study, much of which will
be fun to do, you will add to your value
as a trusted family advisor by becoming
a gerontology gadget consultant. ■
Neal E. Cutler, PhD, is executive director,
Center on Aging, the Motion Picture and
Television Fund, Woodland Hills, CA. He
may be reached at ncutler@mptvfund.org.
Summary
Technology can play a major role in
aiding and abetting a client’s desire to
age in place. It can help to reduce iso-
lation, provide for safety and enhance
enjoyment. Over the next decade so
called “nanatechnology” products and
services will help to ease the burden
for many of your clients.