Researchers calculated how much money is required to retire and live comfortably in every U.S. metropolitan area based on average annual spending. It turns out that in 28 metros —half of them in California — retirees need nest eggs of at least $1 million, headed by San Francisco ($1.5 million). Seattle is just outside the “millionaires club” but ranks 30th nationally at $995,000. Inflation and taxes figure in the affordability ratings.

Depending on their age, baseball fans have either distant memories or none at all of the beleaguered Seattle Pilots, who played their one and only Major League Baseball season in 1969. A year later, the franchise was moved half way across the country to Wisconsin and became (and still are) the Milwaukee Brewers. If not for shaky team finances and a sub-standard home stadium, the Pilots might very well be a month into the 2022 season right now instead of the Seattle Mariners.

Winter, spring, summer and fall, the temperature of Puget Sound is between roughly 45 and 53 degrees. To which Bernardo’s All Stars say, So what? The cold water of Puget Sound is a welcome refuge for these club swimmers who happily embrace, depending on the time of year, some combination of bone-chilling water, rain, hail, snow, wind, curious seals, jellyfish, and menacing sky. They’re not crazy. They just love the physical and social benefits of open-water swimming. And they’d be happy if you joined them.

Failing health, crumbling incomes, and rising home costs are forcing thousands of older adults nationally into homelessness, a dilemma that includes the Puget Sound region. Many need to work beyond typical retirement age to make ends meet, while health and age-related issues make it difficult to get jobs with employers who shy away from older workers. Those factors, coupled with others like cost of living, can put older adults on the streets. What can be done?