Much has been written – but not enough has been done – about the plight of the nation’s estimated 42 million people, almost all untrained family members, who are serving as primary caregivers for a loved one with chronic health problems. Some of these are caring for children with disabilities, but many more are at…
Just two decades ago, in 1996, the number of people aged 60-64 who were actively employed stood at about 46 percent. Today that number is on the rise, projected to reach 60 percent by 2026. The trend is clear: older workers are putting off retirement and staying on the job longer. We read about this…
What if you heard of an epidemic that was causing up to 125,000 deaths each year in the U.S.? What if this epidemic was also responsible for 10 percent of all hospitalizations in the country, and was costing the American health care system well over $100 billion annually? And what if you discovered that this…
It may sound offensive to say it, but compared with men, women have a math problem. At least that’s the conclusion we found in this insightful article that appeared recently on the Reuters website. By “math problem” we don’t mean that women aren’t as good at arithmetic or geometry as their male counterparts. Instead the…
A growing number of seniors hitting that magical age of 65 are facing one of retirement’s first big decisions: whether to opt for Medicare or Medicare Advantage for their health care. And it seems as if the Advantage plans, offered by private insurers instead of the federal government, are winning the battle. Last year about…
If you are about to undergo surgery, the doctors will warn you about possible physical side effects during recovery. They’ll tell you how long it will be before you can resume your daily routine. They’ll advise you about medications and give you a list of precautions. But there’s one thing they may not tell you:…
These days we often hear about adult children moving to another community – or another state – to be close to their aging parents. Traditionally, the image in our minds is that of a couple in their late 40s or early 50s moving to be near a Mom or Dad in their mid-70s. But based…
The issues of comfort care and end of life medical decisions are front and center with the death of Barbara Bush. Earlier this week America lost one of its best-known and most-admired citizens, former First Lady Barbara Bush. She passed away Tuesday April 17th at age 92 in her Houston home, surrounded by family, including her husband George H.W. Bush, our 41st President.
Ah, retirement! It’s just one fancy meal and exotic trip after another, right? Well…maybe for a tiny handful of the über wealthy. For the rest of us, living in retirement means learning to compromise, improvise and economize, since there’s usually a limited amount of resources to spend on things that are purely fun. However, the…
In recent years there has been no shortage of articles about the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), better known as the reverse mortgage. At AgingOptions we read these articles with a great deal of interest, since questions about these powerful but misunderstood financial tools come up frequently in our LifePlanning Seminars and on our radio…