Here at AgingOptions, we feel we’ve seen it all when it comes to relationships between aging parents and adult children. In some cases, these relationships are wonderful models of love, respect and support; in other families, plagued by bitterness and old wounds, parents and kids are barely on speaking terms or are openly antagonistic toward…
It’s a dilemma that almost every family faces sooner or later: an aging parent or spouse can no longer live at home and has to move into a care facility. Sometimes the move into long term care is planned, but often – due to a health crisis, accident, or lack of preparation – it catches…
Several months ago we were reading financial columnist Michelle Singletary’s column in the Washington Post when something in the article really grabbed our attention – a reader comment buried far down in the column that set off warning bells. We felt this information needed to be shared once again with our AgingOptions blog readers. Divorce…
We love to run across news stories that point out how the simplest of ideas can have a tremendous impact, and that’s how we felt as we read this heart-warming article published recently on the BBC News website. As we at AgingOptions read this story we thought it would be a good one to share…
Last week here on the AgingOptions blog, we ran this story based on a NextAvenue article describing a damning statistic. According to surveys, roughly 80 percent of Americans say they would prefer to pass away in the familiar comfort of their own home, yet only about 20 percent actually succeed in taking their last breath…
Here’s a question: if you’ve made it clear in your will which of your heirs should inherit money from your estate, how it is possible that those funds will end up going to someone else? The answer is simple: if you’ve forgotten to update the beneficiary information on a life insurance policy, retirement plan, or…
When most of us plan for our retirement, we typically concentrate on how we want to live. However, at some point it’s important that we also plan how – and where – we would prefer to die. Surveys shown a very large majority of Americans want to take their last breath at home, in their…
Hoarding is one of those little-understood habits that people sometimes laugh about or make light of (or even feature on so-called reality television shows). But you are the adult child of a hoarder, you know the issue is no laughing matter. This article that appeared a few months ago on the NextAvenue website, written by…
Recently here at the AgingOptions blog we came across yet another reminder of just how lonely people are during the holidays. This recent article from CBS News featured a group interview with a diverse panel of men and women of all ages, with one common thread: they all describe themselves as being lonely. One study…
Nursing homes that are operating with unacceptably low weekend staffing are about to get a surprise. An article we just read on the Kaiser Health News website reports that CMS – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – has ordered state inspectors to begin conducting more unannounced inspections on weekends, when staffing shortages are…