LATE-BREAKING NEWS BULLETIN: As we were preparing to publish the following story here on the Blog, a disputed will allegedly written by the late Aretha Franklin and found stuffed between couch cushions in her Michigan home has been found by a jury to be valid. This article published in the Hollywood Reporter was one of … Read more

For several generations, “retirement” was associated with little more than a well-earned rest after a lifetime of labor. In former years, a person worked until age 65, enjoyed a few years of peaceful relaxation, then passed away a short time thereafter – and that was that. It wasn’t until 1935 that U.S. average life expectancy … Read more

“What does Social Security mean to you?” Ask the average senior that question and you’ll get a range of answers. For some, those monthly deposits fall in the “nice to have” category, a little extra to make retirement a bit easier. But for millions of others, Social Security is an absolute necessity, and the only … Read more

For many of us, predicting how many years we have remaining in this life can be a fun source of speculation. For others, thinking about the sand trickling through life’s hourglass is a sobering reminder of mortality. But regardless of how we feel about aging, there’s no accurate gauge to tell us how much time … Read more

Advice about saving money has been woven into our consciousness since we were kids. For generations, American youngsters have heard the same well-worn advice: “Save for a rainy day!” “A penny saved is a penny earned!” “A fool and his money are soon parted!” The translation is clear – the key to happiness and security … Read more

Let’s consider a simple hypothetical. Your aging father passes away, and as his executor you’ve just finished paying out cash from his estate for his funeral expenses. The thought crosses your mind – “I wonder if these costs are tax deductible?” Or perhaps you’re setting aside funds for your own memorial service one day. You … Read more

What’s the most common warning sign of cognitive decline? Many of us might be tempted to answer, “Forgetfulness.” We bump into a familiar person at church or in the grocery store and can’t for the life of us remember her name. Or we walk into the bedroom and realize we have no idea what it … Read more

In the old days, the issue was straightforward: if you owed money on your home – in other words, if you had a mortgage – you probably believed that you simply had to pay it off before you could retire. But is that assumption still valid? Apparently not. In fact, as this 2018 AARP report … Read more

When you finally retire, where would you like to live? Most people approaching retirement have probably played that little mind-game a hundred times. “If I could live wherever I want,” we ask ourselves, “where would it be?” That can indeed be a fun exercise, but there’s more to deciding where to live in retirement than … Read more

Here on the Blog, we’ve presented dozens of articles with a similar theme: how to make certain your family knows your wishes as you approach the end of your life. None of us has a crystal ball accurate enough to know when we’ll draw our last breath, or what will happen to us in the … Read more