Senior Living
The Financial Burden of Alzheimer’s Care
By 2050, Alzheimer’s disease is expected to cost the nation as much as $1.1 trillion, afflicting 13.8 million people. While caring for an Alzheimer’s patient can cost $174,000 or more over their lifetime, many people have no plan when it comes to this debilitating disease, according to new research from WebMD and Shriver Media. Great fi...Read More
Where Angels Gather
Nowhere is God’s grace more evident than when a Hospice Angel walks through the door. When Tom’s daughters had a heart-to-heart talk with him last April, he was the picture of a man at the end of his rope. Five months of caring for his wife, Jenny, had kept him awake most nights. Occasionally he catnapped in the afternoons, but it was n...Read More
Reduce Risk of Dementia. Get Hearing Aids!
Researchers have known for years that hearing loss seems to increase the risk of dementia. Now there’s evidence that hearing aids can mitigate that risk. Hearing aids stave off dementia A French study that followed thousands of older people for 25 years recently found that hearing aids seem to protect against cognitive decline. People who use...Read More
Pill Poppers
My husband and I would love to travel. It used to be on our “to do” list when we were young and unencumbered. I remember one lovely weekend, early in our marriage, when we simply decided to take a long weekend in San Francisco. You could still do that, in those days. Plane fare was relatively cheap and you didn’t have to plan six months in advance ...Read More
Hearing Loss Among Middle-Age Men.
I have a simple theory that goes like this… The longer men are married, the more they lose their hearing. And you know why? Because they want to! I’ve always believed I have been blessed with pretty good ears. But not for important stuff like making myself look 40-years younger by piercing my ears so I can dangle jewelry on them like a rapper: 6″ g...Read More
Journey with Kileen: The Oregon Coast’s Spectaclar Lighthouses!
Last summer I did a tour of the Pacific coast from California to Tillamook, Oregon. We stopped at two lighthouses but if you are traveling by auto it would be fun to see all nine of the surviving lighthouse stations since they have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Seven of the lighthouses are available to visit during the su...Read More
Recently Widowed – And Now Soooo Many Changes
Dear “Oh Carol:” Was married for almost 46 years. My wife past last spring. I’m gonna move about 500 miles away to be much closer to my daughter and young grandkids. I don’t either want or expect her to spend time either entertaining or “taking care of” me. So, as a start, I want to make some new friends – but I am kind of scared about that. I...Read More
Your Next Roommate Could Be A Robot
The cost of senior living can be astronomical and as the baby boomer generation ages, finding affordable care in the comfort of their own homes turns to a necessity. To bring progress to this issue. IBM is working on a prototype of a robot that could become the official “robotic roommate.” Built with sensors that can detect anything fro...Read More
Amazing Possibilities – YES – Even In Retirement!
So here it is; retirement is looming. Some enter this phase of life with trepidation, while others transition in a seamless way and never look back. The options today in retirement are endless. We all have choices. Some plan ahead and things work out just fine, but for some, this new period, despite the planning leads to unhappiness, boredom and lo...Read More
We’re 26 Years “Retired,” No $$ Woes – Here’s How!
When 2016 came to a close, I thought I would look back financially to where we started this adventure, from January of 1991. The chart below shows the ascent of the S&P 500 Index over our 26 years of retirement. On our retirement date of January 14, 1991, the S&P 500 index closed at 312.49. It has recently closed at 2262, making roughly an ...Read More
Create Your Own Financial Sustainability
These days, no matter what the topic, it’s all about sustainability. In regards to financial sustainability, there are 3 legs to the stool. Income, spending and Investments. Income Income is derived from money you make through your job using physical or mental labor or both. Passive income can be created through property rentals, bond interes...Read More