Questions about parents’ finances often come up when a parent starts to need some help. Basics like shopping, cooking or bathing can become too difficult for an elder with chronic illness, frailty and problems with memory. It may have started at retirement when income became fixed but unpredictable expenses weren’t figured into the cost of […]
These ethnic crime rings, as I call them, work like this—many of their elders are foreign born and the oldest may struggle with English no matter how long they’ve lived in the U.S.. These elders are always more comfortable with “their own”. The elders trust those who speak their first language. They trust those who […]
Imagine your aging parent or other loved one living on his or her own and losing power from a natural disaster or an intentional blackout. What would they do? Massive weather events across the U.S. leave millions without power, sometimes for long periods. There are lessons for all of us in what we are seeing. […]
Agatha, 60, had married a man 25 years her senior. He had one son who lived outside the US and was not close to his father. Agatha and her husband had a lot of good times until he began to show signs of dementia. Before long, Agatha was a full-time caregiver. She lost her husband […]
Everywhere we look, there is media focused on how to have a great retirement. No wonder. 10,000 people a day are turning 65. The emphasis is largely on urging you to get financial advice so you can feel “secure” and “reach your goals” all suggesting that these are the components of a happy retirement. But […]
Hearing, memory, and mobility all going at once: the aging triple whammy. We see it with Walter, 91, a very accomplished CEO in his day. He has always been a take-charge guy. But now, he has a severe hearing loss which limits his life considerably. He hates hearing aids and won’t wear them. He rejects […]
When an aging parent is diagnosed with dementia of any kind, it can be devastating and confusing to the family. For some, there is denial: ”It’s not that bad, I don’t see anything wrong with her, and let’s just let things stay the same for now.” For others, there is overreacting and trying to push […]
Your aging parent may have demanded something from you long ago: “Promise you’ll never put me in a home!” And you may have promised that. Perhaps you never thought through the implications. For elders who saw what healthcare was like before Medicare in 1965, their fears are founded in what things looked like then: unregulated […]
Gertie is a sharp 89, with a history of being well organized in her life. She is widowed, and was living alone. During Covid, one of her four daughters and her husband moved in with her, a plan that was supposed to be temporary. Gertie needed a little help with shopping and transportation, as she […]
You may see some public notices from governments, nonprofit agencies and consumer organizations warning about increased scammer activity lately. There is a lot of focus on internet and phone scams — everything from fake threats to pay money or fake enticements to get a “deal” on something. People are shopping online and scammers are looking […]
