You probably don’t spend much time thinking about the legal system until some sort of problem arises. Then episodes of Law and Order or The Good Wife run through your mind, bringing worries and stress. Legal matters are not always bad news. Maybe you inherit some property or aren’t sure about a contract. Other times… Continue reading Is Legal Insurance for You?
Tag: family
Alzheimer’s Disease and Decision Making: Do I Know You?
The heartbreak associated with losing a loved one to Alzheimer’s disease is indescribable. One day, an adult child holds the hand of a parent; the parent asks, “Do I know you?” and the child’s heart (no matter what age) breaks into thousands of tiny pieces never to be repaired. A spouse experiencing the same response… Continue reading Alzheimer’s Disease and Decision Making: Do I Know You?
Family More Important than Friends in Later Years: Study
For older adults, having more or closer family members in one’s social network decreases his or her likelihood of death within a given period, but having a larger or closer group of friends does not, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. “We found that older individuals… Continue reading Family More Important than Friends in Later Years: Study
How Friends and Family Can Help with Your Doctor Visits
Editor’s note: Doctor visits can be frightening at any time, but they can become intimidating as well when you grow older. You may be dealing with serious or chronic health problems; you could be on several medications and need to talk to your physician about individual ones. Anxiety and tension may make it harder to… Continue reading How Friends and Family Can Help with Your Doctor Visits
Why Your Retirement Plan Is Bigger than You
The big story in financial planning has been and will continue to be affording retirement, which makes ample sense with the retirement of tens of thousands of baby boomers expected every week for several consecutive years. For boomers, many of whom have little to no retirement plan in place, affording retirement may be their generation’s… Continue reading Why Your Retirement Plan Is Bigger than You
Ready to Retire? It’s Time to Simplify Your Life
The time is now to get started on reaching your retirement goal (or dream) in 2016. Reboot Partners, four Boomer professionals, have written a practical guide, THE RETIREMENT BOOM: An All Inclusive Guide to Money, Life, and Health in Your Next Chapter (Career Press), to make the transition a bit easier. (You can order the… Continue reading Ready to Retire? It’s Time to Simplify Your Life
Caregiving and Cancer
Caregiving is more often than not an unexpected event. Many caregivers have a daily routine caring for a loved one. Some caregivers continue working; some stay at home to caregive. Most important is the caregiver’s ability for self-care including attending to healthcare and medical needs. Care-receiving is also an unexpected and unwelcome event; who wants… Continue reading Caregiving and Cancer
The Sibling Effect
By Nancy Wurtzel Who knows you better than your siblings? After all, you grew up together, share half of your genetic make-up, and had many of the same life experiences. Eighty percent of Americans have at least one living sibling. Unlike friends or partners, we don’t choose our siblings, yet there is an undeniable intensity… Continue reading The Sibling Effect
Fear of A Lonely Death
By Nancy Wurtzel Last year, in the middle of summer, George Bell, a 73-year-old man died alone in his Queens, New York apartment. His body wasn’t discovered for almost a week, and he may well have remained there longer if a neighbor, smelling a putrid odor, had not alerted police. George Bell’s death and its… Continue reading Fear of A Lonely Death
Make the Most of the Holiday Season
Shirley Palmer, founder and CEO of Shirley Palmer, LLC, is a master at helping others overcome a negative mindset that oftentimes accompanies the holiday season. “The holidays signal happy feelings and warmth of relationships for so many, but at the same time, we know that they can also bring about negative feelings,” said Palmer. “There… Continue reading Make the Most of the Holiday Season
Are You A Caregiver Who Cares Too Much?
As an Alzheimer’s caregiver, I know there is a fine line between providing good care for a loved one and sacrificing your life to help someone else. In 2011, I left Los Angeles, my home of 33 years, and moved across the country to care for my mother, who was in the moderate stages of… Continue reading Are You A Caregiver Who Cares Too Much?
Older Moms Need Help with Adult Children
Mothers who are caring for adult children with health problems don’t get enough help even when they have other adult children who are healthy, experts say. The new research will be presented at the American Sociological Association’s 2015 Annual Meeting. It’s a situation that can put older mothers in a vulnerable position, said Megan Gilligan,… Continue reading Older Moms Need Help with Adult Children
Long-Term Care: Are You a Denier?
The statistics are staggering. About 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that more than 70 percent of people over 65 will require long-term care services at some point. But few people make preparations for this inevitable part of life that can drain a family… Continue reading Long-Term Care: Are You a Denier?
Get Smart About Elder Financial Abuse
Billions of dollars in life savings are lost each year due to the financial exploitation of older adults. Perpetrators include scammers, professional caregivers, unethical businesses and family members. No federal agency tracks elder exploitation cases on an ongoing basis, but in a survey compiled by the Investor Protection Trust, 20 percent of Americans age 65… Continue reading Get Smart About Elder Financial Abuse
Bipolar Disorder: What You Need to Know
Much attention is paid to the issue of depression, but there is another mental illness that people know much less about. They may be suffering from it, or living with a person who has it. And not being aware of borderline personality disorder in cases like that can lead to serious consequences. Here, from… Continue reading Bipolar Disorder: What You Need to Know
New Guidelines for Making Critical-Care Decisions
Experts have developed guidelines aimed at avoiding conflicts between physicians caring for patients with advanced illness, and the families of those patients. “Neither individual clinicians nor families should be given unchecked authority to determine what treatments will be given to a patient,” explained Douglas White, M.D., M.A.S., UPMC Chair for Ethics in Critical Care Medicine,… Continue reading New Guidelines for Making Critical-Care Decisions
Making Sure Cancer Patients Get the Information They Need
Cancer patients’ information needs seem to differ depending on the type of cancer they have, and clinicians caring for survivors may need to understand those individual needs to better address survivors’ concerns about cancer recurrence, late effects, and family members’ risks. A three-year study of over 2,000 cancer survivors by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg… Continue reading Making Sure Cancer Patients Get the Information They Need
Memorial Day: Honoring and Helping Vets
Memorial Day isn’t only the kickoff to summer, it’s also a time to thank those who fought and died for our country. But for some veterans, there may not be much cause for celebration. We hear of far too many mental, emotional and physical problems among the men and women who have served the United… Continue reading Memorial Day: Honoring and Helping Vets