Social Security and Medicare Face Financial Challenges

How Social Security and Medicare will be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is still uncertain; the Trustees acknowledge that the estimates and analysis included in the reports do not reflect the potential effects. Social Security Trust Funds The Social Security program consists of two parts, each with its own financial account (trust fund) that holds … Read more

$86…and change

end-of-life care conversations When you consider that death is the one commonality that all humans share, it’s perhaps surprising that this subject has been taboo for so long. But there are definite signs that the prevailing prohibitions about the d-word are slowly falling away, especially as the largest-ever cohort of people over 65 contemplate what … Read more

Take (care with) Your Medicine

Prepare yourself for the paper deluge! If you are a Medicare enrollee, you will probably notice an uptick in the amount of mail you receive during the next couple of months. That’s because we are about to enter that special time of year designated to be the open enrollment period for Medicare plans. Various Medicare … Read more

Give and Take

Lots of important financial announcements came down from the government this week that should be of interest to retirees and those looking to retire in the near future. As usual with Washington, there’s some good news and some bad news. Here’s a quick look… For those who are still working and can contribute to some … Read more

A Crucial Decade

My 60th birthday is rapidly approaching. Yikes! On most every day, I feel much younger than my mental image of a 60-year-old, but the calendar tells the truth. My birth year of 1954 places me squarely in the middle of the Baby Boomer generation, defined as those born between 1945 and 1964. That placement resulted … Read more