Seek and Find!
At some point, many of us will need to take on responsibility for an aging loved one. And when that time comes, there is an enormous amount of pressure to consider all factors and make the best decisions regarding his or her health and finances. Where will your mother, father, wife, or husband receive the highest-quality care? Where will he or she be treated like a resident, not just a patient? Where is the cleanest skilled nursing facility with the best food? Where will your loved one feel safe?
For one month each year, Chelsea Brennan, 30, and her husband, Jeremiah, 36, run what they call a financial fire drill. Chelsea, who is usually in charge of family finances, turns all bill paying, budgeting, banking, and investing over to her husband, who is usually fully occupied as a stay-at-home dad to their two young sons. At the same time, Chelsea takes over the tasks Jeremiah usually handles in their Storrs, Connecticut, home.
Over the past year, we have endured a period of massive uncertainty driven by a global healthcare crisis and its economic impacts, compounded by racially charged social tensions and a contentious U.S. election season. No doubt, we will feel 2020’s impact on our lives, families, household finances, and the economy for many years. While the past year has highlighted deeply rooted issues that need addressing, hopefully we are closing in on the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. At the risk of giving the all clear too soon, it might be worth a look in the rearview mirror while our feelings are still fresh.
We are on the cusp of an extraordinary transition in medicine made possible by high-speed Internet, artificial intelligence (AI), and wearables. Medical experts are calling this new frontier precision medicine because advancing technologies are going to make it possible to consider each patient’s unique lifestyle, environment, and gene variations in ways that will make health care as individualized as a tailor-made suit.
Q: I am planning to retire next year. What should I be doing to prepare given uncertainties in the markets and economy?
Q: I want to go live in a warmer state. What do I need to think about from a tax perspective?
The American healthcare system is, in a word, complicated. It also can be extremely expensive. And that’s before we even reach retirement age.
The 2015 movie The Big Short chronicles the market and economic forces that led to the financial crisis in 2007. Based on a Michael Lewis book of the same name, the film’s all-star cast explains the crisis’s origins through the stories of a handful of analysts and investors who saw the meltdown coming, bet on it, and made a lot of money.
