If you have an IRA or 401(k), please take the time to read this post. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act could pass the Senate this week. If it does, you should re-examine how you have planned for your retirement accounts. The future of this new law was in doubt just…
I Bequeath My Sweet Tooth to My Beloved Daughter
Unless something changes, the total number of people in the United States who have dementia will skyrocket over the next few decades. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that one in three Americans age 65 or older currently have some type of dementia. Our population is also aging. It is already becoming harder to qualify for needs-based…
A New Season
In 1962, Pete Seeger told the world that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. Several years later, the Byrds took that message to the masses when their version reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The lyrics were written several thousand years before, probably by King Solomon. It’s a pretty…
Mapping the Territory
In the 1930s, Alfred Krzybski proposed that we cannot completely understand reality because our knowledge of the world must be filtered through the limitations of our mind and our language. This was a scientific explanation of Paul’s declaration in I Corinthians that we “see through a glass darkly.” Krzybski’s point was that models, maps, and…
Crushing Your Hopes and Dreams
I generally don’t like the idea of retirement. It encourages people to stay in jobs that they hate and live unfulfilling lives. It makes people devote their lives to doing things they don’t like so one day they won’t have to do anything at all. They miss little league games, church pageants, and piano recitals…
A Terrible Problem to Have
Not too long ago, the most common answer to “How have you been?” was “Fine, how about you?” Today you are just as likely to hear something like “Insanely busy.” Tim Kreider wrote a famous article in the New York Times several years ago called “The Busy Trap.” He said that when you say you…
Eat the Marshmallow.
Most of you probably know Luke 2:8-14 by heart. Here is the King James Version: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and…
You Don’t Need a Screwdriver
I recently had to buy a screwdriver. I did not set out that Saturday morning to add a new screwdriver to my toolbox. I have plenty. My wife wanted to paint our shutters. The screws attaching the shutters to the house had star heads. I didn’t have the right size star head screwdriver. At first,…
My Health Is Better in . . . October?
Many of our clients come to see us because they are concerned about what happens if they die young. Unfortunately,that does happen. Depending on your stage of life, this may be your most important concern. But as your children leave home, you pay off your house, and you look more toward your second half of…