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Dementia Can Take a Toll on Financial Health November 21, 2023 by Sarah Boden - Angela Reynolds knew her mother’s memory was slipping, but she didn’t realize how bad things had gotten until she started to untangle her mom’s finances: unpaid bills, unusual cash withdrawals and the discovery that, oddly, the mortgage on the family home had been refinanced at a higher interest rate.
An Underestimated Benefit for Family Caregivers July 27, 2023 by Joanne Kenen - For Aida Beltré, working remotely during the pandemic came as a relief.
Many Older People Can’t Afford Basic Necessities September 15, 2022 by Judith Graham - Fran Seeley, 81, doesn’t see herself as living on the edge of a financial crisis. But she’s uncomfortably close.
Advance Care Planning for Guns June 7, 2022 by Judith Graham - Kerri Raissian didn’t know what to do about her father’s guns when he died of COVID-19 in December at age 86 and left her executor of his estate.
23 States Respond to COVID Deaths in Nursing Homes October 6, 2021 by Susan Jaffe - The appalling number of COVID deaths in nursing homes laid bare long-standing problems in those institutions that needed to be addressed. States with diverse political leadership have passed new laws in response. Reporting for Kaiser Health News, (KHN), journalist Susan…
His Medical Crisis Took Us by Surprise April 21, 2021 by Judith Graham - Earlier this month, my husband picked up the phone and learned his 92-year-old father had been taken to the hospital that morning, feeling sick and short of breath.
In the Red March 4, 2021 by Mary Jacobs - At age 50, Sarah Smith found herself divorced, bankrupt and saddled with debts inherited from her ex-husband. When her two children chose to attend private colleges, she took out student loans. Now, at 66, Smith (not her real name) still…
Will Lifelong Learning Change the Way We Age? October 7, 2020 by Mary Jacobs - Six years ago, Laura Rich signed up for a continuing education class in Chinese art history and archaeology at Stanford University. Her children were grown and she was wrapping up a full-time stint on the local school board. “Most of…
The True Cost of Growing Old in America February 5, 2020 by Jan Mutchler - The US population is aging at such a rate that within a few years, older Americans will outnumber the country’s children for the first time, according to census projections. But rising rents, health care and other living costs mean that for many entering their retirement years, balancing the household budget can be a struggle.
When Should You Take Away an Older Person’s Cell Phone? November 23, 2019 by Judith Graham - At first, Robert Zorowitz, MD, thought his 83-year-old mother was confused. She couldn’t remember passwords to accounts on her computer. She would call and say programs had stopped working.
How to Preplan Your Own Funeral - When Amy Martin’s mother-in-law died last year at the age of 96, the funeral arrangements were easy. Her mother-in-law had discussed her wishes with her two adult children. 
What Do You Say to Someone with Dementia? - I got a call from my neighbor Marion. “I need to talk to you. My friend Jean was just diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I want to visit her, but I don’t know what to say to her. What do you say…