The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Estate Planning 3-2-1, Part 2: Two ways to ease family tension by personalizing your estate plan

By Lauren A. Pitman, Attorney

Founder and Author of the Side by Side Planner

If I have learned anything in more than 15 years as an estate planning attorney, it’s that there’s really no such thing as a “normal family.” That’s because every family is beautiful, whether your “family” is your children and grandchildren, beloved nieces and nephews, or a network of close friends.

That’s why online estate planning tools don’t work: they aren’t customizable enough to work for a real-life family. Real families are too important to risk. I have seen too many sibling relationships fall apart after the death of a parent over what’s “fair.” In extreme cases, contests or disputes lead to permanent family fall-out.

A good estate plan can do more than just preserve relationships: it can even heal old wounds or set things right within a family. Only you know what you think is fair for your beneficiaries.

Cars, home improvement top the list of consumer complaints for 2019, survey shows

Problems with car sales and repairs and home improvement and construction once again topped the list of complaints reported to state and local consumer agencies across the country, according to an annual survey by the Consumer Federation of America.

“When the used car you just bought breaks down or your new roof leaks, who are you going to call? asked Susan Grant, director of consumer protection and privacy for CFA. “It’s your state or local consumer agency.”

Grant conducted the survey, which included participation by 31 agencies from 19 states this year. It asked about the most common, the fastest-growing, and the worst complaints agencies received in 2019.

Top 10 complaints in 2019

These are the complaints most frequently cited as the top problems reported to state and local consumer agencies last year:

Baby boomers contemplate grief, quarantine, hoarding, and love

You never know what's going to happen next in life. One day, you could lose someone you love or you could be in the middle of a pandemic. So, enjoy every day to its fullest.

That's the recommendation of our boomer blogging group. This week's articles are as follows:

Over at A Healing Spirit, Carol Cassara wants to counteract the negativity in the world by doing her version of random acts of kindness. Cassara calls them "love bombs" and offers a variety of ideas you can easily use to make the world more loving in "How To Love Bomb Someone for Free."

For Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles, it’s hard to believe almost four years have passed since her dad died. Four winters, springs, summers, and falls have come and gone. He was a good father and they were close. She thought his death would become easier with time, but instead it gets harder. Numbness eventually turned to grief, but each time she thinks of him the sadness goes deeper, the loss is more real. Here are eight things she misses…

It has been a busy week with presidential primaries and a possible pandemic dominating the news. The prospect of being quarantined got Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting pondering whether, and how, to prepare. Baer remembers a past brief time spent at home while contemplating future confinement.

The snowbird season is over. At least it is for Tom at Sightings Over Sixty. March is here, and so in his post "Homeward Bound" he says goodbye to the southern beaches and turns his sights to the north . . . and to the season ahead.

When a hoarder passes away, his or her family is left to sort out the mess. Rebecca Olkowski, with BabyBoomster.com, has been spending time getting rid of stuff so she can move. It’s amazing what a person can collect who has trouble letting things go. 

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #639. Click on the links to read these informative articles. And be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers enjoy communicating with readers. 

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Yes, boomers are doing O.K.

Carol Cassara of A Healing Spirit is still a Beatles fan, and, all these years later when she hears one of their songs, she’s instantly transported back to the 1960s. An image of a van, like the one in the photo, which was popular at the time, does the same thing. She just goes there.

Cassara also thinks about the 1960s when she reads posts by her favorite boomer bloggers. Some of their latest articles include:

• The most memorable Christmas.
• How to make Polish Sauerkraut Soup.
• The top three challenges to expect from “gray” divorce, divorce when couples are age 50 and older.
• A narrow escape on the freeway when a box truck veered off the highway toward the center median, then careened back onto it.
• How to plan goals for 2020 and beyond.
• The new, frozen Asian desserts.

Cassara writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #627. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers appreciate hearing from readers. It makes their day.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers spend time on holiday preparations and end-of-year reflections

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting was flying high this week, with a short airline ride to enjoy the company of her grandkids. She sat for hours in stiff steel bleachers waiting for her granddaughters’ teams to compete in cheerleading, got manicures and pedicures, sampled Asian ice cream, baked cookies, strolled a craft fair, and witnessed the usual family feuds, which she didn’t take part in.  

Meanwhile, her baby boomer blogging friends spent time this week on end-of-year reflections and holiday preparations:

• Why manifesting stuff won’t make you happy.
• How “free trial offers” can turn bad and cost you money.
• How the size and style of the family Christmas tree changes over the years.
• How to make your own self-care toolkit for the holidays.
• What we can do to help ourselves live longer and feel better.
• What makes someone young and someone old is a state of mind.

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #626. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure and join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers enjoy sharing ideas with readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Number of retirees with mortgages increases dramatically

Retirement is different than it used to be. Many more retirees are still trying to pay off their homes.

One of four homeowners 30 years ago who were in their late 60s and 70s still had a mortgage. These days, nearly half have one. When people turned 80, mortgages used to be unusual, with just 3 percent being mortgage holders. These days, one in four of these older seniors have mortgages, according to “Housing America’s Older Adults 2019,” a report by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. 

Seniors who have paid off their homes have more money to spend, which improves their standard of living in retirement.

What to do about Capital One’s gigantic data breach

A massive data theft at Capital One exposed personal information, in some cases including Social Security numbers, of more than 100 million people. It’s the largest amount of data stolen from any bank to date. 

Consumers should assume that their Social Security number has been exposed between this breach and breaches of other major companies’ databases, such as Equifax’s, said Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG’s federal consumer program senior director. U.S. PIRG recommends all Americans should freeze their credit reports for free to safeguard their financial security. Click on the following link for details on how to do this: https://uspirg.org/feature/usp/freeze-your-credit. 

“The Capital One breach impacting 100 million Americans is the largest-known breach of a bank,” said Mierzwinski. “The hacker stole people’s credit applications which help make up their financial DNA – and in some cases included Social Security numbers. This information could be used to steal our identities or drain our finances.”

Baby boomers start the summer with thoughts of politics, health, and stuff

It’s summer at last with spring rains lessening and warm days turning into hot days in many parts of the country. Politics are heating up, too, with the debates for 20 Democratic presidential candidates drawing substantial interest.

For Tom Sightings from Sightings Over Sixty, the heat has finally come in full force – in both the weather and in politics. Dial in to “Summer Heat” to find out how he's slowed down and started doing summer activities for little or no money, including watching a couple of debatable programs on television.

It was difficult for Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting to avoid the hype for the great event of the past week – the two-night Democratic debate extravaganza. Baer settled onto her couch with comfort food – ice cream – and spent four hours of her precious time watching politicians talk…and talk…and talk. She commented on the spectacle in this week’s post “Democrats Debate, Discuss, and Dream.”

Other boomers are writing about health.

For Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com the topic is emotional eating. Emotional eating is one of the main causes of weight gain in women over 50. Olkowski is trying out a weight loss program that’s an app on your smartphone. It holds you accountable to yourself and gives you support and education on how to deal with psychological issues that are packing on the pounds. 

On my blog, I wrote about a request by consumer and health groups to put a warning statement on alcoholic beverages labels to increase consumer awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer. Half of Americans aren’t aware of this link.

Then, there’s the topic of what to do with all your stuff. Organizing spaces is a topic covered by two other boomer blogger.

What happens to our stuff when we don't have children to leave it to? And what happens to our nostalgia? Those are questions Carol Cassara of Heart•Mind•Soul asks in her post about stuff and nostalgia.

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin wants to know if you have a soul loving space.  A place that nourishes you, calms you, and helps to soothe your soul? A space in which you feel creative? Or, a space in which you feel connected with your family? For details, see the article “How to Create a Soul Soothing Space.”

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #603. Be sure to take a look at these great boomer articles. And, leave a message to join in the conversations.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Personal Finance Writer

Workstations recalled by Knape & Vogt due to injury hazard

Knape & Vogt is recalling about 76,000 sit-stand office workstations.

The workstation can malfunction, causing the gas cylinders to separate and forcefully discharge, posing an injury hazard. 

Knape & Vogt has received two reports of the gas cylinder separating from the workstation. In one case, the cylinder discharged from the unit resulting in damage to the drywall in an office.

Baby boomers deal with life in today’s world

 

The midterm elections are Tuesday and some of our baby boomer writers are getting excited about the outcome. America could be on the cusp of political change. It all depends on who comes out to vote.

This week, boomer bloggers are writing about:

• A 50^th high school reunion.

• A family’s immigrant past.

• Bullet journals.

• The child-like part of us.

• The deferred credit card trick.

• How Congress is out of step with the rest of us.

Rebecca Forstadt-Olkowski of BabyBoomster is the host for this week’s Best of Boomer Blog 571. Click here to get links to this week’s boomer articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist