Grandparents usually adore grandchildren. The old idea—that grandchildren are wonderful because we enjoy them, spoil them, then send them home to their parents—is surely true, yet the appreciation of grandchildren goes beyond that. Continue reading
Category Archives: Family
Older Drivers—When Is It Time to Give Up the Keys?
A guest post by E. Donnelly
An article from 2012 came to mind recently: a 100-year-old driver hit 11 people in Los Angeles. As I read through the details again it made me cringe as I have an elderly father and his driving is worrisome. These days, my dad lives with my wife and me (Mom died some time ago), and is well into his senior years. His eyesight is not what it used to be. His reflexes are slower.
It fills me with dread to think of what might happen if he ever got into a car crash. But being the old block of which I am a chip, he is adamant. He calls it “payback” for all the times I snuck the car out in my teenage years (and did some damage, too). All of this got me thinking. Should there be an upper age limit on driving? More importantly, can there come a time when old people just know that they have to let go? Continue reading
Later Living Reflected in a Single Hour
I met a woman yesterday, yet I feel I’ve known her most of my life. Brigid never left her home area of Glenmore, Ireland and I’ve never been there. We met through William Trevor, her creator, in his short story, The Dancing-Master’s Music.
Trevor’s characters reveal themselves in traits so vivid yet common that we’re forced to compare them with people we know. ‘This guy is just like Pete from work,’ we might think. Or we may feel that we want to meet and talk with them. His people seduce us into their lives.
Can Young Workers Meet Retirement Goals? It Depends
Our children and grandchildren are urged to save and invest for retirement. Their success depends on saving regularly and investing well. Success also depends on how long they work, how much they save, and how successful they are in their careers. Today we look at those three elements.
I have been working on a financial model of retirement savings to learn the principal drivers of successful retirement accumulation.
Here are the main results Continue reading
How to Help Your Kids Plan for Retirement
Most of us would like to help our children and grandchildren prepare for the changing retirement landscape. Pension plans are under siege and passing away. Although many current retirees receive generous pensions, our children and grandchildren are not likely to share that good fortune.
Their retirements will likely depend on Social Security and whatever income they can piece together from retirement investments and encore careers. To help, we can point out reasonable investment goals. Today we’ll see how Social Security influences investment goals. Continue reading
How to Make a Home
Should you move after retirement? If you do, you will want to make a home. And if you stay in place, you will want to deepen and secure your home. Here are five steps that will help: Continue reading
What is Your Adventure?
Ice, forest, fog
I have not posted recently because I’ve been skiing and taking pictures. I return from skiing exhausted and can barely function. If I sit at the computer, I fall asleep. I take some ibuprofen, eat, and do whatever is absolutely necessary before getting into bed where I sleep like a rock. Then I go skiing again. I’m 68 years old and haven’t skied through a winter in 42 years. Besides being older, I’m 80 pounds heavier.
If not skiing, I go out looking for aspects of Vermont to photograph. Continue reading
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Here are a few photographs of the Christmas season. Hope they help you remember what a wonderful season it is.
Hang On to Humor as You Slide toward the Grave
We’re all sliding toward the grave, and older people naturally think about it more. Maybe that is one of the reasons many old people sink into despair. I say, “To hell with despair.” We all know where we’re going, so let’s have some fun along the way. Humor surely gives as much help for despair as a shrink, and it’s free.
- A lawyer called his client overseas to tell him his mother-in-law passed away. “Should we order burial, embalming or cremation,” asked the lawyer. The fellow replied, “Take no chances—do all three.” (unknown author) Continue reading
A Motorcycle Journey
Wayne Flick
Last year, my brother Wayne and I motorcycled the full lengths of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, visited some museums and rode the Cherohala Skyway between North Carolina and Tennessee. We spent 7 nights together, 4 in tents, and the weather was good throughout. It’s been the longest time I’ve had alone with a brother in many years.
The best parts of retirement are often adventures we never had time for in middle life. Both Wayne and I motorcycled in our youth, then we gave it up because of the risks and costs. Retirement offered us each a few years when we could again experience the constant accompaniment of wind as we rode with somewhat modest abandon through mountain roads. Continue reading