Category: Seek On Blog (Consumer)

An Open Letter to People Like Me in the Second Half of Life… At 90+ years of age, Ruth Halverson has some advice she wants to pass on to her peers. “First, I want to pass on the best advice I ever had to those still living in their own homes. ‘Move while you are […]

Traditionally, ethical wills were communicated from father to son in written form. Imagine today reading a document, in your father’s hand, expressing what in his life meant most to him – your father’s written legacy. 

Elder abuse has many forms. According to the National Council on Aging, up to 5 million older Americans are abused every year, and the annual loss by victims of financial abuse is estimated to be at least 2.6 billion. Abuse could be physical or emotional by adult, children, grandchildren, neighbors or caregivers. Financial abuse could […]

As primary caregiver, Wendy Levine understands the stresses of caring for an aging parent. The big challenge: she lives in Massachusetts, almost 1,500 miles from her father who lives in Minnesota. You can imagine the difficulties and stress in wondering how to manage this long-distance role. As the Baby Boomer generation becomes adult children they […]

My mother was fiercely independent. A former Army nurse who served in the Korean War and a woman who raised 6 children and countless pets of all kinds (she did draw the line at rodents) while balancing a nursing career during an era when most women didn’t work outside the home, Vicki almost defined the […]

Surveys regularly show that when people describe what they have saved, over a lifetime, above what they need to live on, they often use words like a “nest egg,” “something to fall back on,” or a “rainy day fund.” When asked to explain for what they would use these funds, among the highest ranking answers […]

There’s a photo in Olga “Dolly” Swanson’s room at Brightondale, a SilverCrest property, where she is a resident, of many children wearing colorful hats that she knitted. They aren’t her grandchildren or even people she knows well but Dolly knew there was a need for her warm knit hats and fifteen years ago she started […]

From the Lifesprk long-term care insurance blog series… Most people don’t consider the full cost of a long-term care event. In previous posts, we’ve shown how costs for an average 5 year long-term care event range from $200,000 to $450,000. The probability of an 80 year old collecting benefits under a long-term care insurance policy […]

My friend and her family were struggling. Her mother-in-law had had a series of health issues and, as she lived alone, was growing more socially isolated. The family worried. Could she still live alone? Should she? What if…? These situations play out across the US every single day causing angst and trauma for everyone involved. […]

From the Lifesprk long-term care insurance blog series To understand what long-term care insurance can mean to you, it can be useful to think of it as a long-term care “bank account.” But instead of the money sitting in a bank, it’s being held by an insurance company, ready for you to use when you […]