When I get together with estate planning clients, one question that often comes up is “what happens to my assets if my spouse or I have to go into long-term care?” I then explain Medicaid, the government program designed to help pay for our stay in a long-term care facility if we can’t afford it. […]
We have lived with COVID-19 for nearly two years. During the early part of the pandemic when we were all stuck at home, young kids really struggled without socializing with their friends in person. As a result, virtual interaction skyrocketed, as did the platforms that hosted virtual networks. While grown-ups know all about Zoom and […]
Last week I wrote about the IRS’s gift tax rules. The annual gift tax exclusion, which is currently $15,000, is the amount of money (or the value of other property) a person can give away each year to any individual without having to report it to the IRS. If someone gives more than $15,000 to […]
When my kids were little, their letters to Santa took longer to read than ‘War and Peace.’ They wanted all different types of toys and games. One year, they even asked for flying backpacks. This year, however, they’d be thrilled with cash. And my kids are not alone. A lot of the parents I talk […]
This is my favorite time of year. Football is in full swing and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. After eating too much with family and friends, we’ll burn some calories Black Friday shopping. Then we get to eat candy and cookies and watch Christmas movies all through December. Every year, however, my Christmas spirit […]
Now is the time of year when my family starts watching Christmas movies. We watch the classics – ‘Elf,’ ‘Christmas Vacation,’ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and, of course, ‘Die Hard.’ We also watch ‘Home Alone,’ and sometimes ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.’ The sequel finds Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, alone in […]
Last week, our family went to Shopko for the last time. It was sad because most of the store was empty and the few shelves that had items for sale were heavily picked over and left in disarray. It was a far cry from when the department store first opened. I remember it being jammed, […]
Our family has had a great summer vacation so far. My son’s baseball team took second place in their tournament, my daughter helped backstage at TeenStage’s great production of ‘The Addams Family,’ and my wife spent a week at a dude ranch in Wyoming with her friends riding horses. But while they’re having all this […]
It’s hard to believe, but we’re less than six months away from Christmas. So after stores take down their back-to-school displays, the Christmas ones will go up. While I still love to snag great deals in the stores on Black Friday, the last few years, we’ve been doing most of our holiday shopping online. You […]