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I saved this NYT article for a rainy day.  Finding Out Your Power of Attorney Is Powerless describes situations where families had a financial institution reject a power of attorney subsequent to the principal becoming incapacitated with dementia or Alzheimer’s.   My family had a similar experience recently when my mother-in-law had to be admitted to…

A recent Guardian article offers excellent advice to caregivers for individuals with dementia.  The author, Cynthia Dearborn, shared her experiences about caring for a father with vascular dementia.  Cynthia described how her father’s short-term memory became severely impaired, along with his judgment and reasoning skills.  I am having a similar experience with a Transition Plans’…

COVID is forcing American families to confront end-of-life planning.  There are numerous articles on the subject, but NPR published one during the summer of 2020 that made a recommendation that is often overlooked: creating an inventory.  My wife, the list maker, established our first inventory 30 years ago when our first child was born. …

Since the onset of Covid, the death care industry has experienced an uptick in preneed sales.  As witnessed recently on the Bankrate website, the financial planning industry has taken notice.  Bankrate is a website that provides comparisons of various financial products, and recently posted an article titled “The pros and cons of funeral trusts…

The New York Times article on funeral planning blurs the line between pre-paying and pre-funding.   The savings accounts discussed by the article are one method of pre-funding funeral costs.   But the POD savings account is far less secure than final expense trusts or final expense insurance policies.  The concern many consumers have is that the…

We’re back to that recent New York Times article about funeral planning.  The reporter offers spot on advice about the ‘gaps’ of preneed arrangements.  A surviving parent will frequently advise adult children that they need not worry about his (or her) funeral because they have purchased a preneed contract.  As the article suggests, adult children…

Earlier this year, the New York Times ran a story that on funeral planning that raised several valid issues and recommendations.  We will use the next few blog posts to explore certain issues and recommendations in greater detail.   With this post we will start with the article’s discussion of prepaying for a preneed contract, and…