My teenage children went on their first scavenger hunt in December. As they foraged around town collecting various trinkets, they were trying to make sense of all the cryptic messages within each new instruction before the other competing teams. When all the trinkets were collected, they were finally able to piece together the final clue that led them to the …
Read More »Who Are You?
During the Christmas break, my kids and I have a tradition of piling up on the sofa with a huge bowl of popcorn and watching movies. My 12-year-old daughter wanted to watch the latest remake of Alice in Wonderland. With Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway in the same movie, I’m thinking it can’t be that bad. So shortly after Alice …
Read More »Staying in the Box: Lessons from “The Mick”
When I was a kid, I was a fan of Mickey Mantle. He was the idol of many American boys just like me. Known as “The Mick,” Mantle was one of the greatest home run hitters of the time, and perhaps the greatest switch hitter ever to play the game. After a 14-year career with the New York Yankees, Mantle …
Read More »There is No Trophy for Just Showing Up
My first experience in the martial arts occurred when, at the age of 8, I visited a judo class being taught at the local Boy’s and Girl’s Club. The idea of tripping and throwing others around sounded exciting to a young, skinny kid. But what I didn’t understand was that you also got tripped and thrown when you showed up …
Read More »A Watchman on the Wall
I am a student of history. Reading about lost civilizations and their culture is fascinating. Their customs and traditions (as well as their myths and legends) tell us much about what they valued. The social, religious and political interactions amongst these ancient people are intriguing, and reveal that we aren’t that different from our distant ancestors. In ancient times, city-states …
Read More »Are We Being Ostriches?
As a child of the 1960s, I remember watching TV, and the amazing transition from black and white to our first color TV. It sure made watching my favorite cartoons more entertaining. I’m not sure why, but even our black and white cartoons looked better on that new color TV set. One particular scene played out in the cartoon world …
Read More »After You Say, “I Do”
You woo them, you court them, you often invite them to dinner and buy them a nice meal. You occasionally shower them with gifts, and you bend over backwards to see that they have everything they need to make a decision in your favor. You talk, laugh, and get to know each other. You come to believe that person is …
Read More »The Monster Lurking Under the Bed
“I got a raise, well, sort of, maybe.” That’s the comment of today’s Social Security recipients after the SSA recently announced beneficiaries would receive a whopping 1.7% increase in benefits in 2015. This increase applies to those receiving retirement benefits, as well as to those who are receiving disability or SSI benefits next year. At the same time, the Part …
Read More »What’s a QLAC? Understanding Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts
Today’s Boomers will, on average, live 20 to 25 years in retirement, and one in four will live to at least age 90. As stated in a previous article, longevity has become the “fountain of youth,” and many of today’s Boomers are coming to grips with the new “retirement reality” that will be the world they wake up to for …
Read More »Today’s Retirement Reality: Dream or Nightmare?
As the last of the Baby Boomers celebrate their 50th birthday this year, a recent Wells Fargo survey added to what is already a very bleak picture for many of these pre-retirees. As they prepare for what could be up to one third of their lifetime in retirement, the picture-perfect dream of life after work is becoming a nightmare reality …
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