In early May my husband and I decided to bite the bullet and get our old (and growing dingier by the day) popcorn ceilings replaced with knockdown. Doing that meant we needed to move our furniture out of the house. All that work caused us to look at the stuff we have and consider what […]
Over the last many months, I’ve had conversations with several people about their need to act as caregivers. The stories have been about recent diagnoses as well as longer-term ongoing care needs and have included physical and cognitive health. The concerns expressed varied and there was commonality in the concerns being expressed including: day to […]
Caregivers (also referred to as Carers) are people who hold a caregiving role for another person. They are men, women, and children, and the care they provide ranges from simple to complex. The need for care can be due to diminishing physical and or cognitive capabilities, chronic health conditions, and or life-limiting illnesses. The impact […]
For several years – long before the COVID pandemic’s impact on the workforce – I have been talking and writing about the impending workforce shortages in Canada. The following image provides a very real sense of what is happening to our workforce within Canada. This Statistics Canada image of our population by generation is as […]
About 6 weeks ago I wrote about the impact of the aging Boomer generation on workplaces. This blog expands on that topic. The baby boom, which began shortly after the end of the second world war lasted 18 years in Canada. It drove economic growth following the war and growth of the middle class. Those […]
Canada’s Baby Boomers, otherwise known as “The Grey Tsunami” will all be 65 and older in 8 years. The Gen Xers and Gen Yers may well be thinking: GREAT, it’s about time people with different, new, and better ways of thinking and working will be running things. No argument there. For humanity and society to […]
I recently read a friend’s poem about grieving the death of a loved family member. It was deeply moving and laid bare my sadness about the state of our world. The coronavirus pandemic has put physical barriers between family, friends, and communities creating greater levels of loneliness, and has put millions of people out of […]
In the days following the 2001 terrorist attack on the US, my parents watched the news all day every day. They were teenagers during World War II and adults during the Korean War. The events of 9-11 were incredibly stressful for them. Their anxiety was fed by the dramatic messaging and constant barrage of worst-case […]
Every day, along with their day jobs, about 25% (5 million employees) of Canada’s workforce is also providing unpaid physical, cognitive and/or mental health care for family members. On average those people are adding the equivalent of a half time job to their week. The amount of workday time varies. The challenge for employers and […]
In 2019, Canada’s largest generation in history, the Baby Boomers, will range in age from 54 (B. 1965) to 73 (B. 1946) years of age. In 2030, a short 10.5 years from now, the entire Baby Boom generation will be between 65 and 84 years old. Based on the Alzheimer’s Society 2016 Report, “Prevalence […]
Herding Cats – all nine of us have to sign agreement forms that authorize RYAN to work on our behalf and get the signed forms to Ryan Prepare for the Work – Get the files back from storage – so we can provide the various documents Ryan needs (death certificates, wills) Executor Responsibility receive a […]
The letter seemed odd – we talked about whether it was even worth spending any time/effort on checking out the letter. We decided to do so. Checking it involved googling the company, checking out who they are, phoning their corporate headquarters in Texas and chatting with the Communications Leader, phoning the Calgary branch and asking […]
In June 2018, 20 months after Mom passed away, we received our CRA Clearance and distributed the estate to the beneficiaries. Our job was done. By the end of that summer, I had packed up the files and put them into storage. Out of the blue, this year in March we received a letter from […]
Writing a will requires two things – some careful thought and the support of a lawyer to ensure you have satisfied the legal requirements in your province. When you make the decision to write a Will you are taking the first step in building an important financial and personal plan. The major components of the […]
A person without a Will and its accompanying documents (Enduring Power of Attorney and Personal Directive) which I’ll talk about another time sets their family/friends up for a pretty big hassle. Your Will says who will get your stuff, who will be responsible for your children (if you have any) and who has the legal […]
….Forward for the people you love and who love you to manage the things you leave behind in a way that doesn’t cause increased stress, sadness, misunderstanding, conflict or cost. The research tells us that somewhere between 50 and 75% of Canadians have their heads deeply buried in the sand about planning for their death. […]
I recently read Patricia Pearson’s Fade to Black in Zoomer Magazine (July/August 2016). She talks about the importance of making death a part of life. Denial, it seems, is the guidepost most of us use when it comes to attending to matters related to managing the ultimate outcome of our lives. Pearson says “everyone […]
My sister Stevie and I officially accepted the roles of Co-Executor, Co-Power of Attorney and Co-Personal Directive Agent for our parents on April 26, 2012. At that time we thought we knew what it meant. Now a little more than four years later, I have to say that I really knew nothing about what I […]
