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Reverse Mortgages Can Be Beneficial In The Right Situation

Question: How do I know if reverse mortgages are right for me and where can I get help? Answer: The commercials make it sound like a perfect solution for everyone. I have had a number of clients who used a reverse mortgage to help them stay in their home. This can be a very useful tool if your plan is to stay in your home as long as possible. I have also seen reverse mortgages go bad. If you are looking to get some extra money, or to pay off debt, a reverse mortgage may not be recommended. The regulations in New York state have become more difficult for the banking industry which ...

Aging Like A Fine Wine

Finally, after living my entire life at 120 decibels, after hearing my brothers playing and arguing for 18 years, and then my own children playing and arguing for 18 years, and phones ringing all over the house, and kids’ friends running up and down the stairs, and cars coming and leaving, and dogs barking and garage doors opening and shutting. It’s quiet. It dawned on me today that I haven’t really noticed how quiet life has become. It’s like a giant hush has descended on my days and today it reached a level where it was discernible. “Where is everyone?” I asked out ...

What Part Of ‘No Amnesty’ Doesn’t DC Understand?

The rumblings from the Beltway are ominous, my fellow Americans. As the U.S Supreme Court prepares to rule on President Donald Trump’s termination of the Obama administration amnesty and work permits for 800,000 young illegal immigrants sometime between now and June 2020, all the usual open-borders special interests are lobbying for a “DACA deal” in Congress. I am hearing that big business and big tech are pressuring the White House to attach a mass illegal immigrant pardon to Jared Kushner’s so-called immigration reform plan, which would tinker here and there with tighter ...

Trump Sees Coronavirus As Catalyst, Not A Threat

True to form, President Donald Trump signaled confidence in his remarks addressing the threat of the coronavirus. He was correct when he mentioned that the average American is not at risk of imminent harm from the virus. And he correctly pointed out that far more people die annually from the common flu than have been killed thus far by the coronavirus. In urging calm, Trump also signaled that he views the virus as a potential catalyst for a strategic restructuring of America’s trade relationship with China, and returning manufacturing jobs to the U.S. It has been a foregone ...

State Licensing Boards Don’t Protect The Public

Here is a sobering fact: In the United States, there are thousands of medical malpractice claims filed every year, with billions of dollars in claims. It is true that that medical malpractice is often abused by unscrupulous attorneys and plaintiffs, and that the awards are often absurd, but many of those cases themselves are not absurd. Many are actual, documented malpractice, with serious implications for the patient, including death. In every one of those cases, the medical professionals were licensed by a state licensing board. The unscrupulous attorneys were also licensed. It is ...

Vertigo Suffering

As I lie dying, I have to admit to myself that I am in fact not dying, no matter how impossible that truth seems. I know I am not dying because I am in fact getting better. Better enough to write this. Better enough to sit up, turn my head and have recall. Better enough to recall that the last time I felt so sure that I was dying was when I was forced to read “As I Lay Dying” in 10th grade. A far more honest description would be, “As I lie spinning.” Or a more medically sound description, perhaps, would be, “As I lie vertigo-ing.” But seeing as spinning sounds fun and most ...