AARP Grant for Maker City Pollinators in Oregon
The AARP awarded a grant of $5,000 to support the creation of intergenerational pollinator workshops at Talent Maker City. The workshop gives a space to tinkerers and makers, and now will serve as a place where elder citizens can create programming to connect with different generations and spread pollinator gardens across the city. AARP grants totaling $1.6 million were awarded to 159 “quick action projects” around the country.
8 Ways to Lower The Cost of a Divorce
Our financial advisors always say the number one way to reduce the cost of a divorce is to not get one. It is a wealth and retirement destroyer for both parties, especially if contentious. But if you know someone going through a divorce, it is extremely stressful, sad, and often expensive. This post from “Next Avenue” a contributor on Forbes talks about 8 ways to keep costs down including, deciding what process to use (mediation rather than attorneys), use associates and paralegals whenever possible, communicate via email with direct and concise communications, and more. Read more below.
What Is a Quarter Life Crisis?
CNBC ran a story about the somewhat different expectations about when children (young adults) will reach financial independence and the results stated that parents often think they will be supporting their children a few years later than children expect. There is a sense of optimism when young about when you expect your life to unfold and many young adults have expectations that hasten life stage expectations on wealth and financial independence among other things like marriage and family. It was some interesting research conducted using the Harris Poll and it might be worth doing a longer study to see how optimism changes over time and whether or not certain milestones are met in the timeframe thought. Many of us who were young and still have aging to do can relate to the best plans sometimes taking a little longer to complete because of the fact that “life happens” all throughout our journeys.
Connecticut Single Family Home Sales Drops
This article from May in the New Haven Register deals with something I continue to follow on nearly a monthly basis - Connecticut Single Family Home Sales. I love my home, and have no plans to move before the girls grow up and start families of their own. That said, I do like to see what homes are selling for in our neighborhood and surrounding communities. In 4 years in our neighborhood, home prices have stayed pretty consistent - the positive, we aren’t really losing money or equity, but the negative is we aren’t gaining any either. At a broader level there are many things to be concerned about (i.e., if municipalities begin to raise mil rates, homes as an investment for retirement, etc.).
Internet Hoaxes and Kids
This article on Paper.com talks to some of the fears that parents and others have regarding some of the hoaxes we see on the Internet and how our kids relate to them. In some cases many of these hoaxes start out as a prank or a way to get some notoriety/cause disruption, but can then grow into things that can cause real stress for parents as copycats, and let’s call them “innocents”, join in. The challenge here is balancing all the good that the Internet and connected culture can give us with the bad. As parents, we would likely be well served to instill a sense of “doubt” in our kids when looking at materials online AND when seeing what friends are telling them. We should probably introduce them to resources like Snopes.com faster or earlier in their lives and ask them to really “check” something before believing it and/or bring it to parents before making the leap of faith that what is said is “true.” They note this is not much different than when we dealt with the boogeyman fears and others, but that the scale and speed with which these things can spread is much faster and larger than before. It’s a good article and worth the read if you are a parent or grandparent who might worry about these kinds of topics.
