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Monday, February 11. 2019

Prepare for a good death


Good advice from the WSJ for those approaching 60 - or older: Preparing for a Good End of Life. The best way to achieve a peaceful death is by planning ahead and enlisting the help of loved ones


Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 18:22 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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Would love to read this, any other way to see it?
#1 Annie on 2019-02-11 18:54 (Reply)
Google it. You'll get a link that avoids the paywall in short order.
#1.1 Erasmus on 2019-02-11 20:22 (Reply)
Googling works, but the article was mostly liberal twaddle with little practical information. For example, the Revocable Living Trust wasn't even mentioned. Unbelievable.
#1.1.1 snopercod on 2019-02-12 07:07 (Reply)
Am sure I would be interested in reading entire article but am not giving WSJ the satisfaction of "subscription" or any other information. Posting these articles that have a "catch" aren't want you people are about...
#2 OldASA (Link) on 2019-02-11 19:47 (Reply)
Approaching 60?!?!?!?!?!?!? Humph.

"I'm not dead yet."
#3 Jim on 2019-02-11 21:25 (Reply)
'Yes, you are!"

One thing I always recommend : SET OUT THE PASSWORDS TO ALL YOUR DEVICES AND ACCOUNTS.... Hand-written in a separate small journal or book!

Sheesh, the brain damage I and my clients, have endured because "too clever" people forgot to write down their passwords!

I even had one guy proudly tell me ,"All my passwords are stored in my iPhone!" He then sheepishly admitted he didn't have his iPhone password written down in a safe place......Oh, Brother!
#3.1 Old Codger on 2019-02-11 23:07 (Reply)
Very much agree. My husband and I (both over 60) recently started collecting all of our logins and passwords for this reason. He manages some accounts and I manage others, so if one of us goes first, the other one would be in a fix. If it falls to our son, well, it would be a real mess.

Once we stated collecting them all, it was pretty amazing how many we had.
#3.1.1 T Migratorious on 2019-02-12 08:12 (Reply)
This is great advice. I had a friend whose father died unexpectedly of a heart attack. He was unmarried at that point and had not left the password to his computer anywhere.

Finishing up her Dad's legal and financial paperwork without any access to his records was a nightmare for my friend.
#3.1.2 JM01 on 2019-02-12 10:18 (Reply)
I saw this happen with a friend, he was unmarried and his elderly parents had to cope some how. Unfortunately they are not very technically knowledgeable. They gave up and scrapped his computer... sadly, since several of his friends are very technically proficient and could have defeated the relatively basic password and encryption scheme he used had they known about the problem. Moral of the story: Store the accounts and passwords somewhere analog and safe. Moral #2: If your recently deceased loved one did not, get trustworthy technical assistance.
#3.1.2.1 John on 2019-02-12 10:30 (Reply)
I use my computer a lot, my phone hardly at all. But there is literally nothing on their of any value to anyone whether I am living or dead. You'all must have some important stuff on your computers.
#3.1.2.1.1 Anon on 2019-02-12 19:28 (Reply)
Really the best way I've come across, aside from subscribing to an internet -based service (usually a sub-package of internet security services like Avast or Norton etc) where they offer a e-wallet, is just to make a spreadsheet and then outline all of your login accounts for Financial, Insurance, Subscriptions, etc etc. Then send it to your executor for security. Of course this all assumes you've already done some basic estate planning.
#3.1.3 Aggie on 2019-02-12 16:56 (Reply)
meanwhile, the Dutch green party is now publicly calling for an end to healthcare for the elderly because "it's not economical to keep them alive".
#4 JTW on 2019-02-12 10:05 (Reply)
JTW,

I would like refer you to a short story; and two books. The story was written by Havelock Ellis. Here is an excerpt:

"The Euthanasian Garden"

I believe in individualism: that each individual has a right to the sacraments of sun, air, and water, of love and beauty, the right to life, and the right of death. I would say that the present laws, both moral and legal, in regard to suicide and euthanasia, are obsolete and need revision; that the individual has as much right to die provided it harms no other individual - as to be born, get married, or go on a journey. In some enlightened future world there will be public lethal chambers; both compulsory and voluntary - as there are now public baths and libraries. Individuals will be free to die, may even be taught that is sometimes their duty to die. Death will be restored to its long lost divinity.

The first book is entitled "Age Power" by Ken Dychtwald. Here is what he has found: People over the age of fifty in America control 7 Trillion dollars in wealth - 70% of the total. And due to their enormous financial and political clout (they command an army of lobbyists) the elderly have hijacked federal spending: away from young people - and towards themselves.
This means that for every dollar of federal tax revenue spent on adults; on 11 cents is spent on children. And in the last 20 years, entitlements for the elderly have grown by 253%.
It's an out-of-control spending disaster.

The second book is entitled "Raw Deal" by Steven Hill. He exposes the new Uber-style sharing economy for what it really is: a complete fraud. Young people are supposed to survive on nickel and dime "gigs" while the rich elderly bask in the glow of a seemingly endless choice of services. It a total inter-generational screw-job.
#4.1 Ron B Liebermann on 2019-02-13 00:07 (Reply)
I would disagree;

By entitlements for the elders you must mean SS and Medicare.

I paid into SS for 50 years. By my calculation the same amount I paid into SS would provide me with $6,000-$10,000 a month depending on how it was invested. I get $1600 a month. I paid for that and I include my employers contribution in that "I". To the extent that any young people have to pay any part of my lousy $1600 a month it is 110% the fault of the stealing and lying politicians.


As for Medicare; I paid for that too. Since 1965 they have been taking money out of my earnings to pay for "future" Medicare. Once I retired I began paying just over 10% of my SS income to Medicare. And when I see a doctor I pay 20% of the bill, Medicare only pays 80%.


That is not the young people's money it was bought and paid for by me and other retirees. To the extent you have any kind of legitimate complaint it is with the politicians who misused and stole Medicare and SS payments.


I might add that federal welfare costs the taxpayers about $1.4 trillion and the states share is a similar amount. Most of the recipients of welfare paid didly squat into the system for it. THAT should be were your angst is directed and NOT at those who paid for what we are getting.
#4.1.1 Anon on 2019-02-13 17:52 (Reply)
My Mom put everything important on her computer, protected with a password. We found this out after she got Alzheimer's.
#5 Talnik on 2019-02-12 15:44 (Reply)
OK. WHat you do is get a desk top computer and take the cover off. Take the computer that you cannot sign into and remove the hard drive from it. Find the extra hard drive connector on the desk top computer and plug it in. Boot up the desk top computer and the hard drive you added will simply look like a second drive. No password required. Copy it to a backup drive, the original hard drive on the desk top computer or to a thumb drive.
#5.1 OneGuy on 2019-02-13 21:16 (Reply)

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