This July marks the 56th anniversary of Medicare. If you’re eligible for Medicare at age 65, your initial enrollment period begins three months before your 65th birthday and ends three months after that birthday. The official Medicare website at Medicare.gov offers many online services where you can find answers to your questions.

Whether you live nearby or far away, you hold a special position in your grandchildren’s lives. Especially as they enter teen years and adulthood, members of each new generation sort out their identities and values, often in opposition to their parents. But grandparents can hold unique influence over their beloved grandchildren. 

Too many times, adult children struggle – not only with the grief of losing a parent – but also in putting together the financial puzzle their parents may have left for them. Unlike a puzzle that comes with the picture to solve, children often are left with pieces that don’t seem to fit together and are both frustrating and costly to manage.

Many of us in the Boomer generation grew up in an area that did not have fluoridated water, ate foods with lots of sugar, drank pop (soda if you're from the East Coast) and may not have had regular care growing up — especially those of us from large families. This may have left us with fewer teeth, spaces, or very large and breakable silver fillings. So what can we do, now that we're over 50?

Summer is, unbelievably, half over. A Christmas in July party may become your family’s new and much-anticipated summer tradition. Ho-ho-ho and Merry Christmas in July!

What’s the best thing about learning to grill? It’s getting the experience by doing it, and with the repetition of grilling comes the repetition of eating yummy food, often outdoors. Sounds like a great summer activity if you ask me, but let’s review a few basics that even experienced backyard grillmasters often overlook.