David Garrison

FOR AGING IN PLACE, PUT A RESOURCE IN PLACE With no formal training in finance or accounting, the two of you nonetheless pride yourselves on discussing important financial matters and (after consulting your advisors), coming to your own conclusions. You’re both close to age 67, and after dealing with various health issues in recent months, […]

THUNDERSTORM DAMAGE DICTATES A PLAN, NOT A POEM Moving into your home some twenty years ago, you were both thrilled with its woods-like setting. Now that three recent thunderstorms have resulted in downed trees and quite a bit of damage to the roof, you’re not so sure “Trees” remains your favorite poem. Luckily, none of […]

KEEPING THE POWER ON FOR KIDS AND GRANDKIDS After retiring from the corporate world five years ago, you have continued your tradition of treating the kids and grandkids to a three day lakeside family reunion at a state park. Now, after recent storms and power outages wreaked havoc in the lives of one of your […]

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE? With neither of you having had the benefit of a college education, you’re proud of the fact that both your children and now your one grandchild are all college graduates. In fact, your granddaughter is planning to continue her studies, working towards a medical degree. Retired three years […]

SOONER THAN LATER MIGHT PROVE BEST A longtime dream of yours has been treating your entire extended family (some forty people with all the in-laws, cousins, and kids) to a week-long getaway reunion in the mountains. You want to do this before the youngest of the grandkids starts college next year. Rather than shaking up […]

SETTLING IN WITHOUT SELLING THE STOCK After months and months of dabbling with the idea of moving to a retirement community, the two of you, now in your mid-seventies, have decided to spend your remaining years in your own home. In the past, you’ve taken pride in being property maintenance do-it-yourselfers, but going forward, you’ll […]

FINANCING THE BIG CONVERSION TO SOLAR ENERGY After much home-searching and soul-searching, the two of you have decided to say put in the home you’ve furnished, decorated, repaired, and remodeled over the past thirty-seven years. The next step, you’ve decided, is to install solar roofing, including charging stations for the electric vehicles you plan to […]

CHANGE THE DEBT, RELIEVE THE PRESSURE While your original plan had been to work through your early seventies, a downsizing three years ago forced you into retirement at age 64. Now, even working various part time gigs, you have been unable to retire your nearly $40,000 in credit card debt. Thankfully, your home is mortgage-free […]

LOCKING IN” HOUSING WEALTH AT A “HIGH” Although the remarkable profits you saw friends and neighbors making on the sale of their houses, one important decision you and your wife had made was that, post-retirement (hers last year, yours five years ago), you would continue living in your home, hopefully spending the rest of your […]