Good morning Del!
It's my favorite time of day! 6:30 am on a Sunday, coffee in hand, reading all the Sat. posts. But it looks as if everyone was out playing in the real world last night!
So it's time to get serious about ECD? A cyber-stockfriend sent me an article yesterday that I'll e-mail to you about investing in socially approved stocks--also there seems to be a mutual fund that invests only in "sin stocks" (tobacco, alcohol, casinos and Frederick's-oh and that those two ultra demons, Disney and Time-Warner!)that might appeal to our connoisseur of vice, JFreddie. They also talk about some manager who does investing by astrology with a little help from fundamentals and technical analysis. Makes my picking stocks by cute symbols look tame. He knows the astrological sign of all the CEOs.
My husband's parents are looking for a retirement home closer to us. They want no yard work, safety, convenience, but don't want to be only with a bunch of old people. We've been looking, but it's a hard order to fill at a reasonable price around here. One garden home we looked at actually had a remote gate and TV camera at the front door. My mother-in-law loved it! CHristine is right-our society has gotten very threatening for us all. (Hey Christine! I bet as a lover of the Irish, you know Brendan Behan-a quote: "The world is a madhouse, so it's only right that it is patrolled by armed idiots") Anyway,I would think that this is a huge market with all us boomers having elderly parents who are in good health and active. Since the concept of family care has become a thing of the past(why is that?), something must fill the void, most elderly not being ready for any level of managed care. It brings up a lot of moral issues also. As a Texan, I guess you remember our George commenting that children need to be financially responsible-in the legal, not just ethical sense-for their parents. That strikes me as very ill-conceived although I do think that more stringent controls on the signing over of assets to children needs to be implemented. When I worked with the elderly, there were many requests for aid from families who had no business asking, but had already made sure mom had given them everything and now wanted the taxpayer to foot the bill for mom's nursing home care. At that time, there was a not particularly long (can't remember-2 or 3 years?)waiting period between signing over assets and being eligible for aid.
There is a home in Dallas, right on a main thoroughfare among normal Texas ranch style houses, that resembles a grassy mound. It's built into the ground and is very odd in appearance, but supposedly quite energy-efficient. My sons think it's so cool but how could anyone live without natural light? Wouldn't everything smell moldy? And they need to mow their house more often- it gets pretty scraggly. What will your house look like? Does it have lots of windows? As a 60's flower child, I need to Let the Sun Shine!
penni |
