“If I have my mind, I can work.” “Great,” I answered. “Let’s test that theory out.” I opened my drawer and pulled out a hammer, laying it gently on the desk between us.  “Please place your hand palm down on the desk,” I said. “Your off-hand is fine. And please don’t move it…the hammer can […]

What’s got you stuck? Consultant Bobb Beihl tells of a time he was behind the scenes of an Arizona circus and started chatting with a man who trains animals for Hollywood movies. “How is it that you can stake down a ten-ton elephant with the same size stake that you use for this little fellow?” […]

When Tyler left, Melinda cried. She cried because he was a kind, thoughtful young man who reminded her of her own sons, whom she had also seen leave the nest. In the month or two he’d lived with us, he’d unconsciously worked his way into her heart. I also got a little misty-eyed…without being asked […]

It would be a one-time expense.  He was not asking my permission. He was notifying me of a change I was now being tasked to make in his retirement plan.  He drove that change to our meeting. I had not previously thought of him as a tricked-out Escalade kind of guy, but there he was […]

“That’s never going to happen.” She held a binder in her hands with papers, charts, and projections outlining the process of how she and her husband might gradually replace the income they each earned through working with income that comes from their accumulated assets.  Otherwise known as a retirement plan. “Now hold on a minute,” […]

What if you found out retirement was bad for you? Would you reconsider it? Or at least the way it is traditionally done? Richard W. Johnson thinks so. He’s the director of retirement policy at the Urban Institute. His survey of studies done on the health of retirees suggests a number of downsides for retirees, […]