Posts by W.A. Smith Financial

Long-term care continues to be a challenging issue in the U.S. It appears the second wave of baby boomers is even more determined to “age at home,” while at the…

<p class=”MsoNormal”><span style=”font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;”>As recently as five years ago, few people had heard of emerging businesses like Airbnb and Uber that allow proprietors to share their…

  Family businesses that manage to survive generation after generation leave not only a family legacy, but also the potential for tremendous wealth. For example, Arkansas-based Walmart is presently the…

  Countries with a longstanding track record of economic stability and security tend to have the happiest citizens, reports journalist Dan Buettner, who has studied what makes people happy. Education…

Today’s pre-retirees and retirees tend to have far more debt than those in years past. In addition to factors like credit card payments and medical expenses, this generation is seeing…

Earlier this year, Congress passed a last-minute budget deal that included provisions affecting Medicare benefits. Specifically, one provision will permit certain therapies to continue beyond the previous caps, subject to…

When looking ahead in anticipation of Social Security benefits, many people expect to wait until an average age of 66 to make a claim.1   However, Nationwide Retirement Institute’s fifth…

Not all innovations are initially successful. Think about the driverless car. It sounded like a great idea — helping the disabled and elderly retain some independence — until the first…

The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the U.S. an overall infrastructure grade of D+. Throughout the next decade, it will take more than $4.5 trillion to fix our…

Hearing a familiar song from a happy period in your life, such as childhood, can instantly make you feel joyful. It’s as if you’re right back there — toe tapping,…