Fireworks are the pinnacle of many Fourth of July celebrations, and while they can be festive and fun, they can also land you in the emergency room if you don’t take proper precautions, experts warn. About 250 people a day wind up in the ER with fireworks-related injuries in the month before and after Independence…

Read More

They say you’re never too old to learn, but is there a cutoff when it comes to homebuying? The median homebuyer is now 56 years old, which is seven years older than in 2023. The average age of first-time buyers has also increased—it now takes prospective buyers until the ripe-old age of 38 to finally…

Read More

A recent New York Times article offers a concise 5-year countdown-to-retirement plan, with the final year of the timeline being the time to –cautiously – consider a reverse mortgage. Offered as a way to make ends meet if you’re planning to stay in your current home, reverse mortgages are a “fourth- or fifth-tier line of…

Read More

Older Americans are sitting on more than $12 trillion in home equity, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA)/Riskspan Reverse Mortgage Market Index. These homeowners are seeking different retirement solutions to help allocate their home equity and make it more durable over the next 20 to 30 years. According to data from Statista,…

Read More

Spring has sprung, and the battle with seasonal allergies is underway in earnest. But there’s a lot folks can do to manage their pollen-produced misery, according to Dr. Zachary Rubin, a Chicago-area pediatrician and allergy expert. “There’s a lot of different issues at play when it comes to seasonal allergies, especially as tree pollen counts…

Read More

Night shift workers might be able to protect their heart health by only eating during daylight hours, a new study says. Participants in an experiment experienced fewer heart health risk factors if they only ate during the daytime while working a night shift, researchers reported April 8 in the journal Nature Communications. “Our study controlled…

Read More

A lot of your family and friends are probably battling the sniffles, a full-fledged cold or the flu right now.  One way to protect yourself  — climb into bed and get a good night’s sleep. “Sleep is critically important to maintaining a healthy immune system, and so we need to sleep enough. And we need…

Read More

A real estate closing is an anxiety-inducing time, even if it goes smoothly. Add something unexpected, and it will throw you for a loop. I was thrilled when the sellers accepted my offer on a teardown lot in McLean, VA—the perfect place to build my own “Downton Abbey”–style manor. And the deal went forward without a hitch—that…

Read More