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Good Samaritan Retirement Village
Where the price of entry is a commitment to serve LISTEN TO THIS POST Imagine a bucolic neighborhood, nestled in the rolling Berkshire Hills, where stone walls abut old maples trees, just a few miles drive from Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow Dance. Like other communities for people over 55, houses and condos are individually-owned but close enough together that the association handles the roofs, the lawns, and the snow. In winter they keep the fire roaring in the Great Room an
Ms. Steinem and the Freedom to Say “Yes Sir”
Gloria Steinem spent sixty years winning women the right to their own money. She died as tradwives argue it away. LISTEN to this article We lost another great yesterday. Gloria Steinem, fearless advocate for women's rights and social justice. After 92 years of ceaseless fight, Gloria deserves to finally rest at peace. May she do so alongside other badass women, like Dolly Parton, Rosa Parks, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Ida B.Wells, who spent their lives advocating for ju
Grandma Got Run Over By a Credit Score: Why It’s Imperative to Protect Aging Loved Ones’ Credit Scores.
Why does grandma need to worry about a credit score? Or any of your other aging loved ones, for that matter? For 70, 80, 90, maybe even 100 years, they have managed their books all on their own. And they won’t be in the market for a new Macy’s credit card or financed Subaru ever again. So why be worried now, when grandma is least likely to need credit? Because she is likely to need nursing care at some point. And for that, her credit score really matters. Protecting credit sc
Gift Card Scams: Are Sellers Complicit?
(And how to protect yourself anyway) Thirty-four percent of American adults have been targeted in a scam demanding payment by gift card. I bet you have, too. I won’t ask if you fell for it. You wouldn’t be alone; in 2024, reported losses hit $212 million. You know how it goes: Someone talks you into buying a gift card. They might pose as a person you know, like your boss requesting gift cards before a client meeting or a clergy member asking you to pick up cards for him to dr
Why a Jewish banana cake?
On why my family’s only prized recipe, the one passed down from generation to generation from my Russian-born great-grandmother to my own daughter, is not a latke or brisket or even a babka. Last week, I wrote about my great grandma Sophie’s heavenly chocolate banana cake, which is now being lovingly baked by Sophie’s great great grandchildren from Santa Fe, New Mexico to West Hartford, Ct; and why bananas are so darn cheap. You can read it here, if you missed it. This week,
Unpeeling the 24¢ Banana
Understanding America's cheapest fruit through one delicious cake It was after 1AM, or some much earlier hour that seemed recklessly late to my 6 year old self. I tiptoed down to the kitchen. Discovering that no alarm would go off for opening the refrigerator at this ungodly hour, I carefully unwrapped a softball-sized piece of tinfoil, all that remained of the chocolate banana cake that my Great Aunt Sylvia had mailed from Santa Fe to Connecticut for my father’s 40th birthda
Trump Accounts. The name is stomach-turning. Open one anyway.
The “Trump Account”, launching on July 4, 2026 as a new types of savings account for kids, is obvious political pandering that also significantly helps the largest publicly traded companies in America, which is, yes, stomach-turning, but also besides the financial point. Created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (a piece of legislation that cannot, grammatically speaking, be both a bill and an act, but here we are), they are a genuinely useful savings tool for childre
Artificial Emotion: A Worst-Use Case for AI
Somewhere between the continental breakfast and the cocktail hour, a roomful of attorneys learned that AI can now feel our feelings for us. At the recent estate planing conference I attended, some of the ideas for using AI were wise — if perhaps obvious to anyone who has been in the workplace for the last twelve months: It’ll take notes for you! Create your PowerPoints for you! Do research for you! These suggestions came with the similarly obvious warnings: it will sometimes
What is a Powerball Date?
I am a certified buzzkill at casinos. While everyone else is riding the high of the slot machine’s hypnotic pull, I am quietly calculating the opportunity cost of those chips compounding in a Roth IRA over thirty years. I am not proud of being Foxwoods’ biggest Party Pooper. My friends have learned to seat me far from the blackjack table. So when I recently learned about “Powerball Dates,” I expected to hate it. But, surprisingly, I loved it immediately and without reservatio
Pardon Inflation: How Trump's Clemency Spree Is Inflating the Market.
Is President Trump’s proclivity to pardon encouraging more aggressive financial risk taking and optimistic modeling and, as a consequence, stock market inflation? According to this week’s Wall Street Journal, President Trump has repeatedly told top administration officials he would pardon anyone who came within 200 feet of the Oval Office. Former pardon attorney Liz Oyer reported that the pattern is deliberate: the president has telegraphed his intent to use the pardon power
It Wasn't a Scammer. It Was Worse. The Impact of Kid's In-App Game Purchases.
You just discovered an unapproved $7,000 charge on your Visa. It wasn’t a scam. It was—are you sitting down?—your kid’s in-app game purchases. Just like a scam charge, it was unapproved. But unlike a scam, this charge must be paid. A client recently discovered as much when she had the nauseating realization that her 11-year-old son had run up $7,000 in online Roblox purchases. In one single month. And she soon discovered there was no remedy—grounding him until his wedding day
Behind the Headlines: What's Actually Driving Markets Right Now
The past few weeks have delivered the kind of headlines that tend to drive markets wild. The U.S. and Israel began military operations against Iran on February 28th, effectively bringing maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply — to a near standstill.¹ An already uncertain global backdrop got considerably more complicated overnight. And yet, U.S. equity markets have largely held their ground. Unexpectedly, investor
Sorry. You Didn’t Win the Publisher’s Clearinghouse. Learn How to Avoid Common Scams.
Three clients, three scams, and one uncomfortable truth: all of them were, to some degree, avoidable. Sample of Fraudulent Check sent by Publishers Clearing House Scam Last month, three of my clients got scammed—not through complex cybercrimes, but “old fashioned” scams that still cause big pain. One mailed money to claim a prize she never won through “Publisher’s Clearinghouse”; one had a check intercepted from her mailbox; and one had her pocketbook lifted at a restaurant.
Super Bowl Ad Test: Watching Tech’s Bubble Inflate in Real Time
Last night’s Super Bowl felt like déjà vu. Watching tech company after tech company burn through millions on thirty-second spots, I couldn’t shake the memory of 2022’s crypto ad bonanza. Perhaps you recall: FTX had Larry David playing a skeptic throughout history who dismisses every major innovation. Crypto.com recruited Matt Damon to tell us “fortune favors the brave.” Within months, Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire collapsed, wiping out billions in customer funds. And the sta
Who Invited Aunt IRMAA? What IRMAA Means for Your Retirement.
On the uninvited guest who wants to crash your retirement party. Aunt IRMAA is coming to town. And just like Uncle Steve, who no one remembers inviting to Thanksgiving but who keeps showing up and stealing all the dark meat anyway, Aunt IRMAA will be there whether you invite her or not. And, just like Steve, IRMAA is likely to get more obnoxious as the years pass as the cost of healthcare continues to rise. So who is IRMAA anyway, and how does it impact your retirement? IRMAA
How Should I Save for my Salary? The Myth of the Magic Savings %
And the case for consumption smoothing over flat savings. The standard financial advice: save a fixed percentage every year. Dave Ramsey says invest 15% of your gross income. Many planners recommend 10-20% throughout your career. Simple math. Set it and forget it. The problem? This treats all dollars the same, when the first $50,000 you earn and the second $50,000 are doing fundamentally different work in your life. If you’re making $50,000 and saving $5,000 a year, you’re pe
Stop Googling Sh*t: Better Alternatives to Google.
Your frustration is their business model. Remember when Google was good and their motto was “Don’t be evil”? That early 2000s Google: a clean white page with nothing but a search bar and two buttons. You’d type in a question, hit enter, and boom—the answer you needed was right there in the first three results. No sponsored posts disguised as answers. No clutter of ads framing the margins. From “Don’t Be Evil” to... What Exactly? Google’s unofficial motto from 2000-2015 was “D
5 Favorite Charities of 2025
Some smaller organizations making big impact. 2025 has been, in many ways, a disheartening year. But that’s precisely what makes organizations doing meaningful work shine all the brighter. You know the big names—American Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation—and they do vital work. But I want to use this platform to highlight smaller organizations that are no less important or impressive in their impact. Continue reading to hear more about my favorite charities of 2025! 1. J
My 5 Favorite Books (& Bookstores!) of 2025
If you like what I’ve been writing this year, you'll love what I’ve been reading! Here are my favorite books of 2025. If you like what I’ve been writing this year, I thought you might also like what I’ve been reading! As for bookstores, I love them so much I got married in one. So, along with my favorite books of 2025, I present my 5 favorite bookstores! The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara (2022) A tech genius builds a trillion-dollar company and creates an algorithm to gov
Inheritance Beyond the Balance Sheet: An Ethical Will
The Why, What, and How of an Ethical Will This year has been a challenging one to grapple with. On one hand, the markets have performed exceptionally well. This morning, the WSJ reported there are more millionaire 401(k)s than ever before.1 For many Americans—especially wealthy, employed, light-skinned ones—things have been great. But many people look at their growing portfolios with mixed feelings. Yes, they’re grateful their wealth has increased. But they’re also uncomforta
Ms. Money is written by Marisa Rothstein, JD, CFP®, AEP, and Lead Financial Advisor at Siena Private Wealth, A Member of Advisory Services Network, LLC. Nothing contained in these articles should be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. Consult your tax or legal advisor regarding your situation. All information contained herein is derived from sources deemed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed. All views/opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views/opinions held by Advisory Services Network, LLC.
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