BOOK REVIEW: New Times, New Challenges

Kenney F. Hegland and Robert B. Fleming. New Times, New Challenges: Law and Advice for Savvy Seniors and Their Families. Carolina Academic Press. Durham, NC. 2010. 286 pages.

$27 from Amazon (click on book to order).

As we grow older, new challenges emerge. Employing an engaging and often humorous tone, New Times, New Challenges offers practical advice needed to navigate these challenges.

Written by a law professor and an elder law attorney, New Times, New Challenges is chock full of down-to-earth advice on everything from retirement planning to wills and estates to aging and disability issues. The authors cover all the bases and suggest solutions in a way that everyone can understand. While many books cover the same topics, this one stands out for its authors' entertaining and engaging writing style that uses famous quotes, excerpts from poems and books, and jokes to illustrate points.

Practical tips on issues such as how to stay healthy, where to live when you retire, and sex as you get older are interspersed with guidance on legal issues such as estate planning, avoiding probate, and disability planning. Other subjects covered include retirement finances, Medicare, elder abuse, driving, grandchildren, debt collection, nursing homes, end-of-life care, dealing with a death in the family, and many more. The book provides a wealth of information useful for both seniors and their family members.