Planning For Your Future (Part 3): Transferring Assets at Death Through a Will
“Planning For Your Future (Part 2)” (June 2025 BOOM Magazine) focused on assets transferring automatically and transferring your assets through a revocable living trust. Assets pass outside your will if you have beneficiaries or joint owners listed on assets such as financial accounts and insurance…
Mayhurst Estate Planting Seeds in a Dry and Weary Land
In a previous feature, I remarked that B&Bs are “hit or miss.” Well, I’m happy to report on a B&B that’s, in my book, a big hit. Driving there is also a treat, at least when you get on Highway 81 up in the Shenandoah...
Science: Older is Better
Question! If you got paid every time someone said “you’re not getting older, you’re getting better”, how stuffed would your childhood piggy bank be? No matter how it is said, we hear it as “you’re getting older and you’re not getting better. I am here...
Finding Your Encore Career
You see them everywhere. In supermarkets, in big-box hardware stores, at ballparks. They are the once-retired who have returned to work. Some work from home as consultants or have found employment as insurance salespeople, proofreaders or financial managers. At the top are executives who believed...
Beach Week Burnout
We just got back from a week in Seagrove Beach, smack in the middle of 30A—and I need a nap, a chiropractor, and maybe a silent retreat. As empty nesters, my wife and I had this vision: a sweet beach week with the kids and...
The Menopausal Pot Belly: Why It Happens and How to Fight Back
As women enter midlife, their bodies begin to change in noticeable and often frustrating ways. One of the most common complaints during and after menopause is the sudden development of stubborn belly fat—a soft yet unrelenting pot belly that wasn’t there before. It can feel...
Back to School Support: How Grandparents Can Play a Meaningful Role
As summer winds down and families prepare for a new school year, much of the focus naturally falls on students and their parents. But there’s another group with the power to make a real difference during this busy, emotional, and sometimes chaotic season: grandparents. Whether...
Rediscovering What Matters
It’s August in the River Region—hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk and just humid enough to steam it. But while summer’s heat lingers, something shifts this month. You can feel it in the morning air, just a hint of what’s coming. Fall...
COVER PROFILE: Tonya and Butch Speed
In this inspiring and heartfelt interview, Tonya and Butch Speed—married 41 years—reflect on the deep lessons learned through decades of love, faith, creativity, and commitment. They share how marriage has grown from youthful romance into a daily choice to show up for one another, especially...