About

If you expect to be older one day, and know of others with similar intentions, then the Grand Plans community is for you. Welcome!

I am a 50-something-year-old ruminator and retired empty-nester, who has been a business reporter, community news editor and columnist in Northeast Florida for nearly 30 years. These days, I am obsessed with something super salacious – elder issues. My mom died when I was 20, my father passed away two years ago and in recent years, I reluctantly took on the care management of an elderly couple in South Florida (a hopeless misadventure that nearly drove me to the crumbling edges of my sanity). I learned so much in such a short time and felt wasteful for keeping it all to myself – so I started writing about these experiences on an Instagram and Facebook page called “Grand Plans.” The purge was satisfying beyond measure – mainly because I realized so many other friends were slogging through the same murky waters with their parents and older adults. In this online space, my fellow Gen-Xers and I have shared resources and stories, asked “WTF?” and other burning questions like “WTAF?” We have dissected answers, laughed, cried and ranted about all the muck. We have learned from each other.

It has been cheaper than therapy, hugely cathartic. Plus, it’s been a great way to collect data points and capture conversation for the makings of my book, Grand Plans: How to Mitigate Geri-Drama in 20 Easy Steps and its accompanying workbook, the Grand Planner, in late-2023. Both are available on Amazon and in local stores.

Through real-talk humor, shared stories and lessons learned, the Grand Plans community (blog, vlog, podcast, our bimonthly e-news letter Grand Plans and, of course, Grand Plans: How to Mitigate Geri-Drama in 20 Easy Steps and its accompanying workbook, the Grand Planner) gives members a best-practice primer for shaping Golden Years expectations before they are disappointments. Uniquely culled and crafted from the shared experience of millions, Grand Plans is one of the few nonprofessional accountings of senior planning that walks readers through this season’s myriad challenges and transforms them with practical, real-life insight and advice.

If you’re one of the more than 50 million senior citizens and 65.2 million Gen-Xers today embarking on that ride into the sunset, Grand Plans will empower you to acknowledge, embrace and step into your senior destiny with newfound pizzaz and life purpose – it’s a positively spun “What Not to…” do glow-up manual for adults on their Golden Years approach.

You are not alone on your quest. There are 47 million seniors living in the United States today, according to the 2017 census. The senior population will soon double (because…we are a bountiful group!) and by 2060, 100 million Americans will be 65 or older! This is literally a topic that affects EVERYONE. Yet, there is a dearth of conversation about it.

So welcome to Grand Plans! Make sure you check out our podcast series, vlog, social media channels and Grand Plans and the Grand Planner, which can be purchased on Amazon here. Also check out the resources page for really good books that might help you in your journey. I am also available to lead five-week workshops and give 30-minute presentations on this most important subject matter. Thank you for joining in the conversation!