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THE 100 PLANDBZT 100The Long-Life Planning Desk

THE 100 PLAN · from 50 to 100

Plan for the long life. One milestone at a time.

Some decisions arrive on a birthday. Others arrive the week someone dies. This desk lays them out in order, from age 50 to 100, so you can see what is coming, gather the papers ahead of time, and tick each one off.

Start at age 50The first 30 days after a death

This week’s file

Final expense insurance: what it covers and what it doesn't

A final expense policy is small whole life insurance with a friendly name. It pays cash to a person, not a bill to a funeral home, and that one fact decides most of what it can and can't do.

Comes due: Age 60 · Margaret "Peg" Ellison

How to read the timeline

Each file is pinned at the age it comes due, meaning the age by which you would want it handled. If you are past an age, the file still applies. Start there.

  1. Age 501 file

    Write things down while nothing is urgent. The calmest year to start a file is the one where nobody needs it.

    Final Expense

    The letter of instruction: one document that saves your family a month

    A will says who gets what. A letter of instruction says where everything is and what you want done. It has no legal force, and it may be the most useful thing you ever write for your family.

    Comes due: Age 50Margaret "Peg" Ellison

  2. Age 551 file

    Hearing, eyesight and the house you plan to grow old in start to matter for planning, not just for health.

    Care Costs

    Over-the-counter hearing aids, four years in

    Since October 2022, adults with mild to moderate hearing loss can buy hearing aids off the shelf, with no exam or prescription. Here is who they suit, who they don't, and how to buy one without regret.

    Comes due: Age 55Margaret "Peg" Ellison

  3. Age 601 file

    Small whole-life policies built around final expenses are commonly sold from here on.

    Final Expense

    Final expense insurance: what it covers and what it doesn't

    A final expense policy is small whole life insurance with a friendly name. It pays cash to a person, not a bill to a funeral home, and that one fact decides most of what it can and can't do.

    Comes due: Age 60Margaret "Peg" Ellison

  4. Age 652 files

    Medicare eligibility begins at 65. It is also a good birthday to read any term policy for its conversion window.

    Final Expense

    What a funeral costs in 2026, from FTC Funeral Rule price lists

    There is no single price for a funeral, but there is a document that tells you the price at any funeral home in the country. Here is how to get it, read it, and compare two of them in an afternoon.

    Comes due: Age 65Dev Okafor
    Late-Life Coverage

    Your term policy ends at 75: the conversion deadline

    Many term policies let you swap into permanent coverage without new health questions, but only until a deadline that often arrives years before the policy ends. Find that date now.

    Comes due: Age 65Margaret "Peg" Ellison

  5. Age 702 files

    Coverage still exists, but every birthday narrows the choices and raises the price. Decide what you want in place.

    Final Expense

    Preneed funeral contracts vs final expense policies

    One pays a funeral home for a funeral. The other pays a person cash. Both can make sense, but they protect against different things, and mixing them up is how families end up paying twice.

    Comes due: Age 70Margaret "Peg" Ellison
    Late-Life Coverage

    Life insurance after 70: what's still on the table

    Coverage after 70 is narrower and more expensive, but it hasn't disappeared. Start with what you already own, then work down a short list in order.

    Comes due: Age 70Margaret "Peg" Ellison

  6. Age 751 file

    Decide burial or cremation and put it in writing, so nobody has to guess for you.

    Final Expense

    Burial vs cremation, line item by line item

    The choice is personal, but the bill is not a mystery. Here is every line that can appear on each kind of arrangement, who sends the bill, and which lines you can leave off.

    Comes due: Age 75Dev Okafor

  7. Age 802 files

    Guaranteed-issue coverage and help at home become the live questions.

    Late-Life Coverage

    Guaranteed-issue life insurance and the two-year waiting clause

    Guaranteed issue means nobody can turn you down. The price of that promise is a clause that limits what the policy pays if you die of an illness in the first couple of years.

    Comes due: Age 80Margaret "Peg" Ellison
    Care Costs

    Adult day programs vs in-home aides: the hourly math

    One is priced by the day, the other by the hour, which makes them hard to compare. Put both on the same weekly sheet and the answer is usually clear within an evening.

    Comes due: Age 80Dev Okafor

  8. Age 851 file

    Adult children often start handling bills, appointments and the first care arrangements.

    Care Costs

    Paying for a parent's care: the first-30-days checklist

    When a parent suddenly needs help, the money questions arrive before the answers do. Here is what to do in the first month, week by week, before anyone signs a contract.

    Comes due: Age 85Margaret "Peg" Ellison

  9. Age 901 file

    Living arrangements get reviewed again: alone, with family, or with help coming in.

    Care Costs

    Moving a parent in: the household costs nobody budgets

    Bringing a parent home is often the most affordable care plan. It is not free. Here are the costs that show up in the first year, sorted into one-time, monthly and easy-to-miss.

    Comes due: Age 90Dev Okafor

  10. Age 951 file

    The age many income plans are built to reach. Check that yours goes further.

    Longevity Math

    Longevity math: planning income to 95 vs 100

    Planning to 95 or to 100 sounds like a small change. It is five more years of groceries, rent and medicine. Here is the arithmetic, and the few levers that change it.

    Comes due: Age 95Margaret "Peg" Ellison

  11. Age 100

    The horizon. Plan income as if you will get here, and let every earlier file do its job.

A separate track

Within 30 days of a death

This track does not run on anyone’s birthday. It starts the day a parent or partner dies, and it is the same at 58 as at 98. Here is the order the work usually arrives in.

  1. First day

    The pronouncement from the doctor, hospice or medical examiner, then a call to the funeral home.

  2. Days 1–3

    Tell close family. Secure the home, the car, pets and the mail. Look for a letter of instruction.

  3. Week 1

    Order death certificates. Find the will. Make the funeral decisions, with the price list in hand.

    After a Death

    Death certificates: how many copies, and who asks for them

    Comes due: Within 30 daysMargaret "Peg" Ellison

  4. Weeks 1–2

    Social Security is notified (the funeral home usually does this). Claim any veterans’ burial benefits.

    After a Death

    Veterans' burial benefits: what the VA pays

    Comes due: Within 30 daysDev Okafor

  5. Weeks 2–4

    Banks, insurers, pensions and credit bureaus, in an order that keeps money moving.

    After a Death

    Closing a parent's accounts in the order that avoids frozen funds

    Comes due: Within 30 daysMargaret "Peg" Ellison

The 100 Plan, by letter

A letter from Peg, every week.

  • The week’s milestone file, with its checklist
  • What comes due next, by age
  • Big print, plain words, easy to forward to family