Get organized for the years ahead.

Less friction. More control. Greater independence. Peace of mind.

I help you put the practical side of life in order: documents, accounts, healthcare information and the people who can help. So you stay in control, live independently longer, and spare your family the guesswork.

A Practical Partner for Getting Life Organized

There is a lot to keep track of as we get older — financial accounts, legal documents, healthcare information, passwords, insurance, household records, important contacts and the everyday details of running a life.

Most of us have some of it organized. Very few of us have all of it organized.

As an Aging Readiness Specialist I help you work through this, one step at a time.

I help you identify what's important, find what's missing, organize what you already have, and put simple systems in place to keep it manageable.

Being prepared makes life easier.

The Readiness Gap

How prepared are Americans 65 and older across key life-planning areas. Tap the + on any row to see what's at stake and what the numbers mean.

Area of concern	Adults 65+ unprepared
Legal & Estate Planning
Will (testamentary) Documents asset wishes; directs probate What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~25%
Among adults 65+, roughly 1 in 4 still have no will — better than the general population (where 69–76% lack one), but still significant.¹ Important: a will does not avoid probate. It tells the probate court how to distribute assets — meaning every asset governed only by a will must pass through the court process before heirs receive anything. This can take months and cost up to 10% of the estate.² Without a will at all: state intestacy law decides who receives everything, regardless of the senior's wishes.
Living trust Transfers assets outside of probate court What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~89%
Nationally, only about 11% of Americans have a trust; the rate is higher among older adults but remains a clear minority.³ A properly funded revocable living trust is the primary tool that actually avoids probate — allowing assets to pass directly to heirs without court involvement, privately and often within weeks of death. Without one: the estate almost certainly enters probate, even if a will exists. Real estate titled solely in the senior's name is one of the most common assets that triggers the probate process.
Durable power of attorney Financial decisions if incapacitated What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~67%
Only 1 in 3 adults 55+ hold a durable financial power of attorney (Merrill Lynch / Age Wave survey).⁴ Without it, no one has legal authority to pay bills, access bank accounts, or manage finances if the senior becomes incapacitated — not even a spouse in some states. The only alternative is court-ordered conservatorship: a public, expensive process that can take months while bills go unpaid and accounts remain frozen.
Healthcare Decision Planning
Living will Written end-of-life treatment preferences What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~71%
Only 29.3% of Americans have a living will — the document specifying wishes about life support, resuscitation, and end-of-life care (systematic review of 150 studies, n=795,909).⁵ Rates are higher for adults 65+ but still under 50% in most studies. Without one: medical teams default to aggressive intervention and families are left guessing — often disagreeing — under maximum stress and grief.
Healthcare proxy / DPOA Designated medical decision-maker What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~66%
Only 33.4% of Americans have designated a healthcare power of attorney — the person legally authorized to make medical decisions when the senior cannot speak for themselves (same systematic review).⁵ This is a separate document from a financial POA and distinct from a living will. Without one: doctors must act on whoever is present; family members may conflict, and hospitals may seek court intervention before proceeding with care.
Home Safety & Living Environment
Home safety modifications Grab bars, lighting, ramps, fall prevention What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	>50%
Fewer than half of adults 65+ have taken concrete steps to make their homes safer for aging in place (University of Michigan, 2025).⁶ AARP (2024) finds 43% of adults 50+ acknowledge their home needs modifications but have not made them.⁷ Falls are the leading cause of injury death for adults 65+: 43,020 died from falls in 2024; 3.85 million visited emergency departments in 2023 (CDC / NSC).⁸ Simple modifications — grab bars, better lighting, removing loose rugs — can reduce fall rates by up to 39%.⁹
Home decluttering & downsizing Reducing hazards; planning for a smaller space What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	No verified nat'l stat
No large-scale national survey measuring this specifically among older adults exists. What is documented: clutter is a significant fall hazard in the homes of older adults (CDC STEADI program).⁸ Among rural older adults with high clutter, 60% reported concern about falling in their home and 32% had fallen in the past year (NIH-funded study, 2023).¹⁰ Families consistently report post-death decluttering as one of the most burdensome and emotionally stressful caregiving tasks — yet few seniors plan for it proactively.
Financial Readiness
Financial organization Accounts, bills, documents accessible & managed What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~80%
80% of Americans 60+ lack the resources to cover long-term care or weather a financial emergency (NCOA / UMass Boston, 2024, Health and Retirement Study, n≈20,000).¹¹ Nearly 4 million adults 65+ carried unpaid medical bills in 2020 — despite 98% having insurance (CFPB, 2023).¹² When accounts, documents, and contacts are disorganized, a health crisis triggers cascading administrative chaos that falls entirely on family members at the worst possible time.
Digital assets & accounts Online accounts, passwords, subscriptions What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~76%
76% of Americans have little or no knowledge of digital estate planning (Bryn Mawr Trust / WSFS bank, n=1,500, Dec 2024).¹³ 57% have no digital afterlife plan of any kind (HostingAdvice, Dec 2024).¹⁴ The average American holds approximately 250 digital accounts. At death, most are inaccessible to family — email archives, photos, financial accounts, subscriptions still billing, and social profiles left in limbo permanently.
Social Connection & Legacy
Social connection & isolation Meaningful relationships; community engagement What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~33%
33% of adults aged 50–80 reported feeling lonely in 2024; 29% felt isolated — back to pre-pandemic 2018 levels (University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging / AARP, 2024).¹⁵ This is an active health risk: social isolation raises dementia risk by 50% (CDC). The U.S. Surgeon General (2023) declared loneliness as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Among adults with poor mental or physical health, loneliness rates exceed 50–75%.¹⁵
End-of-life conversations & legacy Values, stories, and wishes shared with family What's at stake & what the numbers mean +	~73%
Only 27% of Americans have had a serious end-of-life conversation with loved ones — despite 90% saying such conversations are important (The Conversation Project).¹⁶ Among adults 45–54, only ~50% have done so; among adults 75+, ~75% have (AARP, 2023).¹⁷ When these conversations never happen: families are left to guess at wishes, stories and values go unrecorded, and disagreements about care or estate are far more likely at the worst possible moment.

Sources — figures refer to adults 65+ unless noted

1. Retirement Living (2025), citing AARP / Gallup: among adults 65+, ~76% have a will, meaning ~1 in 4 do not. AARP Policy Book (Gallup 2016) confirms 30%+ of adults 65+ lacked a will. retirementliving.com
2. LegalZoom / American Bar Association: a will does not avoid probate — it initiates the probate court process. Costs can reach 3–10% of estate value; typically takes 6–18 months. americanbar.org
3. Trust & Will 2025 Estate Planning Report (n=10,000, Jan 2025): only 11% of Americans have a trust. Age-specific 65+ breakdown not publicly released. trustandwill.com
4. Merrill Lynch / Age Wave survey (via GetCarefull): only ~33% of adults 55+ hold a durable financial POA.
5. Courtright KA et al. Health Affairs, 2017. Systematic review, 150 studies, n=795,909: 29.3% had a living will; 33.4% had a healthcare POA; rates higher but still under 50% for adults 65+. healthaffairs.org
6. University of Michigan / Easy Living poll (2025): fewer than half of adults 65+ had taken steps to prepare their homes for aging in place. easylivingfl.com
7. AARP Home and Community Preferences Survey 2024 (Dec 2024): 43% of adults 50+ say their home needs modifications but have not made them. press.aarp.org
8. CDC Older Adult Fall Prevention (2024); National Safety Council Injury Facts (2024): 43,020 adults 65+ died from falls in 2024; 3.85M ED visits in 2023. CDC STEADI identifies clutter as a modifiable fall hazard. cdc.gov
9. Lektip C et al. PeerJ, July 2023. Meta-analysis: home modifications reduced fall incidence by 21–39%. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
10. NIH-funded study, PMC10735369 (2023): among rural older adults with high clutter, 60% concerned about falling; 32% had fallen in past year. Subpopulation study only. ncbi.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
11. NCOA / LeadingAge LTSS Center @ UMass Boston, Sep 2024 (Health and Retirement Study, n≈20,000): 80% of Americans 60+ lack resources for long-term care or a financial emergency. ncoa.org
12. CFPB, May 2023: ~4 million adults 65+ had unpaid medical bills in 2020 despite 98% having insurance. consumerfinance.gov
13. Bryn Mawr Trust / WSFS Bank (n=1,500, Dec 2024): 76% have little or no knowledge of digital estate planning; avg. person holds ~250 digital accounts. businesswire.com
14. HostingAdvice survey (n=500, Dec 2024): 57% of Americans have no digital afterlife plan.
15. University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging (AARP / Michigan Medicine, Dec 2024): 33% of adults 50–80 felt lonely; 29% felt isolated in 2024. ihpi.umich.edu
16. The Conversation Project (IHI): 90% say it's important; only 27% have had a serious end-of-life conversation. theconversationproject.org
17. AARP 2023 survey (via Statista, Mar 2024): ~50% of adults 45–54 have had the conversation; ~75% of adults 75+ have. statista.com

Take the free readiness assessment

The whole picture, not just estate papers.

Getting ready means looking beyond a single set of documents. SilverBeacon works through four areas of your life, so nothing important falls through the cracks.

Your People

Family, trusted contacts, advisors, healthcare agents and the people you may rely on.
Your Affairs

Legal documents, finances, insurance, property, important records and digital accounts.
Your Well-being

Your health, home safety, daily life, social connections and plans for the future.
Your Decisions

Your wishes, priorities and decision-makers, and what others need to know to help.

Explore the full framework

START HERE

Five things to have in place first

If you do nothing else, do these. Without them, even a well-organized family can be locked out of decisions at the worst possible moment.

Durable financial power of attorney. Lets someone you trust pay bills and manage accounts if you can't.
Healthcare proxy and advance directive. Names who speaks for you medically and records what you would want.
HIPAA authorization. Lets your agent actually talk to your doctors and see your records.
A current will and living trust. Makes sure your assets go where you intend, not where state law decides.
Beneficiary designations reviewed. Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by beneficiary form, not by your will.

How it works: simple, hourly help and tools you can use at your own pace

1. Free discovery call

30 minutes by phone or video. We talk through where you stand and what would help most.
2. First meeting, first hour free

We meet in person and get started on whatever matters most to you.
3. Work at your pace, $150/hour

Book as many or as few hours as you need. No packages, no long-term commitment.

Book your free discovery call

The best time to get organized is while it's on your terms

A little preparation now, while you have the time and independence to do it your way, can mean:

Less to manage

Simpler paperwork, accounts, records and everyday administration.
More control

You decide what matters and how it should be handled.
Greater independence

Systems and support that adapt as circumstances change.
Less burden on family

The people you trust can help without having to become detectives.
Peace of mind

The important things are handled, and you know where everything is.

Free tools

Start on your own, at your own pace

Practical tools to help you think through the issues and get organized. No sign-up and no cost.

Free · 3 min

Readiness Snapshot

Eight questions that show where you stand and your two biggest gaps.

Take the Snapshot →Free · 10–15 min

Risk & Communication Navigator

See what can go wrong when planning is put off, and get a script for starting the conversation with a parent.

Open the Navigator →Free · 20–30 min

In-Home Care Planning Checklist

Plan home care as a whole system: 56 practical steps across nine areas.

Open the Checklist →

See all tools →

Forty years of organizing complex systems. Then aging became personal.

I spent my career helping large organizations through consequential change, in leadership roles at Deloitte, Capgemini and in the financial sector. When I guided my own family through aging transitions, I saw how scattered information and unclear decision authority make hard moments harder.

Today I bring that same structured approach, along with training in behavioral science and gerontology, to helping individuals and families get ready.

Read my story