COVID

March 4, 2021

Your Kids Moved Back Home? 5 Tips for Addressing Finances

Over the past year, the pandemic has definitively disproved the old adage, “you can’t go home again.”

For nearly 27 million young adults, going home again became the best survival option as colleges closed or transitioned to a remote model and employers laid off massive numbers of staff.

In fact, Pew Research reports that in July of last year 52% of young adults resided with one or both of their parents. (For comparison, that percentage is 4 points higher than the corresponding one recorded during the Great Depression.)

January 22, 2021

COVID-19 Vaccine Update for Connecticut

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

On Thursday, January 21, Governor Ned Lamont gave an update on how the state is faring in the battle against COVID-19.

While the numbers are less than desirable, there is some hope on the horizon as the state continues to roll out vaccinations. As of January 21, there had been 226,930 first doses administered and 31,337 second doses administered.

Phase 1b

December 4, 2020

5 Ways to Battle the Holiday Blues During COVID

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

All across the country, the pandemic numbers are trending steeply in the wrong direction. Epidemiologists have long warned of a difficult winter season, and we certainly seem to have arrived on the threshold of that prediction.

Sadly, this rise in cases coincides with the winter holidays, traditionally a time for friends and family to gather in year-end celebrations that begin at the end of November and run through the New Year. This means that families will be facing some very hard decisions about get-togethers in the upcoming weeks.

The problem is that COVID-19 doesn’t recognize holidays. And while people may be exhausted by the grueling experience that we’ve all been in since March, now is not the time to relax our guard.

November 19, 2020

How to Safely Celebrate the Holidays This Year

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

It has been an extraordinarily long haul since the first lockdowns in March. We’ve all had to adjust to the “new normal” as it has affected how we work, learn, play, and go about our daily rounds. Most of us have gotten pretty good at adapting; but the hardest test is yet to come.

With the holidays right around the corner, our patience and willpower are going to be severely tried. This is the season of friends and family, of gathering together in celebration and thanks. The thought of having to forgo long-held traditions is almost too much to bear.

Despite the heartache that comes with staying apart, many families have committed to doing just that. Instead of traveling to be together, they are planning holiday dinners that will take place over Zoom – virtual gatherings are, of course, the safest choice during a pandemic.

October 1, 2020

Estate Planning From Home: Video Conferencing is Easier Than You Think

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

In 1962, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (better known as Hanna-Barbera) premiered The Jetsons, a cartoon series about a family living their best lives 100 year in the future in the year 2062.

We’re still 42 years away from being contemporaries of the Jetsons, but many of the technologies the show predicted have already become a reality. George, Jane, Judy, and Elroy Jetson enjoyed many of the modern conveniences we now take for granted, from flat-screen TVs and tablet computers to robot vacuums and smart watches.

One of the technologies predicted by the show has taken center stage during the COVID-19 pandemic: video conferencing. While the first video conferencing phone was introduced by AT&T at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, the technology didn’t really become ubiquitous until the 2000s with the launch of internet-based video conferencing technologies like Skype.

September 15, 2020

5 Tips for Successfully Riding the Pandemic’s Rollercoaster

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

Since March, life has been very, very different. It’s hard to know how to deal with all the changes. A lot of us apparently started this journey hoarding toilet paper and learning how to make sourdough starter. We attended virtual concerts starring big-name musicians who broadcast from their living rooms. We watched the news incessantly, learned how to Zoom, and tried desperately to keep up with what we should and shouldn’t be doing to ensure the safety of ourselves and our loved ones.

It has been a long, difficult six months.

No one can be blamed for having a lot of emotions right now. As people keep pointing out, this is an “unprecedented” situation. Between the disruption of our daily lives and the sky-high levels of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, it’s a miracle that we’re managing to hold it together at all.

July 27, 2020

Discover Your Inner Artist! How and Why You Should Start Now

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

It’s never too late to explore your artistic side. In fact, many people discover that the second half of life is the perfect time to learn an art or craft.

Whether you decide to pick up a pencil or a paintbrush, sit down at a potter’s wheel, or strap on some dancing shoes, the arts offer countless opportunities for enrichment, fulfillment, and joy.

Many of our most beloved artists got their starts later in life. Monet didn’t get serious about painting until he was in his forties. Forty may be young by today’s standards, but in Monet’s day the average life expectancy hovered around the early sixties, making forty almost “venerable.”

June 4, 2020

How to Stay Out of a Nursing Home (And Get the Care You Need at Home)

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

“Promise me you won’t ever put me in a nursing home.” Our parents would make us sign in blood if they could.

Fear of losing their independence and way of life is a tremendous concern among Connecticut seniors. And, in today’s COVID-19 environment – knowing how the virus can easily spread throughout a nursing home and to its vulnerable population – staying at home is a preferable option for many.

But if you’re like so many Connecticut residents, you may not know that there is Medicaid coverage for receiving care at home – that Medicaid benefits are not just for nursing home residents. This is great news!

May 21, 2020

In Times of Crisis, Nature Offers Healing

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

The COVID-19 pandemic may be putting our human lives on pause, but it hasn’t slowed nature down at all. In fact, in many instances around the world, the slowing of human activity has led to what many see as an opportunity for the Earth to rest and heal.

What a beautiful thing to ponder.

The slowing of industry in places like India and China has reduced pollution to its lowest levels in years. Many cities in India are being treated to views of the majestic Himalayas for the first time in three decades. Even Los Angeles has seen a striking drop in its trademark smog.

May 7, 2020

7 Work-from-Home Strategies that Work

by Czepiga Daly Pope & Perri LLC

If you are one of the millions of people suddenly working remotely from home as a result of COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, you may still be trying to find your “WFH (work from home) groove.” While working from home has a certain appeal (casual Friday every day, canine office mates, no commute), it also creates quite a few challenges (a blurring of the line between home and work, lack of routine or structure, inability to focus).

Luckily for people who are new to remote working, there are entire networks of people who have been working from home for years. (Remote or “dispersed” teams were actually a growing trend long before the pandemic struck and changed the work landscape overnight.) These WFH veterans have plenty of advice to offer.

As our own team adjusts to the WFH lifestyle, we thought it might be helpful to share some of our favorite tips for becoming a WFH master.