Four Ways To Honor Those Who Serve Our Country

The Memorial Day holiday is about remembering those who served -- and serve -- our country. Out of respect for their sacrifices, Memorial Day seems a perfect time to examine our way of life -- and perhaps to consider some changes that would dignify the duty of those who swear to preserve our American way of life.

My columns are about personal finances, so I'll confine my analysis to the way so many Americans manage -- or don't manage -- their money. Is our country honored this Memorial Day holiday by our use of the material benefits of our free enterprise society? Consider some of the following commonly accepted practices:

Rearranging Assets to Qualify for Medicaid

Every week or so I receive an email, asking about the rules for spending down assets or giving them away to family members so a parent can qualify for state-provided (Medicaid) custodial care. With all due respect to the hard-working and underpaid people who work in these nursing homes, a state-funded nursing home is absolutely the last place you'd want your parents to spend their final days. But the real question is whether it is moral -- or a fitting memorial -- to those who served, to ask taxpayers to cover the costs of care for the aged, while their children spend their parents' money? Is that the sacrifice we want to memorialize?