Senior News: If You’re Going to Die, It Pays to Do So in 2010

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Due to an odd loophole in the so-called death tax, the highest tax rate assessed to a deceased person’s estate goes from 45% this year to 0% next year, then up to 55% in 2011. The takeaway is: If you’re super rich and want to pass along that wealth to your kids and not the government, do your best to kick the bucket in 2010.

A pair of USA Today op-eds debates the relative merits of the tax—which is officially called the estate and gift tax, only affects a small portion of citizens, and may or may not be changed in the near future.

More news for older folks:

US News & World Report’s “America’s Best Affordable Places to Retire” features interesting college towns like Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Eugene, Oregon, on the list.

Money magazine’s “The Right Way to Unretire” offers info and tips that are unfortunately becoming essential reading to more and more Americans.

A state-by-state guide naming where there’s no income tax, no sales tax, low real-estate taxes, and other info of interest to tax-averse retirees.

Grocery stores are increasingly not accepting handwritten checks, per the Denver Post and the LA Times. This affects any shopper who buys groceries with personal checks, but older folks are the ones most likely to still be going that route.