Event Summary

Japan, Norway, and Sweden

Event Date: January 22, 2025, at 10:00 AM

UMRA’s first Armchair Traveler program of the new year included two presentations featuring travels in Japan with Wayne “Ironwain” Potratz and in Norway and Sweden with Lynn Anderson.

Book Notes | ‘Tom Lake’

Event Date: January 17, 2025, at 2:00 PM

'Tom Lake' by Ann Patchett is set in the early summer of 2020 at a cherry orchard on the shores of Lake Michigan, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the three daughters of the main character have returned home to help with the harvest.

Out of the basement and into the museum

Event Date: January 8, 2025, at 10:00 AM

See the Family History presentations on sharing belongings that have historic value outside the family!

Taxes and Elections and Sunsets, Oh My! Tax planning for 2024 and beyond.

Event Date: December 2, 2024, at 10:00 AM

Watch the video to help you choose the moves that are right for you in this coming tax season. Everyone's tax situation is different, consult with a tax professional to come up with a financial plan well before year end.

Israel, Egypt, and Tanzania

Event Date: November 20, 2024, at 10:00 AM

UMRA member Paul Letourneau takes us on a safari in northern Tanzania and Brenda Knapp-Polzin shares photos and insights from a 2023 family trip to Israel and Egypt.

Book Notes | ‘A Fever in the Heartland’

Event Date: November 15, 2024, at 2:00 PM

This riveting story of the Ku Klux Klan’s reemergence in the 1920s, particularly in the Midwest, has many parallels with today. Members of UMRA’s Book Club were surprised to learn of the Klan’s phenomenal rise and control over the North in the ’20s. They agreed that there are differences today but that there is still much to be done.

The importance of social engagement

Robyn Birkeland, PhD, provides coaching support to family care partners and individuals with memory loss. For UMRA’s 2024 Living Well Workshop, she will explore loneliness and the barriers to social engagement in older adults, and ways to encourage and promote well-being and living safely. 

Life & Estate Plans: Life, Incapacity, and Gifting

Event Date: November 11, 2024, at 10:00 AM

See the video of Estate Planning Attorney Matt Guttman discussing trusts and other estate planning issues.

Long Term Care Insurance and Proposed solutions

Event Date: November 7, 2024, at 12:00 PM

View zoom session presented by Fred Anderson, Chief Actuary, MN Commerce Department to learn about long term care insurance.  What does long term care insurance cover in MN?

An African American family history

Event Date: November 6, 2024, at 10:00 AM

Earl and Rebecca Scott draw from their book Forging a Path to Wellbeing: The Journey of an African American Family. The book starts with establishing their family ancestry. The challenges are quite different for families whose history involves de facto and later de jure segregation and where official records are often unavailable due to slavery and loss, e.g., fire. They go on to discuss their commitment to education and family wellbeing.

Financial Life in Retirement

Event Date: September 30, 2024, at 10:00 AM

See the recording for Financial Life in Retirement by David Foster, CFP©, CRPC©, CRPS©. Vice President, Senior Wealth Planner.

Book Notes | Reckoning with history

Event Date: September 20, 2024, at 2:00 PM

Emily Strasser's memoir, published in 2023, is about the work at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a secret city for 70,000 people constructed in 1942–43 as part of the Manhattan Project for developing the atomic bomb. Her grandfather George Strasser was a chemist at Oak Ridge, and members UMRA's Book Club I agreed the author’s family stories made the book meaningful.

Presidential elections, poison pills, and ticking time bombs

There is no getting around it. Fall 2024 will include a national election, and to prepare us for the season, we’ll kick off UMRA’s fall forums with a fascinating presentation by UMRA member and former University of Minnesota senior associate general counsel Mark Bohnhorst. 

Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare: Issues & Choices

Event Date: September 16, 2024, at 10:00 AM

Several subject matter experts continue to discuss the pros and cons of Medicare Advantage and notable non-health plan and non-broker resources.

Book Notes | ‘The Bookbinder’ by Pip Williams

Event Date: August 16, 2024, at 2:00 PM

The story takes place in Oxford, England, between 1914 and 1920. As men are sent to the continent to fight in the Great War, women in England work to keep the nation going. Peggy and Maude are twin sisters who work together binding books for the Oxford University Press.