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THE 100 PLANDBZT 100The Long-Life Planning Desk

About the desk

A planning desk for the decades after 50

DBZT 100 is the long-life planning desk. We write about the parts of a long life that come with paperwork: paying for a funeral, keeping some life insurance in force after 70, paying for help at home, making income last to 95 or 100, and the first month after a parent or partner dies.

The site is laid out as a timeline because that is how these decisions arrive. Some come due on a birthday. Some come due the week of a death, whatever anyone’s age. Each file is pinned where it belongs, and each one ends with a checklist you can print.

How we write

  • Plain words, large print, and the steps in the order you will need them.
  • A number appears only when we can name the public body that published it, such as the FTC, the Department of Veterans Affairs, CMS, the Social Security Administration or the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • When a current figure changes every year, we tell you where to look it up rather than print one that may be stale.
  • We are writers and editors, not insurance agents, lawyers or tax preparers. Our files explain how things work; they are not advice for your situation.

How the site is paid for

DBZT 100 is published by DBZT 100 Media. The weekly letter and some pages may include offers and promotions from third-party partners, and we may be paid when a reader responds to one. Those offers never decide what a milestone file says. See the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for the details.

Write to us

Questions, corrections and suggestions for the next file go to hello@dbzt100.com. Privacy requests go to privacy@dbzt100.com.

Editor

Margaret “Peg” Ellison

Peg edits the desk and writes most of the milestone files. She writes the way she would talk you through it at the kitchen table: what comes due, what to gather, and which phone call to make first.

Cost reporter

Dev Okafor

Dev covers what things cost. He works only from public figures published by the FTC, the VA, CMS and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and where a current figure is not published he shows you how to get your own.

The 100 Plan, by letter

A letter from Peg, every week.

  • The week’s milestone file, with its checklist
  • What comes due next, by age
  • Big print, plain words, easy to forward to family