Fishers built its reputation on young families, good schools and safe neighborhoods. On this week’s Fridays with Larry, I look at what happens when many of those families decide to stay and grow older here.
According to the city’s housing study, residents 65 and older made up about 5% of the Fishers population in 2010. That share rose to about 11% in the 2020 Census, and recent Census survey estimates put it above 12%.
The change is showing up in Hamilton Southeastern Schools. Enrollment peaked in the 2019-20 school year at about 21,800 students. It has now declined for seven straight years and fell below 20,000 this fall for the first time in a decade. Superintendent Matt Kegley has pointed to housing as a key factor: when empty nesters stay in their homes, fewer houses turn over to young families.
My guest is Sheryl Hamer, an attorney with Life by Design Estate & Elder Law, a firm she started in February 2025. Before law school, Hamer worked in senior living and spent five years as a clinical liaison for a geriatric psychiatric hospital. There she saw families in crisis who did not have the legal documents they needed to make decisions for an aging parent.
Hamer says every adult needs an estate plan, especially parents of minor children. In Indiana, an inheritance left to a child under 18 must be held in trust, so parents need to decide who would manage that money and who would care for their children.
We also discuss Medicaid and long-term care. Hamer says many people are surprised to learn that Medicare does not cover long-term care such as skilled nursing, memory care, assisted living or home care. She explains how advance planning, or crisis planning when care is needed right away, can help protect assets for a spouse or a single person.
Hamer calls a general durable power of attorney the most important document anyone can have. Without one, family members may have to petition a court for guardianship if a loved one can no longer make decisions. That includes married couples, because spouses do not automatically have the authority to sign for each other.
For families with a relative who won’t discuss these issues, Hamer suggests describing planning as a gift: making decisions now so loved ones don’t have to make them in a crisis.
Hamer can be reached through her website, lifebydesignlaw.com, or by calling 317-349-2013. She offers free initial consultations.
Also this week, I offer my commentary on artificial intelligence and jobs. Yale’s Budget Lab has found no clear evidence yet of broad labor market disruption from AI. Stanford research, however, shows younger workers in AI-exposed jobs such as coding and customer service are feeling the effects. My message to Hamilton County graduates is that the entry-level door has narrowed, but it hasn’t closed.
Fridays with Larry is sponsored by Citizens State Bank, with a Fishers branch inside the Thomas A. Weaver Municipal Complex.
You can watch this week’s podcast at this link, or just listen using this link…or use the links below.
