Senior Money

Long Term Care Planning

2006-08-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Planning for long term care is a very important decision. You want to plan and think about your long term care plans before you need care or a crisis occurs. Planning ahead will allow you to better assess you options. It will allow you to talk with your doctors about your health and potential future problems, as well as discussion your plans with your family including how much your planned services will cost, and how you plan on paying for them.

Remember that the best time to plan for long term care is before you need the services. The following are some steps and guidelines to help you with your planning:

Assess Your Needs

There are many different kinds of long-term care. Long-term care can take place in your home, in senior centers, at community centers, in assisted living or special retirement communities, as well as in nursing homes. Long-term care service is not only nursing home care.

IMPORTANT NOTE TO CONSIDER: Medicare will not pay for most long-term care. Medicare pays only for medically necessary skilled nursing facility or home health care. You must meet certain conditions for Medicare to pay for these types of care when you get out of the hospital. Most long-term care is to assist people with support services such as dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom. Medicare doesn’t pay for this type of care, which is often called "custodial care". Custodial care is care that helps you with activities of daily living. It may also include care that most people do for themselves.

The chart below lists some of the many kinds of custodial care people often need, like help with activities of daily living or care most people do themselves. Think about whether you need these services now, or if you may need them in the future. Check off the services you think you may need.

You may need help with only one or two types of activities of daily living, like help with eating or bathing. Or, you may need help with many activities of daily living or help with care needs, like diabetes monitoring or help with oxygen if you have breathing problems. Also, your needs may change over time. It is important to make a list of the kinds of services you need and revise this list as your needs change.

Research Financing and Care Choices

Quality care means doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way for the right person and producing the best possible results. The Medicare program regulates and enforces rules to ensure that nursing homes, home health agencies, and hospitals comply with federal standards for patient health and safety and quality of care. However, the quality of long-term care programs, services, and facilities may vary.

Here are some ways to learn about how long-term care programs and services in your area rate in quality:

Ask friends and other people you know who use different kinds of long-term care services if they are happy with the services they get.

Call your State or local Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Ombudsmen visit nursing homes and other long-term care facilities regularly to visit residents and take care of complaints. Your local area Ombudsman can also give you information on the most recent State inspection survey for long-term care facilities in your area. You can find their telephone number in the Helpful Contacts section.

Look at the Nursing Home Compare and Home Health Compare sections on this website. You can also find out if a Continuing Care Retirement Community is accredited from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities website.

Call your State Health Department. Ask if you can get information on the quality of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities and services in your area. You can get the telephone number of your State health department by looking in the blue pages of your local telephone book.

Determine Which Options are Best for You

Quality care means doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right way for the right person and producing the best possible results. The Medicare program regulates and enforces rules to ensure that nursing homes, home health agencies, and hospitals comply with federal standards for patient health and safety and quality of care. However, the quality of long-term care programs, services, and facilities may vary.

Here are some ways to learn about how long-term care programs and services in your area rate in quality:

Ask friends and other people you know who use different kinds of long-term care services if they are happy with the services they get.

Call your State or local Long-Term Care Ombudsman. Ombudsmen visit nursing homes and other long-term care facilities regularly to visit residents and take care of complaints. Your local area Ombudsman can also give you information on the most recent State inspection survey for long-term care facilities in your area. You can find their telephone number in the Helpful Contacts section.

Look at the Nursing Home Compare and Home Health Compare sections on this website. You can also find out if a Continuing Care Retirement Community is accredited from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities website.

Call your State Health Department. Ask if you can get information on the quality of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities and services in your area. You can get the telephone number of your State health department by looking in the blue pages of your local telephone book.

Before you make a final decision about long-term care, call and ask for information about the program or facility. Visit the places you are interested in. These places can be assisted living communities, services in senior centers, housing programs, nursing homes, and other programs. Make an appointment to talk to the program coordinator or care supervisor before you visit. Here are some tips to help you get ready:

Talk with your doctor or other health care provider and with your family about what long-term care services you need now or may need in the future.
Go over any information you have already received.
Write down any questions you still have about how the facility or program will meet your needs.

When you visit, look around carefully. Ask questions about anything you dont understand. Talk to staff, residents, and family members if you can. Ask them if they are satisfied with the facility or program and its services.

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Senior Money Management Tips

2006-07-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

The following are sound money management tips that all seniors should consider. If followed these tips will help make your and your families life's easier in the event of an emergency.

Make sure your family knows where important documents are located

If you feel reluctant to share this information with your family and friends, set it up so that they can only access the documents only after you have passed away or been incapacitated. Your family must know how to get access to these important documents in the event of an emergency.

Sign up for automatic bill payments

Try to get as many of your bills on automatic payment plans where the money is paid electronically out of your checking account. This will make life easier on your loved ones and prevent delays in bill payments.

Direct Deposit Checks

This will eliminate delays in getting funds or the possibility of checks being lost or forgotten.

Make sure you have adequate insurance coverage

Make sure that you have enough of the proper insurance, so that you don't burden your family in the event of an emergancy. Also refer your policies and make sure that their aren't any overlaps in coverage this is costing you money in extra premiums.

Establish a Will or Estate Plan

A proper will and estate plan can help your reduce the taxes on your estate upon your death.

Write up a 'living will'

It is a good idea to have a living will that outlines the type of medical care you want in the event of an emergency. You should also consider a 'health care power of attorney' that allows a family member to make decisions about your medical care in the event of an emergency.

These are just some simple tips and should not be construed as financial advice. We recommend that you seek professional advice in regards to your situation to determine if these tips are right for you.

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Find an Old Pension

2006-07-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

You may have some money in an old pension that you have forgotten about. It could be a pension from a company that has since closed its doors. So how do you go about finding an old pension - well the first place to look is the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) a government organizations that protects the retirement income from private sector defined benefit programs (pensions).

To search and see if their is an old pension in your name go their their
missing pension participant search page.

If you are in their list of missing participants you may receive one of the following:

An annuity from a private insurance company, purchased by their former company

Funds deposited in a financial institution, such as a bank by their former company

Benefits from PBGC (if the former company transferred the missing person's funds to PBGC)

No benefits, if there were no provisions made for that under their previous pension plan

It can't hurt to take a quick minute and check. And you might get a very nice surprise to help your retirement.

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Radio show helps seniors protect assets

2006-07-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

By Galen Moore/ Daily News Staff

NEWTON -- Financial advisers Richard Rubino and Sam Liang do not want you to save your money, diversify your portfolio or otherwise invest wisely.

They would rather see you spend it -- give it away, even -- as long as you follow their rule number one: "Dont lose the money."

The two produce a weekly radio program, Senior Financial Focus, advising listeners how to protect their assets in retirement. It is syndicated on four local radio stations, including, most recently, WRKO 680 AM. Their firm, Rubino and Liang LLC, in Newton, has provided the same service for clients since its formation in 2002.

"Nine out of 10 people are in an accumulation mode," Liang said. "But every marathon has an ending. Youve got to stop accumulating. Youve got to start distributing."

Protecting assets becomes more and more critical as Americans lives lengthen, Rubino and Liang say. According to a study by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research released this June, 43 percent of Americans who retire at 65 are at risk of not having enough money to maintain their standard of living through retirement, even with a reverse mortgage on a home.
"People say, youre a financial adviser, " said Liang, a Burlington native. "We say not really. " Liang is a financial consultant, but Rubino is a lawyer.

Rubino said their typical customer is the one who is most at risk -- the middle-range retirement investors who may have a house and about $100,000 saved. Its enough to worry about losing what youve worked hard for, and not so much that they dont have to worry about it, Rubino said.

Most want their nest egg to allow them a comfortable retirement and some assets to leave to their children when they die, Rubino said. However, there are some pitfalls to be avoided. Long-term medical care is foremost. Seniors who enter nursing homes must spend down their assets completely before taking advantage of Medicare benefits. High costs can erode a comfortable retirement investment quickly, leaving nothing for a surviving spouse or heirs. Retirees can protect against that by putting assets in a trust, which allows them to enjoy the benefits for the rest of their lives but cannot be taken from them. The retiree gets to live in the house, for example, or live off interest from their principal investment, but relinquishes ownership control. After death, ownership goes to heirs.

Other problems are stickier -- for example, who is going to be an heir, and who is not. Rubino and Liang have co-authored a book on this topic: "No Blood, No Money," sums up their philosophy.

"Our families have the same problems everybody else has -- divorces, nursing homes," said Rubino. If kids divorce, most people want to make sure their grandchildren get the benefit of an inheritance, not an ex-spouse or a new spouse in a second marriage. There are legal strategies for making sure that happens, he said.

However, both Rubino and Liang say before thinking about who should inherit your assets, its important to think about protecting them, early on. "People who lose their assets dont do anything until the last minute," Rubino said. Which brought him back to Rubino and Liangs second rule of retirement investment: "Dont forget rule number one."

Source: http://www.dailynewstribune.com

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Retirement Risk Index Indicates Many are Not Ready For Retirement

2006-06-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

Millions of Americans - 43 percent of all working-age households - are at risk of lower living standards when they reach 65, according to a new National Retirement Risk Index released Tuesday by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Even two-earner households are at risk, because Social Security replaces less of their preretirement income.

The retirement risk index is drawn primarily from analysis of the federal government's Survey of Consumer Finances, which is updated every three years. By applying research methods to the federal surveys since 1983, the center found we're in substantially worse shape than we used to be.

The retirement risk index is based on a best-of-all-possible worlds scenario. It assumes workers don't retire until they are 65, that they spend down the equity in their homes by getting a reverse mortgage and that they create their own pensions by putting all their savings in an inflation-adjusted annuity at retirement - three things most Americans don't do.

Change those assumptions to workers retiring at 63, not tapping into home equity and investing their assets themselves, and a whopping 66 percent of working-age households are at risk.

One reason retirement readiness has declined over the last two decades is that fewer workers can count on a traditional pension plan. Instead, many have retirement savings plans, such as 401ks, which they have to fund and manage themselves.

Younger people and those in low-income households are most at risk of being unable to support their current lifestyles when they reach retirement age. Retiring later and saving more are ways to tackle the problem.

Source: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

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'Retired' Baby Boomers Continue Working

2006-06-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

An AARP survey found that 80 percent of baby boomers will continue to work, at least part-time, after retirement. Some will work by choice, whiles others will be forced to work due to financial conditions.

Some retired boomers will choose to take the opportunity to share their experience and knowledge and start a new career. They will work more out of enjoyment and satifisfaction then from necessity.

Other baby boomers though, will face the necessity to keep working do to disappearing pensions and less medical coverage. The will have to go to work just to make ends meet at a time in their life when they should be enjoying themselves.

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Financial Planners Say Retirement Income Market Will Grow Slowly

2006-06-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

The 2006 FPA Financial Advisors' Attitudes and Perceptions survey about the Retirement Income Distribution Market, sponsored by OppenheimerFunds Inc. and produced by the Diversified Services Group, Inc. (DSG), indicates that the majority of financial planners believe that the retirement income market will grow substantially, but at a slow pace.

"Regardless of the pace of growth, retirement continues to evolve into a more and more complex financial planning issue," said Kathleen Beichert, Senior Vice President of Retirement Plans at OppenheimerFunds, Inc.

Key findings of the study:

Systematic withdrawal strategies and dividend-paying investments are by far the most commonly recommended retirement income solutions.

Specific income-generating products such as annuities and Certificates of Deposits (CDs) are recommended far less frequently.

60 percent of the planners surveyed have recommended reverse mortgage products at some point, however, only 6 percent recommend them often.

75 percent of those surveyed use some type of retirement income planning software program. Two-thirds of these programs are modified accumulation programs or were designed by the planners themselves.

Respondents typically rely on existing clients to fuel their retirement income business. It appears that this group waits for their clients to reach retirement age and/or leverages their existing relationships for referrals.

"While existing clients and referrals are always a good way to target this market, there is a real opportunity for planners to reach out toothers who need help with retirement planning," said Beichert. "Planners should look for ways to partner with financial services companies and expand their retirement income client base."

The study also contains implications for providers of products and services to financial planners. "Financial services companies, financial planners, and technology vendors must develop more sophisticated planning tools that segment clients and provide them with credible, justifiable, tailored solution sets that are simple in concept, but adaptable to a variety of financial needs during the early and late retirement life stages," added Vickery.

About the Financial Planning Association: The Financial Planning Association(R) (FPA(R)) connects those who need, support and deliver financial planning. We believe that everyone is entitled to objective advice from a competent, ethical financial planner to make smart financial decisions. FPA members demonstrate and support a professional commitment to education and a client-centered financial planning process. For more information on FPA, visit http://www.fpanet.org.

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Protecting the Elderly from the People They Trust

2006-05-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

Ashamed that a trusted family member, friend, or caregiver might be deceiving them -- or worse, that they may be deemed incompetent to manage their affairs -- they often choose to keep these problems hidden. As a result, hard data documenting this sort of fraud is lacking.

What is known is that 80,000 such cases were reported last year, and more than two-thirds of the victims were defrauded by someone close to them. "Financial exploitation is growing out of control because we have an aging population," says Ronald Costen, director of Temple University's Institute on Protective Services in the School of Social Administration.

That's why the issue has moved to a front burner in law enforcement, government, and the banking industry. Both houses of Congress are considering versions of a comprehensive bill called the Elder Justice Act, which funds public education, better data collection, and training for law enforcement and elder care professionals to combat the problem. A handful of states from Massachusetts to California have programs that work closely with social service agencies and banks to recognize fraud and report it.

Since many financial frauds center on the durable power of attorney, it's critical that document be properly drawn. By itself, this instrument requires no regulatory or legal oversight or accounting of the spending. That's why elder fraud experts call it "a license to steal," says Lori Stiegel, associate staff director for the Commission on Law & Aging at the American Bar Assn.

To prevent such abuse, hire a lawyer to customize the document, recommends Loewy. Make sure it explicitly states what bills and other financial transactions you want the agent to handle. Some states allow agents to make financial gifts to themselves without limit or restriction. Carefully review or delete these clauses.

Insist that the agent not commingle his or her own funds with those of the person granting power of attorney. It makes it easier to monitor the finances. Another safeguard is to notify the bank of any monthly bills to be paid by the agent with power of attorney. Have the bank agree to to alert another family member if there is an attempt to withdraw additional funds.

Even a well-drafted power of attorney is not foolproof. To add additional protection, assign a third-party, preferably a lawyer or other nonfamily member, to review all spending and monthly financial statements.

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Using your real estate to pay for retirement

2006-05-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

Have you wondered how you are going to pay for your retirment? Well a new book "Retire on the House" by Gillete Edmunds and Jim Keene may open your eyes to new possibilities. If your like most homeowners, you only think of your home as a place to live and not as a powerful financial tool.

In the book the authors discuss almost every possible way to turn your home into a an income stream without selling it. The suggestions provided will give retirees who own their home many different ideas to suppliment their retirement income.

Some of the suggestions include converting your home into a boarding or rental house, refinancing your home, downsizing, moving to senior community and investing sell proceeds, or taking out a reverse mortgage. The book does an excellent job of explaining the pros and cons of each alternative, especially its discussion on the complex subjects like reverse mortgages.

Although this book tackles some complicated topics like reverse mortgages and can get a little heavy, the information provide is absolutely invaluable. Any Senior that owns their own homes should pick up a copy and study it, if only just to open their eyes to the possibities.

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Seniors a magnet for health care scams

2006-05-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

Donna Cardarelli, 78, gets $40 whisked out of her social security check, every month, for an insurance policy she says she never ordered. She is a victim of a scheme that officials say is widespread: unscrupulous insurance salesmen, taking advantage of Medicare’s new prescription drug benefit to defraud elders.

Cardarelli said this January, a third-party salesman offered her assistance signing up for a prescription benefit called Common Care. Instead, he signed her up without her knowledge for an over-priced insurance plan. Cardarelli has paid premiums for that plan out of her Social Security check for five months.

"I have been up to 11 at night. I have been on the phone waiting for these people," said Cardarelli, 78. Ohio-based Insurer Member Health says they have unenrolled Cardarelli from their Common Care plan, Bernardi said. But Social Security continues to deduct the payments.

"She’s not the only one," said Andrea Centola, director of compliance and regulatory affairs for Member Health. Centola said there is a time lag between insurers’ records, Medicare records and Social Security records.

Bernardi said a massive enrollment occurring all at once this year has left insurance companies short-staffed. Seniors looking to subscribe were unable to get what they need directly, and third parties have stepped into the breach, he said.

Local Medicare officials said it has created fertile ground for fraud. Seniors have always been targets for similar scams, but confusion over medicare has provided con men with a new opportunity.

The rules seniors should follow are the same in this case as in any other: seniors should not give out personal data or bank information via phone, unless they initiated the call.

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More Seniors are supporting the Medicare Drug Plan

2006-04-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw meet with 40 seniors to discuss the new medicare drug plan. There were some tough questions asked about the plan but overall seemed receptive to the plan than in the past.

Overall, Shaw said, the group at Mangrove Bay Adult Living Community seemed more receptive to the new, Republican-drafted program than the audiences he was facing a few months ago.

"You begin to feel whether there's suspicion or whether the people are with you," said Shaw, a 13-term incumbent who faces a tough reelection fight in a Palm Beach County-Broward district in which 27 percent of voters are seniors.

"At first people were not too sure. They were very cautious," he said. "There were a lot of questions that were very negative."

Experts will be pondering the merits of the new plan for years to come, but members of congress will get a response in the fall elections as to whether the public is recieving the plan.

Republicans devised the drug plan and passed it in 2003, but it has been Democrats who have made it a campaign talking point in House races across the country. They have spent months blasting the program as inadequate and confusing, and politics watchers generally have viewed the program as a GOP liability.

"I don't think it's something that right now Republican incumbents are jumping up and down and pointing to as a great legislative accomplishment," said Nathan Gonzalez of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

Shaw, however, believes seniors are warming to the drug program as more of them enroll and begin saving money on prescriptions.

Even though the plan is more complex. Seniors are beginning to see the benefits in the plan as they start using it to save money.

"I'm seeing more positive reactions because they're seeing how it actually works, and they're saving money," said Nora, who attended the meeting at Mangrove Bay. She said the plan allows a typical senior to cut drug costs in half.

A six-month enrollment period for the new program ends May 15, with seniors facing higher monthly premiums if they sign up afterward. As of Tuesday, more than 30 million of the nation's 43 million Medicare beneficiaries had prescription drug coverage. In Florida, more than two-thirds of the state's 3 million seniors are covered.

In a testament to the political sensitivity of the issue, the government breaks down participation figures by congressional district. Through March 18, statistics showed 61 percent of the 120,846 seniors in Shaw's District 22 had signed up.

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Hitch In Tax Code Hurting Many Seniors

2006-02-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

This is a great article exposing an injustice in the tax code that is beginning to affect more and more seniors every year. Here is a quote from the article discussing the issue:

The tax on Social Security income has not been adjusted for inflation since it was enacted 23 years ago. But unlike the alternative minimum tax, which has caused an uproar because it has started to affect those earning less than $100,000, this hitch in the tax code is getting almost no attention.

Why is this tax beginning to hit seniors so hard? Well the income limits were set 23 years ago and they are very low and are starting to affect millions of middle income seniors.

For a single senior, each dollar of income above $25,000 makes 50 cents of his or her Social Security benefits taxable. For married couples, that threshold is $32,000.The tax accelerates above income levels of $34,000 for singles and $44,000 for married couples, when each new dollar of income makes 85 cents of benefits taxable.

And if that wasn't bad enough, there is a double taxation build into the law as stated in the following excerpt:

Seniors also note that double taxation is built into the law. Blake Heffner, a retiree from Hellertown, Pa., complains that if he made a sage investment that generated a $1,000 capital gain, he'd end up paying for it twice. First, he'd pay a 15 percent tax on the capital gain. But that gain would push $500 to $850 of his Social Security income into the taxable column, too. In the end, he'd pay $225 to $277 in taxes on the $1,000 gain, even though he'd still be in the 15 percent bracket.

So, is anything going to happen in the near future to right this unfair tax law. With our tax hungary government it doesn't look good:

But experts say it's an uphill climb. More than $14.5 billion in revenue is collected through the taxes each year. That's only a fraction of the $472 billion that comes in annually from payroll taxes, but legislators say it's too much money to give up in light of projected shortfalls in Social Security funding.

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2006-01-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Senior Money blog. This blog will provide information on a wide range of senior financial issues such as: estate planning, retirment income, medical expenses, etc... This blog will be updated with new articles, content and resources on a daily basis. If you have a specific question or topic feel free to ask it in the comments section and we will find the information and resouces you are looking for.

We look forward to serving you and want you to check back often for new contents.

Thanks,
Senior Money Blog Team