April is Financial Literacy Month

April is Financial Literacy Month.  Here you will find cost-cutting warning signs and how to help your senior stretch their dollar.

Finances may be among the most difficult issues that seniors and their family caregivers face. Many situations complicate the financial lives of older adults and their loved ones. The recession, multi-generational living and fixed incomes, to name a few, can throw seniors and their families into turmoil and prompt them to search for solutions.

If you are a family caregiver facing a situation that is impacting your loved one's financial situation, you may need resources to help. Answers could be just around the corner.  Click here for more information: http://www.caregiverstress.com/finances

In-Home Care During a Recession

In this video series, certified senior advisor Mary Alexander from Home Instead Senior Care talks about how to provide in-home care during difficult financial times. The information in this video will introduce you to less expensive care options, financing possibilities, enlisting support for caregiving duties and how to get paid for your services.

In this video series, certified senior advisor Mary Alexander from Home Instead Senior Care talks about how to provide in-home care during difficult financial times. The information in this video will introduce you to less expensive care options, financing possibilities, enlisting support for caregiving duties and how to get paid for your services.

For more videos go to:  http://www.caregiverstress.com

   

Laughing with Mary - Tips for Saving Money

Elder Abuse: How To Protect Grandma From Con Men and Thieves

Who would pick the pocket of your grandma or grandpa? Apparently, any number of people. Older Americans are losing $2.9 billion annually to elder financial abuse, a 12% increase from the $2.6 billion estimated in 2008, according to The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation, and Predation Against America's Elders, released Wednesday.

According to the study, 51% of these abusers are strangers, but 34% of the perpetrators were family, friends and neighbors. As for "trusted advisers," exploitation from the business sector accounted for 12% of reported cases. Medicare and Medicaid fraud accounts for 4% of reported cases. As a subset, the percentage of robberies and crimes classified as "scams perpetrated by strangers" increased from 9% to 28% from 2008 to 2010.

Who's on the top of the target list? Women. The study, produced by the MetLife (MET) Mature Market Institute in collaboration with the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, shows women were nearly twice as likely to be victims of elder financial abuse as men.

Also prime for the picking were people between the ages of 80 and 89 who lived alone and required some help with either health care or home maintenance. Primarily, men were the menace: Nearly 60% of perpetrators were males, mostly between ages 30 and 59.

Predators lie in wait, watching: In the most common scenarios, strangers targeted victims who were out shopping, driving or managing the financial affairs, and often looked for particular flags of vulnerability like handicapped tags on cars, canes or displays of confusion. Crimes included cons, purse snatchings and associated physical assaults.

But that even those closest to an elderly person can give in to temptation or desperation. In cases involving a person known to the victim, trusted helpers like caretakers, handymen, friends, "sweethearts," children, lawyers and others seized upon opportunities to forge checks, steal credit cards, pilfer bank accounts, transfer assets and generally decimate elders' finances, the study revealed. The holidays apparently bring out the worst in people: At that time of year, overall dollar losses due to family and friends were higher than any other category.

Married to the Con Job

People can get quite creative with abuse. One unusual method -- caregivers secretly marrying their elderly charges, says Susan Slater-Jansen, an attorney at Kurzman Eisenberg Corbin & Lever.

There have been numerous lawsuits over cases in which a caregiver married a mentally incapacitated older patient and the patient's family didn't learn about it until after the patient had died. Once a person is dead, it's too late -- in all but three states, you can't void a marriage if one spouse has died, says Slater-Jansen. To help lower the odds of such a thing happening to your parent, adult children should make sure they receive duplicate monthly statements from all bank and brokerage accounts; install nanny cams; carefully and thoroughly check references for all caregivers; visit parents often, both while the caregiver is there and when they are not; and discuss with your parents the treatment they are receiving from caregivers.

If you discover such a fraudulent marriage has taken place, act quickly to get it annulled.

After the parent dies, heirs can sue to recover money from the "spouse." More and more, courts have found ways to deny spouses if the marriage was fraudulent, says Slater-Jansen.

"The most flagrant abuse is perpetrated on the elder by the hired caregiver, neighbor, or 'new' friend," warns Karen Maarse Fitzgerald, a principal in her own elder law practice. "A simple power of attorney signed by the elder can give to the "agent" broad and sweeping powers over the elder's life savings. I have seen bank accounts drained within days, the money and perpetrator vanishing to another country."

Protection Yourself and Your Relatives

The worst forms of elder abuse go beyond money: There can be physical abuse and sexual violence as well. "The vigilance of friends and family can help protect elders from those who are predatory, which may, unfortunately, include strangers or even other loved ones," said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute, in a prepared statement.

What can the elderly do to protect themselves? Among the guidance offered by the report's authors:

• "Stay active and engage with others; socialize with your family members and friends. Avoid isolation, as it can lead to loneliness, depression, and make you more vulnerable to financial abuse or exploitation."
• "Use direct deposit for Social Security and other payments to prevent mail theft. Sign your own checks whenever possible."
• "Stay organized and keep important papers and legal documents in a safe, secure location."
• "Review your legal documents (i.e., wills, trusts, and power of attorney), as well as other important documents (i.e., insurance policies) at least annually, to make certain they continue to represent your wishes."

Ted Sarenski, who chairs the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Elder Planning Task Force, would add to that list. His tips:

• Subscribe to national and state Do Not Call lists;
• Keep Social Security cards in a safe place;
• Remove mail promptly from the mailbox;
• Shred all confidential and financial information prior to discarding.

"Consider allowing the bank to send a duplicate copy of your bank statement to a trusted family member," advises attorney Andrew Stoltmann, who has a large client base of seniors. "Usually, most financial elder exploitation cases are only reported or discovered six to 12 months after the initial losses have occurred."

Elders whose sight is failing are at even greater risk because they may rely upon the very person who is stealing from them to ensure that their financial transactions are in order, says Stoltmann. "An independent pair of eyes that is able to review bank statements every 30 days will be able to catch suspicious activities in the early stages and cut it off. This is crucial."

Advance Planning Can Help Dodge Dangers

When you are the responsible caregiver, know too, that your prudence can go a long way in preventing financial abuse.
Have some tough conversations. You need to know whether there is a will or a durable power of attorney, and where such documents are. Does your parent have a living will? If so, does it give you clarity about what your loved one's wishes are? A health care power of attorney would permit a trusted individual make medical decisions if your elderly relative was unable to.

It's important not to wait until the eleventh hour to have these talks. Ideally, those documents should be drawn up when your relative is of sound mind and body. It's not a bad idea either, to have a trusted adviser, not only know where the documents are kept, but be able to get to them if needed.

Beware of the appearance on the scene of the "trusted new friend." If mom and dad have a neighbor, caregiver or other outsider who is suddenly their best pal, running errands, going to the bank, and generally being around all the time when they never were before, it can be a warning sign that someone is taking advantage, warns Sarenski.

"Elder financial abuse invariably results in losses of human rights and dignity," said Karen A. Roberto, Ph.D., director of the Center for Gerontology, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. " Despite growing public awareness from a parade of high-profile financial abuse victims, it remains under reported, under-recognized, and under-prosecuted. The 2010 Passage of the Elder Justice Act may bring more attention and resources to this crime leading to prevention among the expanding older population."

The bottom line, says Maarse Fitzgerald: "Protect elders from isolation, which allows the perpetrators to take control of our elder's lives."

For more info go to : http://www.dailyfinance.com

How to Talk to Your Parents About the Estate Tax

When 2010 ends, the estate tax will return. Talking about it could save your family a huge tax bill

Bringing up the estate tax with your aging parents can be as awkward as inquiring after their sex life—or worse, because it could imply that you are chiefly interested in your inheritance. But making sure that they understand the current complexities of the law will help their money end up where they want it.

Talking about estate taxes is especially important right now, since the federal estate tax doesn't exist this year because of a legal quirk. Next year it's back, with an exemption of only $1 million (down from $3.5 million in 2009), unless Congress acts. That means navigating the ebb and flow of tax rates will require some complex maneuvering. Lawyers warn that the wrong wording in a will could inadvertently leave a spouse no money or accidentally award everything to an ex-wife, for example. Ignoring the issue could also mean giving Uncle Sam a big chunk of one's estate inadvertently.

Bringing up the topic isn't easy. Adult children often fear appearing like money-grubbing kids, while older adults prefer to avoid the topic altogether. Here's some advice from two experts: Alexandra Armstrong, financial planner at Armstrong, Fleming & Moore in Washington, and Deborah Jacobs, author of Estate Planning Smarts.

Don't be afraid to talk about it. As older adults increasingly turn to their children for help managing their finances, Armstrong says she sees more frankness concerning difficult money topics. One of her clients who is in his 80s delegates his financial affairs to his daughter, who told him that if they don't take action, a lot of his money will unnecessarily go toward taxes when he dies. That kind of logical approach can work best, Armstrong says.

Use a celebrity as a conversation starter. Jacobs suggests bringing up the recent death of a celebrity, such as George Steinbrenner. Since he died in 2010, his heirs won't need to pay the federal estate tax. You could say something like, "But next year, little people like us will have to worry about it," since the exemption falls to $1 million, says Jacobs.

You can also use yourself as an example to broach the topic. If you just updated your wills, mention to your parents how you did it. You can say something along the lines of, "It's amazing than in 2011, a young couple like us needs to be concerned about the estate tax," she says. That gives parents an opening to discuss their concerns. Giving them a financial planning book or article can also get the conversation going.

Table the issue if your parents don't want to discuss it. "If they don't want to talk about money, then you need to drop it and accept that this is not something you should pursue," says Jacobs. Some parents who grew up during or before World War II look forward to paying taxes, she says, and feel it's irresponsible to try to minimize them.

The main question, says Jacobs, is, "Can you have this conversation without damaging your relationship?" Because ultimately, it's the memory of the relationship that lasts, and the money is far less important. "If you have tense times towards the end of your parents' life because you're talking about estate planning, it will stay with you forever, and it's just not worth it," she says.

Acknowledge the uncertainty of the situation. Even financial planners admit that they don't know what's going to happen. No one knows whether Congress will take action to change the law before 2010 is over, Armstrong points out. In fact, many lawyers and advisors assumed that Congress would not have waited as long as it has. The uncertainty means that it's hard even for experts to recommend the best course of action; many estate plans now include contingences for all possibilities.

Talk about different options—not just giving you more money now. It's true that one of the easiest ways to reduce a taxable estate is to give money away early, before death. But not everyone can afford to do that, especially considering that no one knows how long he or she will live. That's why Armstrong only recommends this strategy to people with significant ($3 million plus) in assets who are living off a reliable source of income such as a pension. Suggesting this approach to parents can seem like asking for a handout, so tread carefully with this strategy.

Emphasize the importance of financial stability. "Everybody's worried about outliving their money," says Armstrong. The No. 1 goal is to ensure that aging parents can support themselves. Starting the conversation that way can keep the focus on that priority. "Say, 'I wonder if we should go over your finances together. I want to make sure you have enough money,'" she says.

Suggest some simple steps. For people with estates large enough to be subject to the estate tax (next year, anything over $1 million, pending Congressional action), meeting with a financial advisor can be useful. Other strategies include giving money away, including paying directly for educational or medical expenses, creating a trust, and converting traditional retirement accounts into Roth IRAs.

Remember that it's not your money. In the current tough economic climate, adult children might be tempted to look longingly at their parents' cash and think how great it would be to have it as a cushion to support their own lives. But Jacobs says it's important for adult children to remind themselves that it's their parents' money, not theirs. Jacobs says it might help to emphasize that if it were up to you, you'd want your parents to live it up and spend every last dime of their money while they're still living. "Be sure to get across the point that you don't have designs on their money," she says.


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