Money

Trusting others also makes the elderly a target for scammers. The “grandparents” scam is one that seems to always be around. The “grandparents” scam is when an older person receives a call, usually in the middle of the night, from someone claiming to be their grandchild. The caller claims they’re in trouble and need money immediately and to not tell mom and dad. They play on your emotions. The caller will usually ask the victim to buy gift cards and scratch off the back of the card to reveal the ID number, and then have them read the number over the phone. This is a scam that has been going on for years. ...

It's coming. But are you ready to pay for it? We're talking about winter heating bills which can be a burden to folks on fixed incomes. In Ohio, several agencies and government organizations have partnered together to provide heating assistance for older adults. They include the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, Ohio Department of Development, agency of aging centers and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. They provide information and financial assistance and conservation programs. Money and grants can help pay cooling or heating bills. ...

Raising a grandchild can be tough financially, but grandparents should be aware that there is a tax credit available that could help them. Working grandparents who are supporting their grandchildren may qualify for the earned income tax credit, which could reduce the amount they pay in taxes by thousands of dollars or allow them to receive a refund.  ...

One common situation is estate planning for a blended family or an unmarried couple. Here’s an example: A couple remarried in their 50s. They each had children from their first marriage. The husband died 20 years later. He had wanted to provide for his second wife, so he signed a will that stated that all of his assets were left to his wife with the understanding that, on his wife’s death, those assets would go to his children. Read more to find out what happened. ...

The growing student loan crisis is getting a lot of attention from policymakers. But did you know that, as Boomers age, many of them are bringing student loan debt with them into their older years? Some of it is their own, while other debt is from cosigning student loans for children and grandkids. What happens to that debt after you're gone is the topic of this column, provided by the Cleveland-area law firm Solomon, Steiner & Peck. ...

Your children are probably grown. You may have grandchildren. And, hopefully, you've accumulated some wealth. The people you appointed to step in in the event of incapacity when you were 35 may not be in a position to assist when you're 65. You may have retired or are contemplating doing so. ...

A caregiver agreement (also called a personal care contract) is a contract between a parent and a child (or another family member) in which the parent agrees to reimburse the child for caring for the parent. These agreements have many benefits. They provide a way to reward the family member doing the work. They can help alleviate tension between family members by making sure caregiving is fairly compensated. ...

By Danny Smith

 

Remember back in the 1960s when folk rock was big? One of my favorite tunes from that era is Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!”  He was inspired to write it after reading passages from the Old Testament.

According to Pete, he came up with the melody in about 15 minutes, then added the slightly altered biblical words and recorded it. The rest is history. The Byrds covered Seeger’s version, making it the group’s second number one hit. (“Mr. Tambourine Man” was their first.)

The tune lyrically speaks to the fact that to everything there is a season. I believe that life’s lessons prove those words to be true. I further believe that when it comes to planning for a successful retirement, there is a time to take risk and a time to take risk off the table.

What do You Need, What’s Guaranteed?

When people engage me as their advisor, after helping them estimate how much income they will need to retire, one of the first questions I ask is, “How much of that income do you want guaranteed?” The answer is usually, “Well, all of it, or as much as we possibly can.”  

One way to do this is to allocate a portion of your retirement assets to a certain type of annuity contract called a Single Premium Immediate Annuity, or SPIA for short. SPIAs are issued by insurance companies and are designed for people with a guaranteed income objective for a certain number of years or for the remainder of their life, or joint-lives in the case of couples.

Some SPIAs have an inflation option that increases the annual payout every year. With this option, payments in the early years of the SPIA will be less than they would have been without the inflation option, but go up every year over the selected payout period.

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