Posted on November 14, 2006 by Jason
The Reporter, November 14th, 2006
A recent letter
writer expresses his unhappiness with the current increases in health
plan rates (“50 percent rate hike excessive,” The Reporter, Nov. 10).
Here’s some information that will ease the pain but will not make him
feel good.
The health plan and option he is talking about raised the
total premium – shared by the previous employer and the retired
employee – 15.5 percent for next year.
The premiums are becoming so high for our plan that the
previous employer’s share was reduced by federal law from 72.4 percent
this year to only 63.8 percent next year. It sort of works on an
averaging theory, so that means the highest cost health plans get the
worst treatment, which I don’t think is fair.
Read more of this article.
Posted on November 9, 2006 by Jason
Senior Journal.com, November 8th, 2006
The results from yesterday’s
election showing Democrats gaining control of the House of
Representatives and close to control of the Senate signals major changes
ahead that directly impact senior citizens. First, the price of
prescription drugs is going to go down. And this was the final nail in
the coffin that contains the private accounts proposed by President Bush
for Social Security. “Tonight we have made history; now let us make
progress,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who is now
destined to be the first female Speaker of the House and most powerful
woman in the history of the U.S. government.
“After a lifetime of hard work, America’s seniors
have earned their right to a dignified retirement. Their monthly payroll
contributions to Medicare and Social Security have served as a down
payment toward a secure retirement. Unfortunately, Republican policies
have undermined this security,” charged Pelosi.
“First,” she says, “the Republican majority enacted
a prescription drug program that does more to increase profits for big
pharmaceutical companies than it does to lower prescription drug costs
for seniors. Then, President Bush and House Republicans pursued a risky
Social Security privatization plan that would have slashed guaranteed
benefits and drained trillions of dollars from Social Security.”
Pelosi says Democrats fought against Social
Security privatization, and are now working to fix the flaws in the
Republican prescription drug program.
Read more of this Article.
Posted on November 9, 2006 by Jason
Mortgage101.com, November 8th, 2006
DEAR BOB: You have said several times the
way to convey title to real estate into a living trust is by a
quitclaim deed signed and notarized by the owner. That’s what we did.
But now we want to sell our house, which is in our living trust. How do
we do that? –Janet Y.
DEAR JANET: That’s easy. Presuming you are the trustee of your own revocable living trust, you simply sign the deed as trustee.
For example, you would sign the deed “Janet
Y., trustee.” However, before doing so, check with the title company
that will be insuring the title for your buyer. It might be necessary
to produce a copy of your living trust for the title insurer.
HOW TO USE A REVERSE MORTGAGE TO BUY A RETIREMENT HOME
DEAR BOB: As I recall, about a year ago you wrote about reverse
mortgages. I think you said a reverse mortgage can be used to buy a
retirement home. How does that work so there are no monthly payments?
–John R.
DEAR JOHN: The only reverse mortgages for home purchase are
available from Fannie Mae. The other two reverse-mortgage lenders,
Financial Freedom Plan and FHA (HECM), do not offer these mortgages to
buy a retirement home.
Read more of this Article.
Posted on November 7, 2006 by Jason
Orange County Register, November 6th, 2006
When Marge Ball retired from Coast Community College District in
Costa Mesa in 2002 she planned to spend her time traveling, not for
leisure but for business.
The 55-year-old converted Marge’s
Tours in Mission Viejo from a side business to full time enterprise,
offering group trips to local and far-flung destinations. In the past
month, she had led trips to Julian, Malibu and Washington, D.C., This
Saturday, her group is going to San Diego.
Ball is one of a
growing number of Americans retiring into businesses rather than porch
swings. The number of self-employed Americans between the ages of 55
and 64 grew 29 percent to 1.85 million in the past five years, and
those over the age of 65 increased 18 percent to 756,000, according to
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Would-be retirees in their 40s,
50s, 60s and even 70s are better educated, healthier and more
tech-savvy than previous generations, said workplace expert John
Challenger of the outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray &
Christmas. He predicts this group will lead an explosion of business
startups.
“Many baby boomers, either out of desire or
necessity, will work beyond the ‘retirement age’ of 65,” he said. “What
some employers may not have expected is that a growing number of these
baby boomers are abandoning traditional employment for self-employment.”
Read more of this article.
Posted on November 6, 2006 by Jason
Fort Wayne.com, November 6th, 2006
Eva Mae Minnich, 83, spent a lifetime being careful with her money, setting
it aside for routine bills and saving for larger purchases. Even the word
“mortgage” made her uncomfortable because she doesn’t like debts.
Then, acting on the advice of her longtime financial adviser, Larry E.
Walkup, Eva Mae borrowed about $38,000 in equity from her home, handing Walkup a
check in exchange for the promise of monthly checks of $601.32 for the rest of
her life.
That promise wasn’t kept. Eva Mae was one of several investors who handed
money to Walkup only to receive broken promises.
After a lengthy investigation, officials leveled seven charges of theft
against Walkup in Whitley County, saying he took amounts ranging from about
$1,500 from one client for a Medicare supplement policy never received, to about
$40,000 from a woman eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Walkup was
also accused of taking about $72,000 from a woman in her 90s, an amount Walkup
later testified was given to him as a gift.
Read more of this article.
Posted on November 6, 2006 by Jason
Orange County Register, November 5th, 2006
Has the reverse mortgage finally come of age?
These complex loans let seniors access some of the cash value of their homes
without the burden of a monthly payment.
In theory, the concept’s a no-brainer. In practice, it’s been a long road to
create products that ease consumer fears about new debts late in life.
A confluence of events – from low interest rates to significant increases in
house values to smart marketing – is turning reverse mortgages from simply a
safety valve for seniors who are financially strapped to a noteworthy option for
a growing flock planning a retirement.
Fresh statistics show that in fiscal 2006, ended in June, reverse mortgages
handled by the Federal Housing Administration jumped by 77 percent to 76,351, a
fourfold jump from 2003.
Last year, Orange County residents took out 5,825 of these loans, up 90
percent in a year. That growth let Orange County squeeze past Los Angeles as
2006′s national hot spot for these loans.
“They’re really emerging as a great financial planning tool,” says Jim
Mahoney, CEO of Financial Freedom of Irvine, the nation’s top seller of
reverse mortgages.
Read more of this article. Learn more about Reverse Mortgages.
Posted on November 4, 2006 by Jason
MSN Money, November 4th, 2006
As you round the corner into your 60s, your headlights are probably focused
on one goal: retirement. The life of leisure and freedom the rest of us are
still working toward is now within your grasp.
Maybe.
The problem with many folks at 60 is that they develop short-timers’
syndrome, explains Certified Financial Planner Sheryl Garrett, founder of the
Garrett Planning Network. They’re so eager to abandon the workplace that they
don’t focus enough on the details of how, or even whether, their retirement
plans actually will work.
That could lead to disaster. You don’t want to find out a few months before
your retirement party — or worse, a few months after — that you really don’t
have the money to retire.
“In most cases, once you leave, you can’t go back. That’s it,” said Garrett,
co-author of the financial planning book “Just Give me the Answers.”
If you have to find out that you need to work longer, “it’s better to swallow
that earlier rather than later.”
Here’s your game plan for turning 60:
Read more of this article.
Posted on November 2, 2006 by Jason
New York Times, October 31st, 2006
How depressing, how utterly unjust, to be the one in your social circle who is
aging least gracefully.
In a laboratory at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Matthias
is learning about time’s caprice the hard way. At 28, getting on for a rhesus
monkey, Matthias is losing his hair, lugging a paunch and getting a face full of
wrinkles.
Yet in the cage next to his, gleefully hooting at strangers, one of
Matthias’s lab mates, Rudy, is the picture of monkey vitality, although he is
slightly older. Thin and feisty, Rudy stops grooming his smooth coat just long
enough to pirouette toward a proffered piece of fruit.
Tempted with the same treat, Matthias rises wearily and extends a frail hand.
“You can really see the difference,” said Dr. Ricki Colman, an associate
scientist at the center who cares for the animals.
What a visitor cannot see may be even more interesting. As a result of a
simple lifestyle intervention, Rudy and primates like him seem poised to live
very long, very vital lives.
Read more of this article.
