Archive for October, 2007

Reverse mortgage lender gets tax break, fights allegations

Posted on October 31, 2007 by Jason

Crain’s Detroit Business, October 31st, 2007

A reverse mortgage lender has met one of its growth benchmarks by
creating 100 jobs in just four months, under a deal with the state for
$3.5 million in tax benefits.

But even as Melville, N.Y.-based Vertical Lend Inc.
continues its growth in Troy and plans to add 60 jobs in January, the
company grapples with allegations of deceptive business practices and
use of unlicensed loan brokers in Massachusetts.

Vertical Lend, licensed to operate in 33 states and in the process of changing its name to World Alliance Financial, obtained $3.5 million in tax incentives in April from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority to locate a national office in Troy and create hundreds of jobs.

Last
week, the company announced it had created 100 jobs since opening its
Troy office in June. That qualifies the company for a $50,000 training
grant through the Oakland County Department of Economic Development and Community Affairs, department Deputy Director Maureen Donohue Krauss said.

But
just two weeks before winning the local and state assistance for its
move to Michigan, Vertical Lend received an order from the Massachusetts Division of Banks to
cease its lending activity in that state, based on results of a January
audit. A hearing is pending on the company’s Massachusetts license.

Company
President and CEO David Peskin said the Troy operation has been using
the World Alliance Financial name, and all branches and offices will
convert to the new name by Dec. 1.

Read more of this article.

About Reverse Mortgages:  Learn all about reverse mortgages at NewRetirement.com

Solutions for retirement planning

Posted on October 30, 2007 by Jason

Investment News, October 30th, 2007

There is no shortage of technology solutions to help with retirement
planning. Some are comprehensive packages that do — or promise to do —
many things; others are more modest in their goals.

I have come across two interesting tools in recent weeks, both of
which fall into the modest category. Both are calculators: One comes in
the form of installable software, and the other is available on the web.

Ilene
Davis, principal of Financial Independence Services, a Cocoa,
Fla.-based firm that manages $50 million in assets, has created a
-personal-computer software tool called the Not Just For Retirement
Calculator.

It is an all-around retirement-planning tool whose
ease of use and speed make up for the fact that it breaks no new ground
in devising retirement income solutions.

“Our calculations have
been around for years; they’re in just about every personal-finance or
investment textbook I’ve used,” Ms. Davis wrote in an e-mail.

She
said that she has been focused on retirement income distribution for
more than 20 years, and designed the calculator to help in her work.

Since the industry as a whole hasn’t been as involved in distribution
issues to the degree that she has, Ms. Davis thinks that many advisers
will find the calculator helpful because it is so much easier to use
than other financial planning software when performing the same
calculations.

Just
click on the calculator icon, and the image of something that looks
like an old-style Texas Instruments calculator pops onto the screen.
But the “buttons” are all designed specifically for advisers.

Read more of this article.

NewRetirement Retirement Calculator:   Assess your retirement plan with the NewRetirement Retirement Calculator.

Obama, Clinton Focus on Social Security

Posted on October 30, 2007 by Jason

Associated Press, October 30th, 2007

Democrat Barack Obama complained on Monday that presidential rival
Hillary Rodham Clinton has failed to offer specific solutions to deal
with the financial crisis threatening the Social Security program.

Expanding
on his weekend criticism and a new television ad, the first-term
Illinois senator argued that Clinton, like others in Washington, is
ducking the issue of fixing the retirement program that is expected to
slip out of a surplus in about 2017.

“On issues as fundamental as
how to protect Social Security a candidate for president owes it to the
American people to tell us where they stand,” Obama told about 100
people at a townhall-style meeting in Iowa.

Clinton answered
back, unveiling a new ad in Iowa and New Hampshire that contends she
challenged President Bush when he tried to introduce private accounts
and has pushed legislation to help people care for adult family members.

“These
days, it seems like every candidate on Earth is coming here for you.
But which candidate has been there for you all along?” says the ad from
the two-term New York senator.

Seniors play a critical role in
the Iowa caucuses, set for Jan. 3. In 2000 and 2004, nearly 65 percent
of those who showed up at the Democratic caucuses were older than 50.

Obama’s
proposal calls for changing the rules that now impose Social Security
taxes on only the first $97,000 in income, a system that means higher
earners don’t pay taxes on all their income while many middle-class
taxpayers do.

Clinton has sidestepped that question in public but
told a man at one recent event in Iowa that she would consider a “gap,”
with no Social Security taxes on income from $97,500 to around
$200,000. Anything above that could be taxed. Her answer was overhead
by an Associated Press reporter.

Read more of this article.

Social Security Benefits Optimization:  Get the information you need to optimize your Social Security Benefits on NewRetirement.com

Jobs Sites Boom for the 50-Plus Set

Posted on October 30, 2007 by Jason

Yahoo News, October 30th, 2007

The challenge: matching older workers who aren’t financially ready to
retire, or simply want to stay active, with companies eager to hire
such employees. The solution: websites where seasoned job seekers can
post their résumés and sift through job postings and companies can list
jobs (often for a fee) or buy ads aimed at an older workforce.

There’s
been an explosion of these websites, and the reason is simple: Many
people are faced with the prospect of working longer than they might
have planned. Social Security is replacing an increasingly smaller portion of household earnings,
many workers’ 401(k)’s and IRAs contain only modest balances, and
Americans are often saving virtually nothing outside of these
retirement funds.

Luckily, much of the retirement savings shortfall can be offset by working as little as two to four years extra, according to Boston College’s
Center for Retirement Research. A survey of 400 employers by the center
found that a quarter of workers in their 50s will be financially
unprepared for retirement and will want to stay on the job at least two
years past the traditional retirement age.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that employers want older
workers—who are often more experienced but also more expensive than
their younger counterparts—to stay. The center found that employers are
lukewarm about retaining even half of their older workers who want to
keep working.

Read more of this article.

NewRetirement Retirement Calculator:   Assess your retirement plan with the NewRetirement Retirement Calculator.

Boomers Buying Long-Term Care Coverage

Posted on October 29, 2007 by Jason

Houston Chronicle, October 29th, 2007

The average age of people buying long-term care insurance benefits
dropped below 60 for the first time after falling steadily for more
than 10 years, a trade group said Monday.

A study by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance
showed that the average age of Americans buying insurance for home care
and assisted living fell to 58 years old in 2007. The average age has
been on the decline. It’s down from an average of 61 years in 2005 and
69 years in 1995.

The trend reflects a growing awareness of the importance of planning
for health care and retirement, said Jesse Slome, executive director of
the group.

More people have begun securing long-term care insurance in their
50s because that decade is “the sweet spot for long-term care
planning,” when insurance costs are generally lower, Slome said.
Insurers have also begun offering products that evolve coverage over
time, a move that has attracted more baby boomers, he said.

About 8 million Americans now have long-term care benefits, according
to the study. That’s up slightly from a year ago and about 60 percent
higher than in 2000, when fewer than 5 million people had benefits for
long-term care.

Read more of this Article.

Long Term Care Insurance:   
Learn more about whether long term care insurance is a good asset
protection strategy for your retirement on NewRetirement.com.

Half of 30 year olds to live to 100-research

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Jason

IFA Online, October 25th, 2007

As many as 50% of 30 year-olds could live to age 100, according to
Paternoster, the insurance company that takes on responsibility for
defined benefit (DB) scheme risks.

Paternoster based its findings on DB scheme members’ data and
its study follows research from The Office of National Statistics,
which shows a 90-fold increase in the number of people living to age
100.

The percentage of 30 year-olds projected to live until 100 has risen from 3.2% in 1997, 0.6% in 1987 and 0.4% in 1977.

Richard Willets, longevity director of Paternoster, says
centenarians are still relatively rare and represent just 0.015% of the
total UK population.

The research also shows 40% of 40% will probably live to 100,
compared to 30% of 50 year-olds, 20% of 60 year-olds and 13% of 70
year-olds.

He says: “Whilst it is true that members of DB pension schemes tend
to live longer than people who are not in DB schemes, given that nearly
half the population have been a member of a DB scheme at some stage of
their life, these figures are nonetheless important.”

Read more of this article.

NewRetirement Retirement Calculator:   Assess your retirement plan with the NewRetirement Retirement Calculator.

Nicotine may ease Parkinson’s symptoms: U.S. study

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Jason

Yahoo News, October 25th, 2007

Nicotine may help ease some of the
debilitating and uncontrollable tremors and twitches caused by
Parkinson’s disease and its treatment, researchers said on
Wednesday.

Monkeys given a nicotine-laced drink before drug treatment
for Parkinson’s showed a 50 percent reduction in movements
associated with the treatment. They showed a 35 percent drop in
the movements, known as dyskinesias, when given the drink after
treatments.

The finding, to be published in the Annals of Neurology,
suggests it may be possible to improve the lives of patients
who have very limited options.

“It may be the only drug that is useful for reducing
dyskinesias without making Parkinson’s disease worse,” Maryka
Quik of the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center in
Sunnyvale, California, who led the study, said in a telephone
interview.

Parkinson’s disease, which affects more than 1 million
patients in the United States, is marked by the death of brain
cells that produce dopamine.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, or message-carrying
chemical, associated with movement. Drugs can delay symptoms
for a while but there is no good treatment and no cure.

Read more of this article.

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Online, a Way to Say What You Wouldn’t Put in a Will

Posted on October 25, 2007 by Jason

The New York Times, October 23rd, 2007

WAYNE MCCLELLAND is not retired, but he is thinking ahead: he rests
easy knowing that if he were to die unexpectedly, he would still be
able to get messages to his loved ones.

No, Mr. McClelland,
59, is not capable of communicating from the afterlife. A self-employed
mechanical engineer, he does, however, have an account with a fledgling
Web company in Incline Village, Nev., called YouDeparted.com.

The
site runs a service that stores Mr. McClelland’s Internet passwords,
the combination to his home safe and other private information. If he
dies suddenly, his wife and son can each enter a secret password online
with the service, and it will send them a personal note from Mr.
McClelland with all his data.

“I probably have 100 different
passwords and account numbers and things like that,” he said. “My wife
wouldn’t even know where to start looking for that information.”

YouDeparted.com is like an electronic safe-deposit box, to supplement a will. This service — like PrivateMatters.com, in Victoria, British Columbia, and LetterFromBeyond.com,
in Durham, England — is part of a young niche of small businesses that
mix online data storage and traditional estate planning to minimize the
confusion that can come with a family member’s death.

“If you run
into the grim reaper tomorrow, having this kind of account will provide
your loved ones with everything they need to know to resolve all the
details of your life,” said Collin Harris, founder and president of
YouDeparted.com.

Read more of this article.

Medicare Is Unlikely to Restrict Coverage of Drug-Coated Stents

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Jason

The Wall Street Journal, October 24th, 2007

An official at the agency that runs Medicare said the
government insurance program would “probably not” restrict coverage of
drug-coated stents in response to concerns that they increase the risk
of blood clots — a statement that could bring a little comfort to
stent makers.

Coated stents relieve chest pains by propping open
clogged arteries, and they release a chemical to prevent re-clogging.
As of July, 89% of stents used in the U.S. were coated. Their use has
plummeted, to 62% in September, after evidence emerged that they
slightly increase the risk of blood clots a year or more after
implantation, when compared with plain-metal stents.

In February, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services said it was considering a process to restrict “off-label”
insurance coverage for the stents in response to a December 2006
hearing by the Food and Drug Administration about clotting risk. Coated
stents cost about $2,300, compared with roughly $800 for bare stents.

Any restriction in coverage would have been bad news for Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson,
manufacturers of the drug-coated stents sold in the U.S. In an
interview at an industry conference here yesterday, Marcel Salive,
director of medical and surgical services in the agency’s coverage and
analysis group, said “tangible action” by Medicare in response to the
December panel wasn’t likely.

Read more of this article.

Medicare and Your Retirement:   Learn what Medicare will cover during your retirement, and whether you
will need Supplemental Health Insurance to cover other potential
medical costs.

Alzheimer’s memory loss faster among well-educated

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Jason

Yahoo News, October 24th, 2007

Having more years of formal
education delays the memory loss linked to Alzheimer’s disease,
but once the condition begins to take hold, better-educated
people decline more rapidly, researchers said on Monday.

Their study, published in the journal Neurology, tracked
memory loss in a group of elderly people from New York City‘s
Bronx borough before they were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or
another form of old-age dementia.

Every year of education delayed the accelerated memory
decline that precedes dementia by about 2-1/2 months, according
to the researchers at Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein
College of Medicine in New York.

But once this memory loss began, the rate of decline
unfolded 4 percent more quickly for each additional year of
education, the researchers said.

Someone with 16 years of schooling might experience memory
decline 50 percent more quickly than another person with just
four years education, based on the findings.

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain malady that is
the most common form of dementia among the elderly.

“An elderly person who starts to see memory loss might well
deteriorate fairly rapidly, particularly if he or she has a
high education or high IQ,” Charles Hall, a professor of
epidemiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine who led the
study, said in a telephone interview.

Read more of this article.

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