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Larry called our office in a panic, wanting an appointment as soon as possible! We accommodated him and at the meeting he had not lost any of his sense of urgency.
“My company is terminating my position and I’m being forced to retire. I thought I had a few more years to work, but now it appears that I don’t. I’m 68 years old and I’m losing my health benefits at work; I am also concerned about my lifelong savings that are tied up in my employer’s 401(k) plan. What’s going to happen to my money when I leave? Am I going to have to pay a penalty for Medicare since I never signed up at age 65?”
We assured him there was no reason to panic, that it is a good idea to review his options at this point and make an action plan to solve all his concerns.
We gave him a proof-of-employment health coverage form to have his employer fill out that proves he has had health insurance with his company since being Medicare-eligible, and that will keep him from paying any late enrollment penalties with his Medicare enrollment for Part A & B. This relieved some of his initial anxiety.
As far as the 401(k), we needed to review where and what the retirement money is invested in and then decide what would be appropriate. When you retire, your money should be in preservation and distribution mode, not accumulation where you are still gambling in the stock market! If you lose money at this point, you are not collecting a paycheck to replace those losses. So, your portfolio needs to reflect this shift in priorities.
We set up a series of meetings and Larry attended one of our Retirement Income Planning classes to assist him in understanding how to read statements and how to avoid outdated methods of planning for retirement. He also attended a class on Social Security as well. In the end, he was relieved and had made the choices that would safely protect his financial nest egg he had worked so hard to accumulate during his working years
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So where is your nest egg? Is it safe from the sudden up and down swings of the stock market? Have you made plans for preservation and distribution of your retirement money, so you don’t run out? If not, or if you have questions, give us a call! We’re here to help!
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Have you ever experienced a close encounter? You know, the unexpected kind? Either you bumped into a friend or foe unexpectedly at some function or in a store and didn’t know what to say. Or it was just an awkward moment? How you respond to these incidents makes you…. you!
Many times, these close encounters are a fun surprise of a person or thing you haven’t seen in a while and you are the recipient of a nice warm fuzzy. Other times, the fangs come out as your first reaction is fear or distress. You were caught off guard by a person or thing and immediately went into panic mode. Or maybe one of your kids or grandkids plays a trick on you with a loud noise or a splash of water, and it was funny to everyone else but not to you. As we get older, many of us like a little calm in our lives.
Hopefully, your close encounter wasn’t something serious, like a car accident. None of us like those kinds of encounters. Sometimes these close encounters can be with an animal, bird, fish, or something of that sort. Maybe you took the kids or grandkids to a petting zoo and you were all feeding or petting one critter or another, and someone got an unexpected kiss or sloppy lick from one of the critters.
Over the years, I’ve had several of these incidents, and while some were partially expected, some were totally “out of the blue” as they say. While at a zoo I had the opportunity to offer a giraffe a carrot. Now this wasn’t just any old offer. The caretaker had me put this carrot in my mouth and the giraffe walked over and took it out of my mouth with a big sloppy kiss. Yes, I got slimed a little bit, but it was also a fun close encounter to have an animal that close.
While on vacation recently down on the West Coast of Florida, we were boating and watching the dolphins jump out of the water. It was exciting to see so many newborns with their mothers swimming by the boat. As we paused to take a picture off the side of the boat, a large adult manatee came right up to us as if to say “hi”! They just lifted their head out of the water and seemed to grin and then they were gone. Talk about a National Geographic moment! Another unexpected close encounter!
So, what was your last close encounter? Was it a friend or foe? Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Kid or grandkid? Whatever it was and however you reacted it makes you…. you!
Be sure you are always prepared for these close encounters when it comes to medical, financial, or legal coverage. Not sure you are covered adequately? Call us, we can help!
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Happy Heat! By this time, we’ve probably seen a monsoon storm or two and gotten some much needed rain in Arizona! Nothing seems to be more wonderful than a shower to wash away the collection of dust and grime. Not to mention clearing all the allergy and stuff out of the air that give us poor breathing conditions.
As we get into fall, political parties are already gearing up for the next election; we are being bombarded with political ads, debates, phone calls from pollsters, and a lot of what we are witnessing is plain old disgusting on the TV and radio with anything on the topic of a political nature.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a flood of positive news for a change? Local newspapers seem totally bent on printing opinions disguised as news. And, of course, they want us to feel that there is something wrong about everything. Front page is nothing but negative news; lead stories on the TV are consistently bad news or negative news. But…. we know better.
In America there are many things we are blessed with. Just walk over and flick the light switch. We consistently have electricity. Turn on that tap at the sink and we have drinking water, consistently. Garbage gets picked up on a regular schedule, cable TV, gas station and grocery stores where we can get what we need with ease. Yes, we have a lot to be happy and thankful for.
for a simple ball point pen I had in my shirt pocket. I asked my guide if it was a good trade because I knew he had spent hours carving that lion, and that pen was just a $2 pen. He looked at me and simply said, “do you see a store around here?” We were in the middle of nowhere and the nearest town was over 100 miles away. My guide kindly informed me that the old man could carve as many lions as he wanted, but he couldn’t get a pen for his grandson who was starting school next week. It really affected me in a way I had never felt.
Hmmm……what we take for granted.
When I see all the fuss on TV and politicians calling each other names and generally being uncivil, my question is, what are these people we elected doing for the American people to solve our issues? It seems that they compete to see who can say the most outlandish thing and grab the next headline. I, for one, am disgusted.
On the bright side, I look forward to the first good monsoon rain. I like to stand out in it and feel the rain wash over me leaving me renewed and refreshed. It also gives me hope that tomorrow is another day.
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Its never too late! 2019
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When I found out I had an appointment with an 82-year-old client, my first thought was what in the world can I help them with? Surely at this age, they have their Medicare, Social Security, and financial retirement plan, as well as a Trust or a Will. What could they possibly need? Enter Ruth Ann, my new 82-year-old client.
It turned out that Ruth Ann was finally going to retire from her job at a major corporation where she had continued to work because she loved her job. She had never signed up for her Medicare and was very concerned about all the penalty nonsense she kept hearing about from her friends.
She received Part A when she enrolled to start her Social Security benefit check. Her question was simple, “Am I going to have to pay a penalty?” I answered her question by asking her two questions. (1) Are there more than 20 employees at your employer on the company health insurance plan? (2) Is your employer health plan “Creditable Coverage”? Creditable Coverage basically means the plan at the employer is as good as what is available with Medicare coverage. Her answer was “Yes” to both questions.
I then reviewed with her that all she needed to do was have her employer sign a “Verification of Employment” form. Your employer is basically attesting that “yes, we’ve covered this person with our health plan for all this time, and, there has been no interruption of coverage”, that she has indeed been on the company health plan since she was 65 years old. This form is what keeps you from paying a penalty for not signing up for Medicare at age 65. She will then take the form to the local Social Security office to enroll in Medicare Part B (she already had Part A). You’ll want to do this about 2-3 months before you are going to separate from the employer health plan B because it will take a few weeks to get your new Medicare card in the mail. Once you have your Medicare card showing Part A& B, you can then apply for a Medicare Advantage plan or keep Medicare as your insurance and add a Supplement (Medigap) and a Part D Prescription Drug Plan.
Ruth Ann was greatly relieved and said that this had her worried for months. She was glad to hear she would suffer no penalty. So if you are going to work past age 65 (and have an employer plan with more than 20 employees on the employer plan and it is “Creditable coverage”), you can keep working, keep your employer plan if you like it, and down the road get your Medicare A&B with no penalty nor loss of options when you separate from your employer. OR …. keep your job, drop the employer plan, and enroll in Medicare the month you are eligible and select a Medicare plan. Many times, we find that either the employee will save money on their monthly premiums, deductible or Max Out-Of-Pocket (MOOP), or have improved medical benefits with a Medicare plan. So do your shopping and compare!
Call us! We can help!
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Why am I Me? Loss 2019
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As we go through life there are the positive occasions for laughter, fun, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, marriages, and births, all of which are happy and pleasant events. On the negative side, there are the incidences of sickness, disappointment, hospitals, and even death. How you have reacted to these events in your life has made you…. you.
When we experience a loss that is expected, especially the passing of an elderly parent or friend, it is somewhat anticipated, and even though predictable, the loss can still be painful. It’s the sudden death of those same family members, friends, and loved ones that seem to hurt the most. We feel they were taken much too soon from our lives, and the question of why is at the forefront of our thoughts and feelings.
If something bad was going to happen, we wonder why can’t it happen to a person who deserves it? That bank robber, rapist, drug dealer, or some other social deviant or miscreant? Why my good person?
The answer to our grief is…. Time … heals all wounds. Maybe….
Ten years ago, I had one of these losses when my older brother was killed in a motorcycle accident by a driver in a truck on a cell phone who wasn’t paying attention. Last week, almost to the day, I lost another friend under the same exact circumstances. Both men were educated, well-traveled, had families and were good, hard-working, productive men with a very exciting life ahead of them, full of promise. Gone in the blink of an eye, by an irresponsible driver. Why? Why now? Why them? Why not someone else?
Attending a new funeral under the same circumstances was a déjà vu I never wanted to repeat but was forced to against my will, all because of fate?
If both of my loved ones had just been 30 seconds earlier or 30 seconds later while driving, they would have missed that fateful accident. Both would still be here. In the face of adversity, grief, and sorrow we soldier on, making the best of these situations and being strong for other loved ones that were affected to a greater degree. We want to be the pillar they can lean on in this moment of grief.
Each of us has our go-to safe place, either physically or mentally, that we escape to in order to deal with these events. In both cases, I personally wondered “what if it were me?” What would happen to my family, will they be taken care of? Is everything in order? We can all start a checklist of “to do” items to ensure there is no unfinished business.
Will or Trust? Beneficiaries on all financial accounts? Power of Attorney for both health and financial? Do Not Resuscitate order? A file or notebook where everything is organized so as not to leave a grieving spouse or child with a mountain of paperwork to be dealt with while also dealing with the fresh grief of loss?
Use your experience as a catalyst to put your house in order. You be the person that makes it easy for that family member who’s left behind to deal with everything. Do them the favor by making it easy to deal with your affairs. By having all these other items completed, you have given them the gift of time. The time they need to heal.
Our staff of professionals is ready to assist you with anything you need to complete your affairs. If you need help, call us.
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Happy 4th 2019
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Americans love to be outdoors for this holiday and what better way to celebrate than to have picnics, cold watermelon, corn on the cob, hand-cranked ice cream, ribs, chicken, hot dogs and burgers on the grill, band concerts, and a dip in the pool or water skiing at the lake…and fireworks!! What’s your favorite way to celebrate your freedom on this Independence Day?
The young independent country of America wasted no time in starting an annual celebration of their independence! Public readings of the Declaration of Independence in city and town squares, the ringing of church bells, and yes! Even fireworks at the very first celebration!
Many folks don’t realize that firework manufacturing is an exact science, as you add different metal powders to get the various colors in the explosions. Red is caused by adding “strontium carbonate”, orange has “calcium chloride”, yellow has “sodium nitrate”, green has “barium chloride”, and blue has copper chloride”. Wow! Never knew so much chemistry went into all that beauty! And with all that gun powder, who invented that stuff? A Chinese monk named “Li Tan” stuffed a bamboo shoot with saltpeter-based gun powder and shot it into a fire for the first big bang. We’ve been lighting fuses ever since! It’s been estimated that Americans spend over one billion dollars on fireworks each year!
July 8th marked the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia’s Independence Square. But it would not be until 1870, almost 100 years later, that Congress declared July 4th as a national holiday, along with several others including Christmas! We could be asking “What took so long?
A once popular way to celebrate the 4th was bonfires. In the early days, many towns and cities competed to see who could build the tallest bonfire. The last recorded record was in Salem, Massachusetts where the barrel structure was 40 tiers high. Some places carry on this tradition but it has become less popular as folks are concerned about air pollution. If you’re traveling on or near the 4th of July, leave early! It is one of the busiest days of travel anywhere in the USA!
So, whatever your family or communities’ traditions, enjoy your 4th with loved ones and remember America the Beautiful!
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Messed up! June 2019
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Dave and Diane had met with us a few years ago and had determined that at age 65 they would both keep working and keep their employer plans for healthcare, and not sign up for Medicare. We reminded them that is okay if the health plan at work is “Creditable Coverage” and there are at least 20 employees on the plan. They both worked for large organizations and stated that meeting these requirements wasn’t an issue.
Fast forward three years. They were now both age 68, still working, and called and asked for a meeting to discuss Medicare…again. No problem! We meet with folks multiple times to make sure they are educated about their health coverage before they make a decision.
Dave and Diane were both very concerned that all of their friends and their HR staff at their employers insisted that they had messed up big time and were going to pay a large penalty because THEY FAILED TO SIGN UP for Medicare A & B when they turned 65. Their friends proudly showed them their Medicare cards and told them “We did it correctly and you didn’t.” Even the HR staff at their employers scolded them and directed them to get to their local Social Security office as soon as possible because they had to sign up or else!
Their question to us was “You told us we didn’t have to when we met last time. Why are all these people telling us we messed up?” I smiled and explained that when your friends and HR staff are telling you how Medicare works, simply ask them “are you licensed and certified to discuss Medicare?” HR departments at employers are notorious for giving out poor or outdated information and have no idea what current rules and regulations are in place. We do.
As long as you are working and your employer health plan has 20+ employees on the plan and the plan at the employer is “Creditable” (basically meaning “as good as Medicare), and if the employer health plan includes prescription drug coverage, you do not have to sign up for Medicare A, B, C, or D. Then about 5-6 months before you think you are going to retire, come see us so that we can assist you. We want to create a comfortable glide path into retirement and what you need to do for Medicare and when.
They thanked us for reassuring them they had indeed made the correct decision and were relieved that they had not “Messed Up”!Got questions? Call us we can help!
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All Inclusive June 2019
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When many of us were growing up we watched the nightly news; Walter Cronkite, Huntley-Brinkley. Remember the “Proud as a Peacock” logo on one of these news broadcasts? The news was pretty straightforward and there were many more facts and less editorial comments. In other words, the news was indeed the news. Whatever you watched or listened to, those news inputs made you…. you!
Growing up and spending time with my grandparents at their farm, they didn’t believe in TV. But the radio in the kitchen was a constant companion to my grandmother. Gospel, Country Western music, and the news was just about all that was tuned in. Saturday afternoons there were reruns of old Radio programs; Only the Shadow Knows, Lone Ranger, Amos & Andy, etc. So, it was either the radio or reading one of the many books available, board games, or card games. A much simpler time.
These days we are bombarded with news that isn’t news anymore. Most news broadcasts are talking heads that are expounding on one opinionor another, trying to convince us on a point of view rather than giving the facts and letting us decide what the answer should be. So much of what we see and hear is labeled “Fake News” and it seems that most networks go out of their way to skew the facts to fit their agenda, rather than reporters doing some actual investigative reporting and discovering the “facts”. This epidemic has become so severe that reporters are simply making up their own facts and writing about events that border criminal behavior. But we see very few of these miscreants being punished or brought to task on their obvious lack of truth. But I digress…….
Our youth hear these “stories” and think that they are factual, instead of doing any actual digging for the truth. Their young heads are filled with this mush they are constantly being fed; this has become somewhat dangerous, as they act on fiction. When this happens, it makes me think of the Gilda Radner character on Saturday Night Live who reported the news and was constantly misunderstanding the situation. This ended with her stating “Well…never mind”.
So where do you get your information? How do you check out the facts before you make a decision? With the constant stuff showing up in your mailbox or phone calls wanting one thing or another, what is your filter? Because it can be a case of the adage, “Garbage in, Garbage out”. So, consider the source before you make a selection. Because those decisions will make you…. you.
If you have questions about any aspect of retirement and need facts on either Social Security benefits, Medicare, or Financial Retirement Planning, get the facts first! Call us!We can help!
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The Heat is on !!! 2019
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Not a summer goes by that folk around the USA don’t joke about the summer heat. In some states it’s the summer humidity; others, it’s no humidity, just heat. In Arizona, we fall into the no humidity, just heat.
Hottest day in Arizona history since we’ve been keeping records? June 29, 1998; Lake Havasu City hit an all-time high of 128 degrees. Now that’s hot! Phoenix’s hottest day was June 26, 1990, at 122 degrees. I remember leaving my office that day to go home, and as soon as I stepped out of the A/C, it was like sticking my head in an oven! Before these recorded events, we would have to reach way back 100 years ago to see the hottest day record. That record was broken by the 128-degree day. The hottest streak of 100+ degree days in a row at 76; happened from June 10, 1993, to August 24, 1993. Yeah, I was here and remember that!
Many folks think our hottest weather happens in August each year but that’s usually because of the humidity caused by our yearly “Monsoon” season. That month we get the heat and the humidity, and it just feels hotter. The heat feels hotter with the humidity, and that’s a scientific fact, just check the heat index.
Hottest day on record anywhere in the USA? Well, we’d have to travel way back to 1913, and it occurred at Greenland Ranch (formerly Furnace Creek) of Death Valley, California at a whopping 134 degrees! This also happens to be the hottest day recorded anywhere on the planet according to the National Weather Service.
Folks talking about the weather and our planet seem to think all this hotter weather is a recent phenomenon. But these hot and cold cycles have occurred over the centuries. There are clues in the growth rings of old trees that reflect good and bad years of weather. We also have evidence from old ice flow studies reflecting weather patterns. With the heat comes some caution.
Protect your pets! If you place your hand on a sidewalk and can’t hold it there for at least 5-10 seconds, it’s too hot for your pet’s
paws. Also, keep lots of water in the water bowl with maybe an ice cube or two!
People are in danger too! The inside of your car or truck can reach temperatures of 100s of degrees in just minutes, making the steering wheel too hot to handle. You’ll see folks with oven mitts in their cars, where they learned this lesson the hard way.
Headed to the airport? We have had the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport close on several occasions during the hot weather season because the air was too hot for the planes to get any lift!
And remember, when choosing to live in the cold or the heat, “you don’t have to shovel sunshine”!
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All Inclusive 2019
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Have you ever had one of those experiences of all-inclusive resorts, or you attended a function where everything is free? Did you overindulge? Eat and drink too much? How you reacted to that situation makes you…. you!
While at an all-inclusive resort recently, I always got a kick out of people-watching. The young couple on their honeymoon, people attending a company retreat or awards trip they won from their employer, people with kids, older folks with no kids, etc., etc. How all these different folks react to the all-you-can-eat and drink is as varied as the folks attending the resort.
Some people pace themselves; others dive in and overindulge by eating everything they can get their hands on, food or drink. Some folks can handle this opportunity with the intent it was meant to be, while others wind up wasting an incredible amount of food.
I was amazed (somewhat humorously) by the overzealous parents with two young kids in that they wanted to make sure they did every single activity that was free. They had themselves and their kids absolutely scheduled to death from the time they got up to the time they went to bed every day of their vacation! Snorkeling at 8:30 a.m., the 11:00 a.m. nature hike, lunch at noon, how to arrange flowers at 1:00 p.m., shuffleboard at 3:00, pool aerobics at 4:30, dinner and show at 8:00.m. When we saw them running from activity to activity, we could only wonder was it intentional to wear the kids out, or were the parents just that frantic to make sure they got their money’s worth?
In some cases, the ‘all you want for free’ is a great thing. When is the last time you had that opportunity? Who was with you, where was it? Did you get what you expected or were you disappointed?
When we assist folks with their retirement needs, it’s a buffet of free consulting on every aspect of your retirement. Some clients can’t get over all our services and expertise that we can offer on just about anything that has to do with retirement….at no charge. Our approach is to educate you on your choices and then you decide. It’s much easier to make the right choice the first time than to have us try to fix something where an incorrect decision was made to start with. Poor decision-making comes when folks don’t take the time to do research before they make a selection or pick a plan.
Need retirement assistance? Welcome to our smorgasbord of services, because we…. are always here to help!
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