Don’t Wait Until Next April

Posted on April 16, 2013 by

It’sL. Nichaman photo the day after Tax Day!  If your taxes were done, yesterday was a day to relax and feel in control.  If they aren’t done yet, you can breathe easier since your extension gives you 6 more months (but don’t wait until the last minute in October).

For those of you who for whom taxes are a chore, I promise, next year can be better.

In order for this to happen, my advice is: Don’t wait until the year ends.  Track your income and expenses throughout the year.  Make it easy by using an account aggregator like Mint (www.mint.com), Yodlee (www.yodlee.com) or ClearCheckbook (www.clearcheckbook.com).  These online services download your financial transactions automatically leaving you to simply categorize them.  At the end of the year you will be able to generate reports of your income and expenditures by type.  You can also download transactions into financial software such as Quicken or into a spreadsheet program such as Excel.

You don’t necessarily need to track every expense, but if you itemize your deductions, some of the most common that you will want to track by type are:

  • Medical expenses
  • Charitable contributions
  • Business expenses
  • Property taxes

Any deposits to your accounts that are not be summarized by a W-2, 1099 or other report will need to be tracked as well.  This might include medical insurance reimbursements or other miscellaneous income.

While it is already April 16th, its not too late to go back and get the data beginning January 1, 2013.  Take the time now to get it into your tracking system and then enter new income and expenses into your tracking system at least once a month.  At the end of the year you will not be chasing around to get your data and your 2014 tax season will be a breeze.

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Geriatric Care Managers: A Gift to Seniors and Their Families

Posted on October 9, 2012 by

My husband cares for his uncle who is 79 years old and lives in another state, 400 miles away from our home. There are a couple of relatives who live near his uncle, but my husband is responsible for making sure that his uncle has all the services he needs. My husband also has a full time job, a family, and not enough time to travel often to take care of his uncle’s affairs.

For over a year he struggled with this situation until I finally said, “just hire a geriatric care manager to help you!” He found a local social worker, Barbara, and hired her to visit his uncle and take him to medical appointments. That small but significant act has made all the difference in both his uncle’s and his life. Before Barbara came, his uncle routinely missed his medical appointments. Now my husband worries a lot less about his uncle’s health and well being because Barbara is another set of eyes and ears to help him manage his uncle’s care.

What about the cost? His uncle is low income and geriatric care managers are not inexpensive. When the money was tight, my husband worked with Barbara to figure out which visits were critical and which they could forego. Whether they use her services once a week or once every two months, just knowing that there is someone there who can take care of something important, quickly and in-person, is a huge relief.

Geriatric care managers perform assessments, manage medical care, arrange for home health care, coach and support the family, and much more. In fact, “coach” is a good metaphor for what the geriatric care manager does because caring for a senior is a team effort. The team may include family members, medical providers, home care providers, financial advisor, attorney, accountant, a daily money manager, and hopefully, a geriatric care manager helping the team to work well together.

As daily money managers, whenever we work with a senior client, we are grateful when there is a geriatric care manager in place. This allows us to be an extra set of eyes and ears for her and to let her know if we notice anything unusual about the client or his surroundings. It also allows us to focus on the financial affairs while the geriatric care manager and others focus on the medical and social aspects of care.

If you are a senior, wondering about your options for places to live, doctors to see, home health aides to hire and more, a geriatric care manager is a great source of information. If you are a family member struggling to manage your life and the care of your senior relative, a geriatric care manager is a gift.

There are myriad services available for seniors, but for my money, hiring a geriatric care manager is one of the best investments you can make in aging well. Find a qualified geriatric care manager at the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, http://www.caremanager.org.

Give yourself and your family the gift of geriatric care management.

This post is dedicated to the memory of Debra Levy, a fine geriatric care manager who, with her dedicated staff at Debra Levy Eldercare, cared for and made a difference in the lives of thousands of seniors and their families.

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Don’t Judge Family Members

Posted on July 18, 2012 by

I work with senior citizens, helping them to manage their money.  In this capacity, I have witnessed many different types of family dynamics, both positive and negative, and I have come to believe that I cannot and should not judge many of the actions of family members of seniors.   While I have worked with some amazingly caring and patient family members, I have also seen some situations in which family members seem to be doing the “wrong” thing.  I am so inclined to judge them, to find out why they are acting like “crappy kids” toward their elder parent.  Why can’t they see that getting old is hard and show some compassion toward their parent?  Why must they be constantly annoyed, shut off emotionally, harsh and judgmental?

What I realize, however, is that I was not there while they were growing up.  I do not know how their parent treated them throughout their lives.  One of my clients revealed that she was an alcoholic most of her adult life.  Her kids moved her out of her home into a nursing home against her will and she died not long afterwards.   I want to judge them harshly because I believe so strongly in the right of seniors to self-determination, even when it means they will be taking risks or possibly shortening their own lives.  But I am forced once again to acknowledge that I just don’t know the whole story.  Perhaps life with her was a hell that I cannot comprehend.   I must remind myself not to judge the actions of others.

Of course, part of my job is to protect my clients from unscrupulous people, including family members, who might try to steal their money.  I feel bound to report such abuses to other caring family members or friends, trusted professionals, or even to the authorities.   But if family members are not stealing funds or otherwise harming my client, and they believe that they are acting in the best interest of their parent, even though the belief may be flawed, I cannot judge.  That flawed belief system developed long before there was a walker by the bed.

When it comes to interpersonal relationships, there are no absolute truths.  It is all story, myth, beliefs and feelings.   I hope that my work on my relationships with my own children will yield behavior that is beyond reproach when I am old, but who knows?   All I can hope for is that they will do the best they can, informed by their personal belief systems, and I hope that no one will judge them.

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Every Day Should Be Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Posted on June 15, 2012 by
Counting PenniesWelcome to my new blog, From the File Drawer.  I chose today to launch this blog because it is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.  The issue of elder abuse goes to the heart of why I established Everyday Money Management.  Some seniors do not have trusted family members or friends who can manage their money when they are no longer able to do so.  I am proud to have joined the ranks of daily money managers who provide this valuable service with professionalism and integrity.
Our older seniors are some of the most vulnerable citizens, maybe more vulnerable than children in that they often have poor judgment combined with big bank accounts!  Seniors are falling victim to financial abuse at an alarming rate.  Last year Mickey Rooney brought this issue to national attention when he testified before Congress about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his stepson.  I was not surprised that it happened to Mickey Rooney.  Anyone, regardless of gender, race or socioeconomic class can be a victim of elder financial abuse.
One thing we can do to stanch the flow of seniors’ money into the hands of unscrupulous family members and scam artists is encourage good money management habits in our seniors, adopt these habits ourselves when we are responsible for seniors’ funds, and when we can’t do it, hire a qualified daily money manager to handle our seniors’ finances.
Imagine that your 85-year-old mother still wants to handle her own checkbook but is willing to share information with you.  Here are some tips for helping her stay safe.
  1. Ask Mom to use the memo line provided on her check and make it a habit to write down what the check is for.  If you track her income and expenditures using software such as Quicken, utilize the memo field to document the source of income or reason for expenditure.  Even younger brains may have a hard time remembering what each check was for.
  2. Ask Mom to give you online access to her accounts so you can see what has transpired, just in case she doesn’t remember or didn’t write it down.
  3. Remind her not to leave checkbooks or account statements in an unlocked space in her home, especially if care providers and others are coming in and out regularly.  The combination of name, date of birth and account number might allow someone access to her records.  Add social security number to the mix and the door to her accounts may swing right open.  Remember that caregivers may have easy access to the social security number because it is also the Medicare number.
  4. Review bank and credit card statements with her every month.  The earlier you identify questionable transactions, the less money she will lose.  Let’s say you notice a club membership fee on her credit card.  When you call the company you find out that Mom neglected to uncheck something when she was online and inadvertently signed up for this club.  If you did not notice it for six months, the company may credit the last month or two but it is unlikely they will reimburse you the entire amount she spent.
  5. Ask Mom to talk with you before she spends large amounts of money or engages a contractor.  This is not to get your permission (she may bristle at the thought of you telling her how she can spend her money), but simply as a way for another person to evaluate whether the contractor has good credentials and the transaction is not fraudulent.

The more we practice good money management techniques, the safer we will all be.  Let’s strive to make everyday a day in which we work to end elder abuse.

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