Seniors Site

It is not right to put all the blame on the recession. Truth be told, we were living a very spoiled life prior to the recession and some countries were not hit as hard as we had been. Granted, some of us seniors suddenly found ourselves in face of our deepest, darkest fears: losing our homes, no jobs, vulnerable nest eggs, etc. All we could think about is why these things are happening when we’re so close to retirement. Times may not be as easy as it once was but certainly you can do something about it since it is all a matter of right frame of mind and kicking bad money habits we’ve been practicing for too long!
· Procrastinating on your retirement plan. Save NOW! It’s not too late, you know. Scrape everything you have, no matter how small you think your income is right now. If you are one of the millions who are jobless at the moment, don’t dilly dally, instead think of other ways to generate income with your available resources. Hey – manpower is one of the most valuable resources a man can have! Be creative, you might find an opportunity where you least expect it.
· Obsessing on tax breaks. Give your taxes a break. There are indeed many ways to cut down on your taxes however this should not be the sole purpose of your existence. Don’t obsess on the numbers instead start examining what taxes can do for you in the future, particularly on your retirement benefits.
· Feeding your work-pay mentality. We were trained to see work as pay so if you don’t work, our minds quickly assume that there’s no pay too hence the panic. However, we must admit that we are not getting any younger and it’s time to slow down, nest egg or none. Work on whatever you can today and save while you can. You can never work forever, you should know that.
· Depending too much on your inheritance. This is something that is not certain. Just think of 101 things that could go wrong before your inheritance reaches you. You’re lucky if it reaches you in full amount that you have been expecting, in some cases, you don’t get even a dime.
· Not getting life plans. You should know that the biggest dent your retirement money is potentially facing would be your healthcare. The more years added to your age, the more medical procedures your body will need.

Holidays are not safe from scammers, in fact, this is the very time when scammers take advantage of the gift-giving feeling when you put your guard down and really soak up the holiday cheer assuming that everybody is doing the exact same thing. Unfortunately, scammers are more active than ever during holidays and they continually improvise new ways to trick innocent merrymakers!

Dupe online shops. In truth, your search engine a.k.a Google, takes time before they catch dupes – those websites that copy legitimate websites hoping to deceive consumers into entering their personal information (credit card details included) and making transactions with their site. Of course, if you happen to use dupe websites, don’t expect for your ordered items to ever reach your door, instead, brace yourself for your next credit card’s billing statement since that dupe site, must have by then, maxed out your credit line. When shopping online, make sure you are using the right website and not a dupe.

• Online shopping directories. A little bit same when using your search engine and end up in a dupe site however, those found in shopping directories are more organized as they will present themselves as legitimate sellers, their websites all legit looking, designed to only operate during holidays and be gone soon after. If they are not after your credit card details, they are most likely to infect your computer with malware.
• Gift cards from racks. Gift cards must be the most sensible thing to give to loved-ones especially if you don’t have any idea what to get them! Young adults love receiving them as it allows them to shop and get whatever they want and not just contend with a horrible, knitted sweater every single year. However, authorities warn public from buying off department store racks as they are very much exposed to unscrupulous people who steal gift card codes and use it as
  soon as it is activated.
• Online greeting cards. Anything that has a link and the sender asking you to click it should send you doubting big time! Most ecards or electronic cards – the kind that you view on your computer – can be embedded into the email itself which won’t prompt the receiver to click any link anymore. Others will just give you a code which you can use in their website to view your electronic card.
• Undeliverable package notice from your local courier. We’ve had reports from several seniors receiving emails and calls from purportedly “couriers” telling the seniors that they have been trying to deliver a package and wasn’t able to do so. That they needed for the senior to claim it personally or call a number where they can claim their holiday package. Of course, at the other end of the number is a scammer waiting for you call.

Holidays can be expensive! Thank heavens for holiday bonuses and 13th month pays but after the holidays, when everything will be back to normal, one can’t help but think of the holiday cost and the unnecessary cash-outs we did for the holidays and feel its aftermath. Not that spending on holidays is bad but truth be told, there are many instances during holidays that we could have cut cost and still be merry!
And since I consider this week as the start of the holiday season officially, it is only proper for me to give gentle advices to those of you who would want to somehow lessen the holiday cost without appearing like a cheapskate:
· Put aside a holiday budget. Consider your current financial standing and the money you have onhand. If you have been a good senior putting aside little bits of money for the holiday since last January then by now you must have plenty to spare but I’m sure that is not always the case. Some are depending only with the money they have right now and just charge everything against their credit cards to be paid at a later time. Both ways are good although I prefer the former than the latter, however, if you are planning to use your credit card for the holidays, make sure that you limit yourself to your holiday budget and not a cent more. Plus, your holiday budget should only be a month’s worth of your income just so it would be easier to pay them after holidays.
· A holiday budget for all. The holiday budget you’ve set aside should encompass everything that you’ll ever need for the holidays such as gifts, events, trip expenditures (if you are planning to go on a holiday trip) etc.
· Make a list. Everything that you’ll ever need for the holidays should be listed down so you’ll be able to see how much you should allocate each. The same should be done to your gift list.
· Trim down your gift list and limit it only to those who really matter most. Start with your immediate family then work your way out. Work on your friends’ list according to priority. It’s okay to not give every Jane and Joe that comes your way, or if you really have to then no need to give them something expensive, a greeting card would do.
· Plan your shopping. Be a smart shopper and take advantage of the many sales, deals and offers stores are giving away, even online shops are marking down their prices for the holiday! Scour thrift shops as well, if you still have time, since they are excellent sources for antique pieces and vintage jewelry sold at a very low price.
· Skip the gift wrapping. Don’t worry, with all those “eco” thing going on, no one’s going to raise an eyebrow if you hand out unwrapped gifts. Just a little ribbon on top of it and you’re done.

No matter how poor you see yourself right now, there is definitely an estate to plan hence the need for an executor. An executor is someone who will administer your estate when you pass away and he or she should be someone who is very much capable of doing so — not to mention, willing to. To be able to know both, you and your executor should have “the talk” as soon as possible and get things straight.
Bear in mind that the talk between the executor and you is, most of the time, not a one-time talk. As long as there are changes in your life, or something came up, the need to talk with your executor is instantly there. For example, if one of your kids die ahead of you or you remarried or perhaps there has been a change in your financial flow, these things will prompt a talk with your executor and shouldn’t be delayed. Buying a new home and even thinking of adopting – whether a pet or a child – should also prompt a brief discussion with your executor.
As soon as you determined what is included in your estate, choosing the executor is the next step. If your chosen executor is not your own personal lawyer, it would be a good idea to bring him or her to meet with your lawyer to discuss your estate and straighten things out. Discuss and be honest about what’s involved and what needs to be done. The executor’s role should also be discussed straight away such as distribution of assets, paying off your acquired debts, handling of insurance policies and inventories, and lastly, handling the sale of your home and other saleable items you own. He or she should be empowered to handle your estate and be the point of contact when there are issues pertaining to your assets. Your executor, to be able to successfully handle and facilitate this, should have a copy of the list of people who would get in touch with him or her for certain issues. While it is quite honorable to be chosen to be an executor, he or she should realize this is more than your trusting them with your asset but a responsibility to make sure everything will run according to plan. This is why choosing the most suitable executor is a must – it may not necessarily be a relative but someone who has the capabilities of executing your will as written.
Spending some time with your executor is also recommended as it will somehow explain the things you have written in your will like why this should go to who and what should go to who. Distribution of asset has always been a touchy subject for surviving families and you wouldn’t want your executor to weather these things our right?

Caring for an incapacitated senior can be overwhelming. Aside from their medical needs, you also need to consider the legalities of what’s happening and what would happen in the future. These things, if they are not addressed soon enough can certainly cause problems in the future. At this point, you will need a lawyer who specializes in elderly law. To find a lawyer, you could ask for referrals from friends and associations near you.
Legally, your senior needs to address these things: who will manage the senior’s financial affairs as well as medical decisions and personal care. Also, their assets should be assessed so that there will be a clear arrangement of where the money would come from for housing and caring payments. Do take note too that drafting and finalizing of last will should be done at this point and distribution of assets must be placed.
As much as possible, the act of choosing an attorney to handle your legal planning should take place while your senior can still make his or her own decision or still has the ability to do so. This must be determined on a case-by-case basis and ideally with the help of your senior’s doctors and healthcare providers.
Your senior has many options to choose from to manage their assets. This should be discussed with an attorney since each has their own pros and cons thus should have a suitable assigned person to handle the job.
Along with planning and assigning the right people, a financial plan should also be put together since it is one of the most important things needed when acquiring long term care for your senior. It would be best if you could sit down with your senior while he or she still can and assess their financial standing. Examine their insurances, the programs they are currently enrolled and other local support they are entitled to. If in doubt, you can always seek help from a lawyer, a doctor and/or non-government organizations.
If you’re the senior in question, take into consideration some assets you need to protect, like that of your spouse, surely you wouldn’t want to leave your spouse penniless when this most unfortunate time comes. Have a talk with your lawyer what applies to your case and what best to do to be able to protect your spouse in case you get incapacitated and would require longterm care.
Remember that the best way to go forward about this is to find a lawyer. Ask for recommendations from family and friends since a lawyer whose expertise lies on elderly law is quite hard to find.

About half of the senior population is taking at least two medications per day, whether it is maintenance drug or to cure a current condition or perhaps vitamins, to help you maintain your body’s tiptop shape. Bad news is, it only keeps on piling up, usually. Hence, it is only logical to one day find yourself scrimping on other things just to be able to fulfill your day’s set of medications. Or you intentionally skip one dose which is not really recommendable considering your age and your health needs.
This is why seniors have grown wiser when it comes to saving on medications and other tricks to help lessen their medication cost. Below are some of the tips and tricks shared by my fellow seniors who are basically on first name basis with their next door pharmacists:

* Go for low cost drugs. To do this, you will need to speak with your doctor and come clean about your financial concerns. Don’t be embarrassed to get your doctor involved in this as you are certainly not alone experiencing this concern. Your doctor might switch brands or give you an altogether different medication for your condition.
* Go for generic drugs instead of branded ones. Notice there are two names written on your drug packaging, the one highlighted with a box is your generic name. This generic name is used ACROSS ALL drugs with the same component/ingredients. The one without a box, usually underneath the generic name, is your brand name. This is what you hear on ads. Needless to say, when you buy the generic name, no matter if you recognize the brand or not, it will still have the same effect, as long as you’re buying it from a reputable pharmacy.
* Buy local but take advantage of discounts. Sometimes when you are already first-name basis with your friendly neighborhood pharmacist, he or she will be willing to give you discounts and/or adjust their price to match local lowest price. However, if you find discounts and they are miles away from you, try to think up of someone who’s conveniently there to buy them for you.
* Stalk pharmacies’ websites. Nowadays pharmacies, both big and small, update their websites regularly and the fastest way to get wind of their discounts is through their website. If you find this hard to do, then go look them up on your favorite social network and they will be there for sure.
* Buy them in bulk especially if this is a maintenance drug. Usually medications are prescribed to be taken in 7 days or two weeks, even a month. Generic drugs usually offer their meds in bulk a.k.a small boxes which is cheaper, of course.

If there are two things seniors need to remember when dealing with a potential financial fraud, they are 1. There is too much talk and 2. It’s getting quite confusing. Bear in mind that nowadays money doesn’t come easily and truth be told, it’s harder than ever to earn! Now, if someone approaches you today telling you that they will double your money, cut the conversation and walk away – don’t even give them the opportunity to talk anymore – just walk away, never mind your manners, they won’t take offense anyway.
A scammer is most likely to approach seniors since they tend to believe that old people have money stashed away somewhere and since seniors are most likely to die anytime soon, they won’t need the money anyway. Sad but unfortunately true.
Below are some of the most popular financial fraud tactics to target seniors:
· Ghost investment. In this fraud tactic, a senior will be promised with an investment in some far flung, remote country which basically makes it really impossible for the said senior to confirm. It could be a newly discovered oil well in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, if such exist we don’t know for sure. The idea is to convince a senior looking for something to put their money on as an investment, that they are indeed the right person to trust.
· Name dropping. We seniors tend to listen when we hear words associated with someone we respect or who has our highest regard. Scammers know this and they will play on it.
· Deals and steals. By telling you that you are going to get the biggest benefit of all, a freebie or a discount, and that you might owe them someday by believing them now, a senior may feel the urge to give it a shot since they are getting an unbelievable deal from this kind fellow.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
While being vigilant means being on your toes 24/7 and suspecting every Jane and Joe that comes your way running off with your money in tow, it won’t hurt you to think first before you actually commit into something, let alone release any money to anyone, reputable sounding and otherwise. Also, be forewarned that there were reported cases wherein the scammer is someone who knows the senior personally – it can be the caregiver, or their own sons and daughters, or a close friend. Learn to say “no” the moment you realize there is money involve and that money happens to be yours. If a certain deal catches your attention and it sounds legitimate enough then take a rain check and do a little research. There are organizations that can help you confirm if a deal is existing or not and most of the time, they are just a phone call away.

You must be asking why I’m posting this so early, well, I like to start my holiday shopping as soon as it hits September so I’ll be able to do more and have some more room for other things besides shopping. For my fellow seniors, I also recommend doing this, just so you won’t miss anyone on your gift list this year! (You know how embarrassing that can get)
Here are my simple tips on holiday shopping for seniors:
· Make your gift list. For safety measures, I like to start my list with name, relationship – to refresh your memory or if you suddenly have to pass this list to someone else to buy gifts for you, age and preferences. Don’t worry if you miss anyone at this point, you can build your list as you go along.
· Set aside spending money for your gifts. This way you will not overspend. Moreover, ignore your credit card company emails luring you to join their “spend-now-pay-later” programs since most of these offerings are with interests and will only add up to your bills come due date.
· Check out online stores. Online stores usually offer cheaper stuff and deals than most physical stores. However, you have to practice safe online shopping since it’s quite easy to be scammed when shopping online. My best advice is to stick with reputable online stores, preferably those with positive feedbacks and physical stores where you can take your grievances with ease.
· Browse through catalogues. Holiday catalogues are seniors’ best friends! They allow you to see new stuff without having to go out and walk miles to find the perfect gift for your loved-ones! Also, it will give you an idea even before you hit the shopping malls.
· Make sure you can return your purchases if need be. This is exactly why it is important for seniors to buy ONLY from reputable stores since most fly-by-night shops are quite evasive about their return policies. You just don’t know when you’ll need these policies so better examine them beforehand.
· Check with your kids first when planning to buy gifts for your grandkids. Sometimes gift-giving creates friction between you and your daughter/son most especially if they don’t approve of your choices for gifts. Bear in mind that while you are the oldest amongst the bunch, they are still the parents and they would know what’s best for their kids. Anyway you can buy your grandkids something special some other time!

Contrary to popular notion, being a senior or indeed a baby boomer can be financially hard especially if you have retired earlier than your nest egg could afford you. Unfortunately, in a cut throat world of corporations, nobody is indispensable – the minute you’re laid off, there are about 30 people waiting in line to replace you! This effectively places seniors and baby boomers in a very difficult situation.
I personally recommend seniors and baby boomers to have a second career, or a part time, just in case an unexpected financial crisis hits you. One can never be certain so there really is no harm in trying to fatten up the couch that will catch you if all else fails. If you care to look at my older posts, you’ll find plenty of career opportunities suitable for seniors ages 60 and above. Here is yet another one: coaching.
Surely you have years of experience under your belt. Better if you have had expertise in areas and fields which are still quite a mystery to others, young and old. For example, if you worked on “health papers” before and you know exactly how it works, you can offer your services to other seniors and their families on how to go about it such as where to go to secure papers, what documents should they have to acquire from doctors and hospitals, etc. These things may seem trivial to you but believe me, a lot of people need help on this area!
Truly, retirement careers are on the rise, since more seniors are becoming interested in starting their lifelong dreams and “dream careers” after quitting their 9-5 jobs. Seniors nowadays think that retirement is a new phase in their lives, a great way to start something worthwhile for themselves. Having experienced the world for so many years, you now have the authority to speak what you have learned and the air of expertise. These things can certainly help you in launching your career as a life coach.
If you are thinking of starting your own life coaching and counseling business, you must, first and foremost, know your target market. This means you should have a definite idea of whom to sell your concept and where to find them. Do your research by interviewing and observing people from your community. Also, it will help you tremendously if you start researching online, since almost all of your needed information can be found there. Take note too that you would have to do your own marketing, if you are to coach. If you think you can’t handle your own PR, then you might want to think about hiring a good PR consultant (see, a coach needs a coach too. Lol)
Be ready to do a lot of interaction as well since your customers should be really comfortable with you, personally and professionally. Join groups and associations to build networks and don’t forget to widen your services as go along.

So there still exists a battle of senior independence against their need for assistance. A senior won’t readily accept that he or she is in need of assistance whether the reasons are quite obvious. If caregivers would have it their way, the decision would be unanimous; it’s the nursing home or the highway! But seniors see nursing homes as stripping them off of their dignity and your not being able to understand that what you are trying to make them accept is that they no longer have the ability to look after themselves. For me, this is only a matter of not communicating properly, unfortunately, most seniors and caregivers do have communication problems to begin with.

So meeting halfway means the senior should be able to move in accordance to their own will but at the same time, have someone look after them from afar. The tricky part is, if you, as the caregiver, pose as the “other person looking from afar”, your senior won’t like it and it will feel like you’re hovering but if you get someone to look after them and pay them, your senior won’t like it either because it will feel like they badly needed help, so what else is there to do? Room them with someone their age, as if they are off to college!

Shared housing is exactly that and more. This is very ideal for seniors living alone and with rooms to spare. Also, it will ease the pressure of having your senior moved in an assistive facility or even to your own home, especially if they don’t really need too much assistance – that is, if they can still move around on their own. In a shared housing setting, a senior is paired with another senior so they will both feel independent but still be looking after one another.

Shared housing is when two unrelated people decide to live under one roof. That means, they are not family nor lovers, they are just two seniors who happen to need someone to share house with. Ideally, they should have their own rooms but all other parts of the house could be shared. However, it is expected for them to share responsibilities with regard to the home as well as decisions over matters of bills and extra services the other person might need.

Shared housing can work to your advantage since it can dramatically reduce your housing cost by half. Also, a senior can continue to enjoy their independence and still benefit from having a housemate in case you need help. Then there’s security of course since it is much safer to live with someone than to live alone. Best of all, you’ll have someone to talk to and your family will have someone to call if they can’t reach you so basically, it works both ways.

If you are interested with shared housing, whether you are the house owner or house seeker, check out organizations specializing in senior living and care as they sometimes do house matching.