Columns

Alzheimer’s puts a strain on everyone, from sufferers to loved ones, but it doesn’t have to put your hard-earned savings at risk, too. Suffice it to say that it’s a hard disease. It changes your life and your relations with your loved ones. Your loved ones lose their memory and you lose your peace of mind. And if you’re unprepared, you can end up spending most of your assets before qualifying for Medicaid. Fortunately, there are ways help keep some of your life’s earnings from being spent on long-term care. The best thing would be to have long-term care insurance. …

Most people think of home buying as a pitched battle between buyers and sellers, with the person sitting across the table from you being your mortal enemy. Oftentimes, though, the real enemy in a real estate transaction is yourself. When it comes to buying a house, you need to heed the old maxim, “He (or she) who hesitates is lost.” Buyers can hurt themselves either by hesitating to make an offer, or by not responding to lender deadlines and contract contingencies in a timely manner. Hesitating can open the door to competition and bidding war. On the flip side, sellers …

At the time of this writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was right around 14,000, which is just under the all-time high that was hit in October 2007. Gas prices have come up 42 cents in the past month and we are also dealing with higher payroll taxes which are taking more money out of our disposable income. The “sequester” which will amount to $85 billion in automatic spending cuts by the government, are set to go into effect on March 1. The hype is if this is not amended, we could see negative growth and thousands of jobs loss …

Worried about the 35% estate tax? That’s peanuts! How about the 100% “Medicaid tax”? For years, clients have been very concerned about the estate tax. I have reassured them that the estate tax will not impact you unless you have more than $5 million for individuals and $10 million if you’re married. Now contrast that to the cost of what I call the “Medicaid tax.” The “Medicaid tax” is the government’s requirement that you spend your assets down to $2,000 (as a single person) before you get any Medicaid help for your custodial care or long- term care, either in …

An issue that arises whenever you sell a home or refinancing is the appraisal process. In this process, the lender usually will send out an appraiser to give them an honest and unbiased opinion on the value of the property. When the appraisal comes back at less than the purchase price or the amount owed on a refinance, it can more money to come out of your pocket or kill the deal entirely. Most appraisers are in the home for only a couple of minutes. The best thing you can do is make sure you have all the important features …

My Dad just turned 80 years old. In the process of getting ready for his party, I had to put together a bunch of digital pictures of him. I put a bunch of regular ones in digital picture frames, and a “special” few I saved for a slide show. (Remember the old Dean Martin roasts? I was Don Rickles.) At any rate, I learned a lot during the process that I thought would be useful for any of you who are putting something like this together. One thing I learned is that my photos are a complete shambles. They are …

Since last month’s column on FamilySearch.org and the method to submit your family tree, I have learned a few things. When you go into the site, you have to start by creating yourself on your tree. Then you add your parents. Then you add your grandparents, and so on. Each time you add a name, there is a button that reads “check for duplicates.” Click that, just to be sure that the person is not already in the tree. It is possible that another relative started with their grandparents and is adding all the descendants, and might have entered a …

One of the new rules that have emerged from the Dodd-Frank financial regulation overhaul applies to “jumbo mortgages” that have a loan amount higher than $417,000. Still and the works, and set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014, these “Qualified Mortgages” are being put together Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, which will then be responsible for enforcing them. Qualified Mortgages wont have a minimum down payment or credit score, but rather will hinge upon a borrower’s ability to repay the monthly mortgage. The proposed rules maintain that a jumbo mortgage cannot be more than 43 percent of a borrower’s …

At 2 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2013, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a compromise bill, called the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, and narrowly averted the fiscal cliff. But what does that mean for seniors? Consider the following: 1. Tax rate changes — The bill permanently extended current tax rates for individuals earning less than $400,000 and couples earning less than 450,000. Wealthy taxpayers earning $400,000 or more will revert back to a 39.6 percent tax rate (up from 35 percent). Taxpayers in this category will also see an increase in their capital gains tax rate and dividend tax rate …

Since the real estate bubble burst a few years ago, many homeowners have lost their properties to foreclosure. Recently, federal and state officials announced that the federal government and every state except Oklahoma have reached a $25 billion agreement with five of the largest mortgage lenders in connecting with loan servicing and foreclosure abuse. The investigation and negotiation process took 16 months to complete and emerged as the largest joint federal-state settlement in history. The agreement included Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial, which was previously known as GMAC. These lenders agreed to provide financial …