James I. Goldman, CPA - ElderCare of RI

Benefits of Home Care Agency VS Direct Hire

Know the benefits of both and make a better decision.

Home Care agency…

Must conduct a criminal background of hires before they are placed in someone’s home.
Must have insurance policies to protect their clients.
Replacements are readily available to continue service without interruption.
Home care agencies have the experience and knowledge to make sure their employees are qualified for the work that is required.

Direct Hire…

The cost is often less.
You take on the responsibility of being the employer including paying payroll taxes and workers compensation.

If the worker is hurt on the job you may be responsible both legally and financially.

Daily Money Management for Seniors

Saves children and other family members from becoming overburden.

Often the adult children do not live close by or are busy themselves which makes it hard or difficult for them to assume the responsibility. Daily money management (DMM) can make sure the bills are paid on time, bank accounts reconciled, and checks get deposited. DMM have the additional benefit of keeping older adults and family members up to date on older adults monthly sources of income and living expenses.

Maintain independence.

Studies have shown that older adults who are assisted with DMM are able to maintain their living standards for a longer period of time. It is recognized that older adults who are unable to manage their finances are at risk for

Impoverishment
Homelessness
Institutionalization

Protects against financial exploitation and fraud.

DMM protects older adults from the illegal or improper use of an older adult’s funds or property. DMM reviews bank statements, canceled checks, deposits, credit card statements, large dollar activity, and suspicious activity.

Daily Money Manager Helps Rhode Island Seniors

It never ends. Seniors still need to pay their bills, reconcile their bank accounts, file insurance claims, manage their portfolio, live within their means, and more. Sometimes it just doesn’t get done when you’re also dealing with the loss of cognitive functions, failing health, moderate loss of eyesight and hearing.

Daily money managers assist people who have difficulty managing their personal financial affairs. It includes help with such simple routine tasks as paying bills, preparing checks for signature, making bank deposits, and dispensing cash. The services are very much in demand as the children may not have adequate time or knowledge to assist their parents or are no longer living in the same area as their parents.

The benefits: Seniors stay in control over where their money is going and remain independent. They also eliminate the issue of fraud and financial exploitation that so many seniors are now exposed to and which causes harmful emotional stress and financial loss.

Things you should know if a Parent Becomes Incapacitated

Communicating with Your Parents about Finances

Know your parent’s annual expenses and create a budget. Auto, home, medical expenses, insurance, taxes, utilities, and other expenses.

Know your parent’s sources of annual income. Dividends, interest, rental income, social security, pensions, and other.

The names and contact information of their accountant, lawyer, and financial advisor. What financial planning and estate planning has been done to protect assets?

Does a durable power of attorney exist that covers finances? If yes, who has it?

What are and where are the assets and the names of all financial institutions. Stocks, bonds, real estate, life insurance policies, annuities, and other.

What are the liabilities? Mortgage, auto, credit cards and other.

Do they receive and are they eligible for government assistance. Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits or Social Security.

Is there any supplemental health insurance in addition to Medicare. What is the coverage and is it adequate?

Is there any long-term care insurance. Where are the policies and what is the coverage?

How are bills being paid? Online, paper checks. And, is it being done correctly?

Benefits of Having a Trust

If you’re wealthy an estate plan is important to minimize both federal and state estate taxes. And, if your not, it is still important to make certain your assets are distributed to family members according to your wishes.

Here are seven reasons why a trust is needed.

Your children are too young or inexperienced to manage inherited assets.
Upon your death, your spouse remarries. To protect from unintended individuals being included in your estate.
If you have a second spouse to make certain that on your death your spouse receives income and assets to maintain their lifestyle and upon the spouse dies, the assets go to your children, not to the second spouse children.
If you become too ill to manage your assets, you avoid the need for your children to go to court.
Protection from creditors should the risk exists.
In the unfortunate situation of a child’s divorce that the assets will remain with your child and not the spouse.
You want a significant portion of your assets to go to charity, and at the same time, you want to provide for your spouse and children.

Long-Term Care Insurance Cost?

Premiums can vary and are based on a number of factors. Major factors include your age and health at the time you purchase a policy and the type of coverage purchased. Policy cost is affected by the amount of daily benefit, length of the maximum benefit period, inflation benefits and nonforfeiture benefits.

Long-term care insurance can be expensive so know what your income can afford today and in the future, before you spend on a long-term care insurance policy. A general rule of thumb of affordability is the policy premium should not exceed 7% of your income. If it would be difficult to pay the premium today and you expect your income to not increase it is probably not a good idea to buy long-term care insurance.

Warning: The term “level premium” can be misleading. Most insurance companies will not guarantee that the premiums will never increase. Before buying, examine the information provided in the outline of coverage and face page of the policy.

Daily Money Management for Older Adults

Money Management for Older Adults

Daily money management programs (DMM) provide personal financial assistance to older adults who can no longer handle certain aspects of money management. These programs can mean the difference between living independently or not. DMMs also offer relief to family members who are providing care to their older parents or relatives.

The kinds of services that DMMs provide most often are:

Paying bills
Maintaining financial records
Preparing budgets
Balancing checkbooks
Negotiating with creditors

DMMs can help elders and their caregivers who

Cannot keep track of bills and financial documents
Often forget to pay bills
Cannot write checks because of health problems
Have trouble getting to the bank
Can no longer manage money or finances
Are susceptible to financial scams.

Rhode Island Motion Picture Production Tax Credit

The State of Rhode Island provides a transferable tax credit that can be used to reduce personal income taxes. The credit is generated from certified costs associated with Rhode Island made the feature-length film, video, video games, television series, or commercials. The RI Division of Taxation issues the tax credit certificates. The benefit to Rhode Islanders: Each of these motion picture production tax credit certificates may be transferred, assigned or sold.

THE BENEFIT TO YOU: The credits can be used dollar for dollar to reduce your RI income tax. For example, say your Rhode Island income tax is $1,000 you can use these credits to reduce the tax to $0. There is no limit to the number of credits you can purchase. Contact your accountant or a broker of tax certificates to obtain the credits. Rhode Islanders get your credits.

Reverse Mortgages: 5 Rules You Should Know

Reverse mortgages are a good planning tool under certain situations but know the facts before committing.

Minimum eligible age is 62 and the amount you can borrow is based on your age, interest rate, and the value of your home.
The fees and cost to obtain a reverse mortgage are often substantial and more than you would pay with a conventional mortgage.
You need to continue to maintain your home. Repayment of the loan is not made as long as you stay in your home, but you are still required to pay property taxes, insurance, repairs and other needed costs to maintain the home fair market value.
Know what will happen if the borrower should die or move.
Is the reverse mortgage your only option. Do not be instructed that this is the best or only solution for you – know all your options.

New Changes to Estate Planning

The federal estate tax is no longer a concern for many individuals and families including the most affluent who are seeking to avoid paying taxes. The 2015 estate tax exclusion amount is $5,430,000 and any unused estate tax exclusion amounts of a deceased spouse can be carried over to the surviving spouse. The combined exclusion amount for married couples is now a whopping $10,860,000.

Sadly for Rhode Islanders, it’s a different story:

Do not die in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island 2015 exclusion amount is $1,500,000 and the top rate is 16%. Also, any unused estate tax exclusion amounts of a deceased spouse cannot be carried over to the surviving spouse.