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Welcome to The Money Manager. This publication serves to educate the community on money management issues and the world of fiduciary services.
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| DAILY MONEY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS
You live in a city far from your 75-year-old mother. In telephone conversations during the past year, you've begun to suspect she's growing increasingly forgetful, but she assures you everything is fine. Now a neighbor has called to say your mother hasn't paid her utility bills in three months and the utility company is threatening to cut off the power. What should you do?
If your parent is having trouble managing money, he or she is not alone. An estimated 500,000 older people in the United States need help with their financial affairs. As a result, a new field is evolving to provide daily money management services on a fee-for-service basis.
Daily money managers offer a variety of services: Organizing and keeping track of financial and medical insurance records; Establishing a budget; Helping with check writing and checkbook balancing; and, Serving as a representative payee or fiduciary with authority to administer the benefits of people who can't manage their own financial affairs. Some money managers also make medical appointments for older clients and help arrange for other assistance, such as locating necessary in-home care. Money managers do not provide financial planning or investment counseling services.
Daily money managers typically charge $25 to $100 an hour, depending on the client's locale and the complexity of their financial affairs. While it is difficult to generalize the total cost, many clients require only a few hours of services each month to keep on top of their finances. Some local governments and community organizations also offer reduced-fee or free services for low-income clients.
Unfortunately, many people do not turn to a daily money manager until after a crisis, such as a threatened eviction or utility cut-off. However, there are ways to tell whether an older person needs a money manager before an emergency occurs. Here's how:
Did you know?
Courtney Smith, President of Benefit Payee Services, Inc was the first certified (PDMM) Professional Daily Money Manager in Colorado? |
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'You Need to Take My Son to Jail'
By ANN BAUER Published: August 29, 2008
My husband and I were sitting down to dinner when the police called. It was a female dispatcher whose voice I recognized from previous incidents involving my 20-year-old son, Andrew, who has autism.
In recent years, this police department has picked him up for shoplifting, taken reports from restaurants where he had dined and dashed, and once even brought him back from the airport after he tried to stow away on a plane.
Roughly half of the force has lectured me about keeping a closer eye on him, placing him in a secure facility, and finding a better psychiatrist, while the other half has been sweet and apologetic, concerned about how I'm bearing up.
On this occasion the dispatcher explained that my car, which I had earlier reported stolen, had been found on the side of the highway some 70 miles away in St. Cloud, Minn. - scratched, filthy and out of gas but otherwise undamaged. I would need to retrieve it from the impound lot. My son, unhurt, was waiting at the station. When would I be able to pick him up?
I swallowed a sip of Chianti and recited the line I had been rehearsing all afternoon: "I want to press charges."
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Retirement Scams
Retirement Wreckers
Joshua Lipton 09.02.08, 6:00 PM ET
After reading about it in the local newspaper, you decide to attend a seminar at a neighborhood steakhouse where a broker will offer a lecture on how to retire early, earn high investment returns and enjoy steady annual cash withdrawals, all while you finish off that complimentary, medium-rare T-bone.
The broker is dressed sharp while pitching his difficult-to-resist game plan. The catch of course is that you will have to roll over your 401(k) plan and open an individual retirement account at his firm. There is brief mention of risk associated with stock market volatility and of fees, but you focus on the promise of capital growth and juicy annual withdrawals of 9%.
Sounds too good to be true. And it is.
Read more on this at Forbes.com |
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The Spotlight:
(Highlighting Local Resources)
SHARE Colorado - Food Program
What is SHARE?
The goal of SHARE is to help families save about 50% on their groceries, while encouraging the building of relationships with their neighbors in the community. There are no qualifications...if you eat, you qualify.
Who can participate?
Any one from the affluent to those with struggling budgets can participate in SHARE. You see, even those who can afford to spend more for food are being good stewards with their money by simply being more frugal. What's more, the minimal profits in each share of food sold go to support this program and sometimes those who can't even afford to buy a share. And if you're really not interested in participating for whatever reason, we do take donations, and the donation for what we call a "sponsored share". That means your donation goes to buy food for a neighbor in your community that needs help.
How do I participate?
Look in our website or our SHARE newspaper and find your zip code, or one close to it. Find a host site location in or around your zip code area. You can go to that host site during the listed registration//sign up times to place and pay for your order. If you've missed the registration times listed, call the numbers for the host site and see if they have another time. If not, you can always call the Share main offices for help in signing up or just information. You can also place your order over the phone at the SHARE main office and we can add your order to the site where you want to pick up. Our number is (303) 428-0400, or 800-933-7427. The host site locations accept Cash, Quest cards, and most take checks. If placing an order over the phone with the main office, you can use a credit card (Visa, M//C), Quest card, or check by phone.
After you place your order, go back to your selected host site to pick up your order during the designated distribution//pick up day and time. (These days and times are also listed in the newspaper and website).
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Dedicated Individuals & Collaborative Efforts Provide Quality Services for Seniors Facing Guardianship
by Nevada Guardianship Association
The words "guardian" and "guardianship" are increasingly being heard throughout the nation. What is a guardianship? Who is a guardian?
Guardianship, like longterm care insurance and estate plans, has become a necessary issue to discuss. When an individual is determined to be unable to make informed decisions, a court may appoint a guardian to advocate for and make the necessary decisions of life for the individual. Upon appointment by a court, a guardian has the legal authority to make decisions on behalf of the individual.
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How Do Recent Failures, Mergers and Takeovers Affect Me?
Last update: 4:57 p.m. EDT Sept. 17, 2008
WASHINGTON, Sept 17, 2008
The following Q & A was released by the American Bankers Association in response to the recent bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. and other mergers and takeovers involving banks.
Q. Where is the safest place for my money right now?
A. The safest place for your money is in the bank. It's earning interest, it's FDIC-insured and it's accessible.
Q. How will the recent failure of Lehman Bros. affect me?
A. Unless you invested money with Lehman, you will not be affected. And if you did, Barclays Capital has announced that it plans to acquire the U.S. brokerage arm of Lehman, so all customers should be protected. Even if Barclays had not agreed to acquire Lehman Bros. brokerage, customers would still get back all the securities that are registered in their name and further protection would have been provided by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. which could have provided additional funds to satisfy each customer's claims up to $500,000. Of course, there will be economic factors that will affect us all, but Lehman is an investment bank, not a commercial bank.
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Save Money Going Green
In Denver, CO
Article by Jessica Jensen
Given the fact that the "R word" is being used more frequently now about the American economy, we figured it was timely to provide a list of ways in which going green can save you cold hard cash. We hope we can avoid a recession, but if we can't, we might as well save the planet while we scrimp, right?
There are many, many ways in which embracing a low-impact life can keep the dimes in your piggy bank - so this is by no means an exhaustive list. But it's a good start. Many of these are free, and the ones that aren't cost less than $100 and pay for themselves very quickly. Do you have other ideas? We welcome your suggestions- please share them in the comments section!
1. Save power by making sure you use energy-efficient lighting throughout your home. Lighting is one of the largest uses of power in your home. Use natural lighting where you can, or replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lights use 1/3 the electricity of normal bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. LED lights are even more efficient than fluorescent lights. And they're not bright and ugly anymore! Buy some of these lights and they will pay for themselves in energy savings in a year.
2. Get low-flow shower and sink attachments to save water. These devices are cheap and can save you thousands of gallons of water each year. For example a low-flow shower head can save you up to 3,000 gallons of water per person per year. Sink attachments cost $2.50 and shower heads start at $30.
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Thank you for your continued support and referrals. We appreciate what each and every one of you do to contribute to the community in which we live.
Sincerely,
Courtney L. Smith, RG, PDMM
Benefit Payee Services, Inc.
Colorado: Indiana:
PO Box 101775 PO Box 9
Denver, CO 80250 New Albany, IN 47151
Phone: 303-282-8882 Phone: 812-944-4200
Fax: 866-339-1918 Fax: 866-339-1918
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Courtney's Corner...
Courtney L. Smith, RG, PDMM
I have included an article regarding the current financial news that everyone is talking about at the bottom of this month's newsletter. It's an article designed to reassure Americans that their current liquid cash is safe where it is, in the bank. And while I believe this is true I, like most savvy Americans, have investments to help secure our family's future. These investments are not always safe and have been drastically affected by the recent failures of IndyMac, Bear Sterns, and Lehman Brothers. The collapse of these commercial lender/brokers coupled with the government bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and most recently AIG have created a fear in Wall Street.
At the time that I am writing this article the stock market is up (Thursday September 18, 2008). However, I'm a bit worried about the cause of this "rally" in the market. Don't get me wrong I'm happy to see my investments going in the right direction (though they've got quite a long way to go). I'm just concerned that it may be temporary and here's why: This morning the world's central banks injected almost $180 billion into the global economy in an attempt to stop the credit crisis. They are going to want to get a return on those funds and who knows how quickly they will want it. In addition the U.S. Treasury issued $40 billion in T-bills yesterday (learn about T-bills here) with plans to sell another $30 billion today and another $30 billion sometime next week. If you're doing the math that adds up to $100 billion in debt that the U.S. is selling in short-term bills. Here's the rub, last week the annualized rate of return on a 3-month treasury bill was 1.6 %, this morning it was 0.14%. So the good news is that we subsidized the $85 billion bailout of AIG with cheap money (it didn't cost us much to get that $100 billion at an average interest rate of 0.14%). The bad news is that as a result of these failures and the drop in interest, the U.S. Dollar just lost value against the world's major currencies, AGAIN . So I'm thinking to myself, not only have I lost money in the stock market due to these developments but the money I have left is not worth as much. And even though the dollars I have in the bank are safe against loss, they just lost value. With the addition of these bailouts, today's U.S. National Debt is $9,642,849,865,576.64 ($10 trillion!) The estimated population of the United States is 304,750,511 so each citizen's share of this debt is $31,641.78.
What's next? There is speculation today that Morgan Stanley is in trouble (there are rumors today that they may merge with Wachovia). In addition it's being said that Washington Mutual may be taken over by Wells Fargo and Citigroup.
So while the temporary upswing in the stock market is good, the downgrade of our currency's value just leads to inflation which leads to recession and an increase in our taxes to pay for the ever increasing national debt.
It is certainly a difficult time in our history; we must all be vigilant with the management of our funds and those of our loved ones. It is important for every one of us to pay attention and learn as much as we can so that we are alert and prepared for whatever the future may hold.
- Courtney |
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Money Saving Secrets... |
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Cost Cutters: Save on Office Supplies
September 4, 2008 By Diana Ransom
WHEN A CASE of paper and a new toner cartridge can easily set you back $300, it's time to start looking for some cheaper alternatives.
According to Ed Wolking Jr., executive vice president of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, small offices spend anywhere between $30 and $40 a month per employee on everything from computer supplies to paper clips. That means, a firm with 50 employees spends as much as $24,000 a year on office supplies alone.
While buying office supplies is a necessity for many small businesses, overspending certainly isn't. "Whether it's in a print catalogue, in a store or on a website, business owners often make impulse buys," says Wolking. "They don't invest the time into researching what they're buying. They just go with the brand name."
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Five Tax-Saving Strategies for Retirees
By Aleksandra Todorova, Published: March 13, 2008
PAYING TAXES is never fun. Once you retire, though, this irksome obligation becomes especially painful. Rather than sharing a portion of your earnings, you'll be sending Uncle Sam a piece of the hard-earned savings you were banking on to carry you through your golden years.
It's surprising, then, that tax planning is often overlooked by retirees. "It amazes me how much time people spend picking investments, pouring over stock reports and mutual fund reports, but they don't think about taxes," says Dean Barber, owner and chief investment officer of Barber Financial Group in Lenexa, Kan. "I always tell them, it's not important how much money you make, it's important how much you get to keep."
Take, for example, Social Security income. It's a benefit funded by taxes that you pay throughout your working life, yet once you start receiving it, you could get taxed yet again. "Seniors hate that worse than anything," says Ed Slott, a Rockville Centre, N.Y.-based certified public accountant and author of "Your Complete Retirement Planning Roadmap." The pain could be substantial: Generally speaking, you owe Uncle Sam tax on up to 85% of your Social Security benefits once half of your benefits and the rest of your income - including dividends and interest on taxable investments and withdrawals from tax-deferred accounts, such as IRAs - exceed $34,000 for a single filer or $44,000 for a married couple, filing jointly. (Click here for more details.)
The good news is that some careful planning could help reduce the hit. Here are five smart (and perfectly legal) tax-saving strategies for retirees.
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| * Please note: the views or opinions expressed in the included news articles are not necessarily those held by BPS, Inc. We do not personally endorse or guarantee any service providers or agencies that are featured in our publication. | |
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