Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for Older Americans

There is a new government agency that has been established to help protect older Americans from financial abuse and scams against the elderly.  It is called the Office for Older Americans - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The opening of this new agency is significant because so many senior citizens have been victimized in recent years both by scam artists and members of their own families.  In addition, a number of retirees have been financially destroyed when they became involved in investments that were inappropriate for them.  This agency was created during the recent Great Recession when it became obvious that many older Americans had lost a significant amount of their assets.

In addition to the financial losses that have been caused by risky investments and scams, many senior citizens have been victimized by family members and financial consultants whom they believed to be reliable and responsible. Often large amounts of money have been drained from their accounts before they realized it. 

The mandate for this new agency covers a variety of types of financial elder abuse.  In fact, many of us have already benefited from the first actions taken by this agency, including requiring that credit card statements be simplified.  The agency is headed by Skip Humphrey, the son of former Vice President Hubert Humphrey.  In an interview in the March, 2013 AARP Bulletin, Mr. Humphrey said that the agency's goals are to prevent citizens from getting ripped off and to help people make smart financial decisions.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Projects

This new agency has already accomplished a great deal.  However, they have many other plans that will help protect both senior citizens and the general public.  Here are some of the changes they hope to implement over the next few years:

They plan to investigate credit reporting bureaus and require that they make it easier to fix mixtakes on credit reports.

They are in the process of writing easy-to-read guides to help people choose financial advisors.

They plan to require operators of nursing homes and similar facilities to resolve problems with unpaid bills quickly so they can help officials discover if the person has been scammed or is no longer able to handle their finances because of dementia.

They are writing a guide called "Money Smart for Older Adults" to help people learn how to avoid getting scammed.

Senior citizens will also be encouraged to report scams that occur.  Many older Americans are hesitant to report these events because they are embarrassed or afraid that their families will take away their independence.

The agency also plans to tackle the issue of risky reverse mortgages, which have left many senior citizens homeless.  This is an issue that has also been discussed before in this blog, so I was especially pleased that some changes may be made to that program.

How to File a Complaint with the Agency

If you feel that you have been scammed or treated unfairly in any financial situation, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  In fact, you are encouraged to do so because you may help prevent the same thing from happening to others.  The agency has set up a website where you can register your complaints and then follow up by tracking their progress.  However, for people who are less comfortable with computers, the agency offers a variety of ways you can file a complaint.  Here is the agency's contact information:

Office for Older Americans
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
P.O. Box 4503
Iowa City, Iowa 52244

Phone:  (855) 411-2372 (toll free)

Fax:  (855) 237-2392 (toll free)

email:  info@consumerfinance.gov

Website:  http://www.consumerfinance.gov

Complaint website:  consumerfinance.gov/complaint

The more information you give the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the better they will be able to do their job.  This is especially important because studies indicate that currently only about 4% of victims ever report that they were scammed.  Increased reporting will also improve the effectiveness of this new agency.

If you are interested in learning more about ways to have a well-planned retirement, you may want to click on the index articles shown below.  Each one contains an introduction plus links to a variety of articles on that topic:

Gifts, Travel and Family Relationships

Great Places for Boomers to Retire Overseas

Great Places to Retire in the United States

Health and Medical Topics for Baby Boomers

Money and Financial Planning for Retirement


You are reading from the blog:  http://baby-boomer-retirement.blogspot.com

Photo of older Americans courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Advantages of Senior Apartments

A few weeks ago, a Baby Boomer friend of mine moved his mother into a senior apartment.  Her husband had recently died and the 83 year old woman was no longer able to keep up the home where she lived, either physically or financially.  My friend checked out a variety of housing options before deciding on a senior apartment complex.  His mother did not need a nursing home and she could not afford to move into a luxurious over-55 retirement community.  He was able to locate a senior apartment complex for her in a safe, desirable suburban community in Orange County, California, within a 20 minute drive of all three of her adult children, and his mother was delighted with the selection.  Now that she has been living there for a few weeks, my friend told me that his mother has made friends, begun to participate in the weekly Bingo games in the community center, and has started taking classes at the nearby senior center.

Senior Apartment Advantages

Why should you choose a senior apartment rather than an apartment complex that is open to people of all ages?  One of the major advantages with senior apartments is that the residences are typically safer for the elderly than those that are open to the general public.  For example, apartments for seniors are more likely to be designed with accident prevention in mind.  Residents are less likely to have to deal with poorly lit or uneven walkways.  Multi-story buildings have elevators.  The bathrooms typically have grip bars.  Even in high rise and mid-rise buildings, the residences are normally on one level and often have wider doorways and similar design changes that could allow for wheelchair access should that become necessary in the future.

There is one more reason why senior apartments are safer for the residents.  Crime is extremely low in these communities.  The elderly are significantly more likely to be victims of crime when they live in mixed age housing where a few predators may see them as easy prey.  Senior complexes often have limited access entries, monitored lobbies and other layers of protection.

In addition to safety, there are other reasons why these complexes are preferable.  They are often built near shopping centers, medical facilities and senior centers.  They usually offer a variety of clubs, activities and age-appropriate exercise classes.   Older adults may feel more comfortable getting into a swimming pool or taking a yoga class when they are with other people their own age.  The facilities frequently organize parties and other social events, so that elderly residents are less likely to suffer from loneliness and depression.  Many of them have exercise rooms and some, especially in colder climates, even have indoor pools.

Another advantage for residents is that special services for senior citizens, such as trips, classes, or tax preparation assistance, are often provided to the residents of these complexes.  Elderly people who live in other communities may not be aware of these services, or they may not have the available transportation to access them.  It is not unusual for retirees who live in more diverse neighborhoods to be isolated from the programs that could help them.

The majority of senior apartments are designed for independent living and have their own kitchens.  It is rare for the complexes to serve meals since they are not nursing homes or assisted living residences.  On the other hand, a nearby senior center may serve low-cost meals, particularly at lunchtime, for those who wish to purchase them.  Some seniors may also be eligible to receive services from Meals on Wheels. 

Availability of These Residences

Senior apartments are located throughout the United States in virtually every city and large town.  They are more difficult to find in small towns and rural areas, although a few do exist.  Another concern is that many of these complexes have long waiting lists.  Here in Orange County, California, I have known of individuals who had to wait six months or longer in order to get into one.  However, everyone I know was eventually able to successfully secure an appropriate residence, though sometimes they were not able to get into their first choice.

The best way to get on the waiting list is to visit a over-55, age-restricted complex in your area and discuss availability.  If there is a waiting list, or if they are eligible for the government voucher program for low-income seniors, the management can connect you with the housing authority in your state.  For example, in California there is a website at:  http://www.calregistry.com/housing/srapts.htm where you can find available senior housing and learn how to get on the waiting lists for the properties that interest you.  Other states will have similar online registries.


What If Someone Needs Extra Care?

Residents of senior communities often find it easy to find caregivers and access extra help, when needed.  For example, if a person has hip replacement surgery or becomes injured, it may be possible to temporarily share a caregiver with a neighbor, or at least get a good recommendation to help you find a person who has worked with other residents of the community.  Neighbors often reach out to each other in these communities, as well.

What About the Cost?

There are a variety of types of apartment complexes for older Americans.  Many of them will accept government vouchers that are available to low income seniors.  This can be a life saver for the average Social Security recipient who only receives about $1200 to $1300 in benefits.  While many normal complexes also accept Section 8 vouchers, there are far more amenities available for retirees in residences that have been designed especially for them.

If you are interested in reading more about places to retire or other retirement information, check out the index articles below.  Each one contains a little general information as well as links to a number of helpful articles on that topic:

Gifts, Travel and Family Relationships

Great Places for Boomers to Retire Overseas

Great Places to Retire in the United States

Health and Medical Topics for Baby Boomers

Money and Financial Planning for Retirement


You are reading from the blog:  http://baby-boomer-retirement.blogspot.com

Photo of apartment complex courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Social Security Cost of Living Increases Under a Chained CPI

Since 1975, Social Security beneficiaries have received automatic annual COLA's or cost-of-living adjustments.  These were set up so that our benefits would increase every year in which there was inflation.  Over the decades, COLA's have protected millions of retirees from losing their ability to survive on their benefits plus, ideally, their retirement savings and/or a pension.

Historically, the cost-of-living adjustments have amounted to as much as 14.3% in 1980 down to 0% in both 2010 and 2011.  In 2013, the COLA was only 1.7%.  The amount of the increase each year has traditionally been based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) for the year preceding the increase.  For the average Social Security beneficiary who was receiving $1,240 in 2012, the 1.7% increase raised the amount they were receiving to $1,261 a month. 

The Consumer Price Index that has been used to calculate the size of the of COLA's is based on the prices paid by urban consumers for a specific list of goods and services.  The inflation calculation that has been used in the past is the CPI-W, which is based on goods and services used by urban American workers.  This has been criticized because some advocates for the elderly believe that the CPI-E (or Consumer Price Index for the Elderly) should be used instead.  It relies more heavily on expenses commonly incurred by senior citizens, such as rising health care costs.  However, CPI-W has been used instead, although it is a less generous indicator of inflation.

Now, however, Congress is seriously considering replacing the CPI-W with the even less generous chained CPI.  According to many advocates for seniors, including AARP, this will effectively be the same as a net benefit cut for retirees, as well as for disabled Veterans, who would also see their COLA adjustments change.

President Nixon signed the Social Security COLA law into effect in 1972.  Since then, cost of living increases have been legally mandated whenever the CPI indicates that there has been measurable inflation.  During the past four years, however, the TOTAL cost-of-living increases have only amounted to less than 6%.  Despite this, there is a good chance that future COLA's will be even smaller, should the chained CPI replace the CPI-W as a measure of calculating inflation.

What is the difference between the traditional CPI-W and the chained CPI?  The CPI-W is a formula that measures changes in the cost of items that workers typically purchase.  A chained CPI assumes that, when prices for an item go up, people will substitute less expensive items.  For example, if beef prices rise people will eat more chicken; therefore, they will not actually be spending more money.  This means that the size of the Social Security cost-of-living adjustments do not need to be as large.

At first the difference in the cost-of-living adjustments may not seem to be very much, perhaps just $44 less annually during the first year.  However, the amount of lost revenue continues to compound annually.  For example, AARP estimates that a typical Social Security recipient who is receiving $20,000 a year when he retires at age 65, by age 70 will have lost $662 in cumulative benefits under a chained CPI than they would have earned under a CPI-W.  By age 80, they will have received $5,248 less; and by age 90 they will have lost $14,076 in cumulative payments.

Remember, the CPI-W is already less generous than the CPI-E which many advocates for seniors believe we should be using instead.  To go from a CPI-W to a chained CPI could be devastating for the majority of seniors who will continue to fall behind inflation during the portion of their lives when they may be facing high expenses for medical and personal care.  By the time seniors have been retired 15 or 20 years, very few of them are able to work and recoup the amount of income they are losing to inflation. 

If we Baby Boomers allow this change in the way our future cost-of-living increases are calculated, we could face a very difficult time during our retirement years.  ARRP suggests that everyone who is concerned about this issue write to the President, your Senators and your U.S. Representatives before this change becomes law.

If you wish to see how these changes could affect you personally, use the AARP calculator at http://www.aarp.org/whatyoulose

Resources:

http://www.ssa.gov/cola/automatic-cola.htm
http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/2013cola-pr.html
http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/colafacts2013.htm
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/10/16/social-security-cola-increase-for-2013-1-7/
http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-02-2013/the-chained-consumer-price-index-explained.html

If you are interested in reading more about retirement planning, check out the index articles listed below.  Each one contains some general information as well as links to other articles on that topic.

Gifts, Travel and Family Relationships

Great Places for Boomers to Retire Overseas

Great Places to Retire in the United States

Health and Medical Topics for Baby Boomers

Money and Financial Planning for Retirement

You are reading from the blog:  http://baby-boomer-retirement.blogspot.com

Photo of U.S. Capital Building courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Arthritis and Foods You Should be Eating or Avoiding

One illness that most of us dread as we get older is arthritis.  There is no cure for it and about half of us will experience at least a bit of discomfort from this degenerative disease as we grow older. Some of us will suffer extreme pain and loss of mobility as a result of this diagnosis.  For Baby Boomers, this means that our Golden Years may not be as pleasant as we once hoped.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control keeps records of the prevalence of arthritis in the United States.  Here are some of the facts I found on their website:

Almost one out of two people will have symptoms of osteoarthritis in their knees by the time they are 85.  The rate is even higher if they are obese.

One in four people will have pain from arthritis in their hips during their lifetime.

About 50 million American adults have been informed by their physicians that they suffer from osteoarthritis, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia or lupus ... which are all related autoimmune disorders.  This number will rise to about 67 million by the year 2030.

By the time we reach age 65, about half of all adults report that they have been diagnosed with arthritis.

Even our children and grandchildren are not immune.  About 1 in 250 children have been diagnosed with some type of arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis.  (I understand how frightening this diagnosis is.  One of my granddaughters was diagnosed with it when she was only five years old.  While she currently gets by quite well, from time to time she does have a painful flare-up of her condition.)

Common Arthritis Treatments


Once we have begun to develop the pain and stiffness associated with arthritis, the most common treatments are over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers, and many seniors consume large quantities of these medications in order to alleviate their discomfort. Unfortunately, this can contribute to other health problems.  However, what if you could reduce the amount of painkillers you take by adding certain foods to your diet, and eliminating your consumption of others?  It would certainly be worth a try.

Below are three lists of foods which affect arthritis in our bodies, according to the AARP website.

Arthritis and the Best Foods to Eat

Fatty Fish like sardines, herring, tuna and salmon
Other Omega-3 foods such as flax seeds, soy beans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and canola oil
Vitamin D from the sun or low-fat milk
Extra-virgin olive oil
Sweet peppers, citrus fruits and other foods containing Vitamin C
Brazil nuts
Onions and leeks
Tart cherries - fresh, frozen, canned or dried
Green tea - but make sure you drink the caffeinated, not the decaffeinated, kind


Foods to Avoid If You Have Gout or Gouty Arthritis

Shellfish - clams, oysters, mussels
Red meat
High-fat dairy foods
Beer
Anchovies, Herring, Mackerel
Organ meats like liver, brain, kidney and sweetbreads

(I found the mention of herring interesting, because it is considered good for other types of arthritis, but not gout.  It is important to know the type of arthritis that is causing your pain.)

Foods to Avoid for All Types of Arthritis

Sugar
Sunflower, safflower, corn and soybean oils
(Both are common in many commercial baked goods and snacks.  Anyone who suffers from arthritis should avoid baked goods, especially those that are ready-made in the grocery store.)


Resources:

If you are interested in learning more of the specifics about why these foods are good or bad for people suffering from arthritis, you may want to go directly to the full article on the AARP website, shown below:


http://www.lifescript.com/health/centers/rheumatoid_arthritis/tips/fight_arthritis_10_foods_that_help_and_hurt.aspx?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=arthritis_rheumatoid

CDC Statistics on arthritis:

http://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/data_statistics/arthritis_related_stats.htm

If you are interested in reading more about medical issues as you age or about planning your retirement, check out the index articles listed below.  Each one contains general information as well as links to additional articles on that topic:

Gifts, Travel and Family Relationships

Great Places for Boomers to Retire Overseas

Great Places to Retire in the United States

Health and Medical topics for Baby Boomers

Money and Financial Planning for Retirement

You are reading from the blog:  http://baby-boomer-retirement.blogspot.com

Photo of tart cherries courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Ghosting or Identity Theft of the Deceased

Every year, 2.5 million dead Americans have their identities stolen, according to a report in the March, 2013 AARP Bulletin.  That works out to about 2,200 deceased individuals every day.  This statistic absolutely floored me, because I had no idea the practice was so common.  In fact, until I read the article, this was an issue that I had never thought about at all.  Admittedly, every once in a while I have heard about a criminal who assumed the identity of someone who was dead.  However, to be honest, usually the incidents I heard about involved characters on television crime dramas. This was not something I thought should concern me or people I might know in my own neighborhood!

Identity theft of deceased individuals is called "ghosting" and it has become incredibly widespread.

How Ghosting Happens

How do criminals get the information they need from a deceased person in order to steal their identity?  For the most part, we give it to them. 

First, the thieves go through obituaries in the newspaper to find the name, address and birthdates of the people they plan to target.

Next, they use websites on the Internet to purchase that person's Social Security number.  With just that information, they have everything they need in order to steal an identity.

What Do the Criminals Do With the Stolen Identity?

Thieves can commit a number of crimes once they have stolen an identity, whether the victim is alive or not:

First, they may open credit card accounts and make purchases in the name of the deceased person.  Often, this can go on for months, because the deceased and their heirs are not receiving the credit card statements, which may be sent to a P.O. Box or dummy address.  In addition, the deceased are not reviewing their credit reports.  Their heirs are probably not reviewing the credit reports, either.

Another type of crime occurs when the identity thieves go so far as to file fraudulent tax returns and collect refunds.  In fact, thieves actually collected $5.2 billion in 2011 alone by using ghosting techniques with the IRS!

How to Prevent Ghosting

With a few simple steps, family members can reduce the likelihood that the identities of their deceased loved ones will be stolen:

When you write an obituary, do not include the mother's maiden name, the birth date of the deceased, or any other detailed personal information that could help identity thieves.  In addition, do not include the home address of the deceased or any other family members.  Not only will you make it harder for identity thieves, but you will also make it less likely that your home will be burglarized during the funeral. (Of course, that's an additional problem that can come from releasing too much information in an obituary.)

Make sure you order plenty of copies of the death certificate.  You will need to mail them to each of the credit-reporting bureaus as well as insurance companies, banks, brokerage firms, credit card companies and the mortgage company.  If any of these are joint accounts, have the name of the deceased removed from the accounts as soon as possible.  If they are individual accounts in the name of the deceased only, have the accounts closed.  One of my friends, who has dealt with the death of several relatives, recommends that you get at least 20 certified copies of the death certificate because there are so many places where it needs to be sent.  She believes it is important to request more than you think you will need, because you do not want to have to through the delay of requesting additional certified death certificates.

Contact the Social Security Administration right away.  You can call them at (800) 772-1213 and report the death of your family member. 

Contact the DMV in your state and cancel the drivers license of the deceased.

Even after doing all this, you should wait a couple of months and then check the credit report of your loved one at annualcreditreport.com to make sure there has not been any recent activity.  Do it again a few months later.  If you see anything suspicious, report it immediately.

Being careful to prevent ghosting can also prevent a lot of headaches for the heirs and the trustees of the estate.  No one wants to deal with proving that purchases made or tax returns that were filed were done by criminals and not by the heirs.

If you are interested in learning more about issues related to aging and retirement, check out the index articles listed below.  Each one contains a few comments as well as links to more articles on that topic:

Gifts, Travel and Family Relationships

Great Places for Boomers to Retire Overseas

Great Places to Retire in the United States

Health and Medical Topics for Baby Boomers

Money and Financial Planning for Retirement

You are reading from the blog:  http://baby-boomer-retirement.blogspot.com

Photo of cemetery courtesy of www.morguefile.com