Posts Tagged ‘#advice’
It’s Finally Occurred To Me . . .
. . . that the reason
people give out free advice
so easily is
because they aren’t using it.
= = = = =
Be a Good Scout at Tax Time
Be prepared. This maxim emblazoned in Boy Scout lore also applies to the thorny annual chore known as “doing my taxes.” A simple system of keeping receipts and monthly statements can save you a lot of aspirin at filing time. It can also cut down on your cost of tax preparation since the less time your tax preparer has to spend on your return, the lower the bill.
Three basic items will help establish a workable record-keeping system:
— your checkbook register,
— a clutch of file folders for financial statements and receipts, and
— a workbook to log any deductible expenses, such as mileage to and from medical appointments. Your tax preparer can advise you on how to make this basic program work best for you. They might suggest that you update your files monthly.
It’s always wise to call your tax accountant early because the rules keep changing. By starting early, you’ll be aware of what you’ll need to wrap up your current year’s tax filing.
Remember that banks, bosses, and brokerage houses — almost anyone paying you an income of any sort — report these transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. The agency gets all these notices and its computers try to match up the information from these sources with the information you prepare and file.
Besides staying ahead of the game by being prepared, keep in mind that the IRS makes mistakes. It’s easy to foul up a Social Security number, for example, and you might get an IRS notice based on garbled data. One tax preparer recounts often an incident in which a bank’s report to the IRS of a customer’s mortgage interest payment was read as interest income. The taxpayer was then notified by the IRS of a disparity in tax owed to the government because of this “additional income.”
I’ve Quit . . .
. . . giving advice
because my train of thought
goes off track too easily.
Wanna Make a Buck? Sucker a Senior.
Seniors – more than 1 million of them – are bilked out of some $3.5 billion dollars a year. Related costs, such as health care, social services, investigations, legal fees, prosecution, lost income and assets, reach the hundreds of of dollars annually. And for each case of reported financial abuse, there are an estimated four or more that go unreported.
Family members and caregivers are the culprits in more than half of these cases, and the most likely victim is between 70 and 89 years of age, white, female, frail and cognitively impaired, trusting of others, and may be lonely or isolated. In fact, elder financial abuse has become the crime of the 21st century.
This is a growing problem made greater by the growing number of older Americans, the relative wealth of this group, and the availability of technology that makes such abuse somewhat easier.
Family members and caregivers who financially exploit the elderly usually are dependent
upon them financially and their thievery may be influenced by such problems as alcohol and
drug abuse as well as a sense of entitlement — the culprits believe they have a right
to the money parents or charges have accumulated.
Among the reasons the elderly under report incidents of financial abuse are a fear of government interference, parents protecting their children and family members, embarrassment and self-blame, and fear of being placed in a facility or being harmed physically by the perpetrator.
Mature Life Features 