With our current economic challenges, those of us looking forward to retirement need to be well-informed about our financial needs in coming years. And not only pre-retirees, but individuals already in retirement need to be wise to the changing economic environment. The good news is there are trained professionals who keep abreast of changes in the current economy, changes in laws and changes in government programs for the elderly. Professionals in this field are equipped to handle everything from help with retirement savings accounts, investment advice, guidance on government programs, estate planning or even new funding options such as reverse mortgages. A little planning prior to retirement will allow you to maintain your current lifestyle; whereas, a lack of planning may require you to live on an extremely tight budget. For those already retired, taking time right now to deal with financial problems instead of waiting for a crisis to happen is well advised.

A large number of retired individuals feel that they have planned well for the future only to find that rising medical costs, damage done to investment portfolios (by the current economy) and many other factors have caused them to go into debt. According to an article in “USA Today” seniors are racking up debt like never before. Elderly individuals who are in debt live with a constant burden over their heads. Most of these people are on fixed incomes and have no way of paying off credit cards and home equity loans that continue to mount to cover household budget deficits. In order to meet ongoing payments, seniors often forego purchasing medications and skimp on food budgets. They live like hermits — never going out and pinching every penny — in order to pay their obligations.

Most of these people worked hard their entire lives and managed their debt. They never anticipated the rising costs of prescriptions, expensive medical care or depletion of savings by living too long. The good news is there is help for these individuals. Here are just a few examples of some relief options that could be available. There are many more besides these.

Reverse mortgages – A Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), also known as a reverse mortgage, is a risk-free way of tapping into home equity without creating monthly payments and without requiring the money to be paid back during a person’s lifetime. Instead of making payments the cash flow is reversed and the senior receives payments from the bank. Thus the title “reverse mortgage”. For those seniors who are less fortunate financially but own a home, a reverse mortgage can allow them to remain in the home by creating extra income.

Life settlements — A life settlement enables older individuals, businesses and other organizations to sell life insurance policies they currently own – but no longer want or need – for an amount greater than the cash surrender value. In some cases the value can be 2-3 times the cash surrender value. Even some term life insurance policies with a conversion option to permanent coverage can qualify for a life settlement.

Government Programs — Some government programs such as food stamps provide temporary financial help for food. Other programs provide subsidized housing, help with medical expenses and provide tax credits. For veterans there is free health care, inexpensive prescriptions and disability income. Area agencies on aging offer individual counseling, legal help and advice with Medicare costs. (National Care Planning Council)

For some, living on a fixed income and dealing with debt can be an overwhelming burden. There are knowledgeable professionals and debt relief strategies that can assist in easing this burden. The National Care Planning Council keeps a list of financial advisers and attorneys who specialize in this area of planning at www.longtermcarelink.net.

Martin V. Higgins,CFP,CLU,AEP AEP is a financial practitioner who specializes in helping people prepare financially for long term care.

Family Wealth Management is a professional firm providing customized financial planning and wealth management solutions to our clientele of pre-retirees, retirees, widows and small business owners.

We invite you to visit our website @ http://www.familywealthadvisory.com to learn how Family Wealth Management may be the right choice for you, your family or business.

Two studies confirm previous evidence that it reduces mortality

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) — Two major studies confirm the current medical consensus that moderate drinking appears to be good for the heart but heavy drinking is bad for health in general.

“This would not change our current guidelines, which provide an upper limit and not a lower limit, no more than two drinks a day for men and no more than one drink a day for women,” said Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is lead author of one of the reports published online March 23 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The new study, using data from nine National Health Interview Surveys done between 1987 and 2000, is more thorough than previous reports and provides “some of the strongest evidence to date” of a link between moderate drinking and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, Mukamal said.

Specifically, the study tries to separate out the health effects of people who list themselves as abstainers, some of whom have never touched the stuff and others who were heavy drinkers but gave it up because of possible damage to their health.

“Some studies have done better than others at that, but this is by far the largest effort to do it,” Mukamal said. “We have data on more than 2 million person-years, appropriately weighted so that it is representative of Americans over the last 20 years.”

The study looked specifically at deaths from cardiovascular conditions such as heart attack and stroke. It found a lower rate of such deaths in light and moderate drinkers than among people who never drank or quit. The type of alcoholic beverage — beer, wine, liquor — made no difference.

“Indeed, the lowest rate of cardiovascular mortality was among those who drink moderately,” Mukamal said. “That benefit is clearly eliminated in people who drank above that level.”

The results “dovetail nicely” with those of previous reports, but “they are not likely to lead to any recommendation to drink alcohol,” Mukamal said, since drinking can have adverse effects on organs outside the cardiovascular system.

A second report in the same issue of the journal by Italian doctors and epidemiologists at Catholic University, in Campobasso, looked at the relationship between alcohol consumption and death rates in eight studies that included more than 29,000 drinkers and nondrinkers who had cardiovascular disease.

Moderate alcohol intake had a protective effect for those people, the report said. It found the maximum reduction in risk of death from all causes among those whose alcohol intake ranged from 5 to 10 grams a day. (A typical drink is usually defined as containing 13.7 grams of alcohol.)

For cardiovascular deaths alone, the maximum protective effect — a 22 percent reduction — was found for a daily intake of 25 grams of alcohol. The death rate went up with higher daily alcohol intake levels.

Their bottom line: “In patients with cardiovascular disease, light to moderate alcohol consumption (5 to 25 grams per day), was significantly associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.”

But it’s important to remember that advice about drinking should be made on the basis of a person’s specific risk factors, said Dr. Arthur L. Klatsky, a senior consultant in cardiology at the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in California, who wrote an accompanying editorial.

For example, there is no net benefit of moderate drinking for young women, since it increases the risk of breast cancer, Klatsky said, but the cardiovascular benefits for middle-aged men and women are there.

“Advice about this has to be given on an individual basis,” he said.

More information

Frequently asked questions about alcohol and health are answered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Kenneth J. Mukamal, M.D., associate professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, and internist, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston; Arthur L. Klatsky, M.D., senior consultant, cardiology, Kaiser Permanente Health Plan, Oakland, Calif.; March 23, 2010, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online