Senior Housing and Assisted Living

It’s difficult to watch ourselves age. It’s also difficult to watch our parents age. It’s even more difficult when it comes to figuring out how to help them when the time comes. This type of help can be anything from some financial assistance, a few trips to the doctor’s office, or helping them find a long term care facility they – or you – can afford. Perhaps you and your parents should have considered buying some long term care insurance years ago. But what is long term care insurance?

Long term care insurance is an excellent investment, no matter what age you are when you buy your policy. Unfortunately, too many of us ignore the fact that we are going to get old someday, and we put off anything to do with forcing us to deal with our own mortality. Until it’s almost too late.

As we put off buying the insurance, the premiums increase and finally, for too many of us, we learn the hard way that we will be needing some type of long term care and we either find that we have huge deductibles because we’ll need to use our regular health insurance, or worse, we find out we have to pay for everything out of pocket.

This type of insurance, in actuality, is one of the most reasonably priced types of coverage when it comes to costs vs. Benefits. A policy purchased in your forties, for example, with standard coverage such as nursing homes and rehab (or hospice), will probably be less expensive than your car insurance!

Policies differ, as with all sorts of insurance, and you can pick and choose options according to what you can afford or according to what you believe you might need. For instance, if Alzheimer’s runs in your family, you may want to get a plan that supports the in depth level of specialized care these patients need. If everyone in your family lives till 105 and drops dead on the golf course, you may decide to purchase a lesser type of coverage.

Depending on the insurance company will depend of course on your policy now, and what type of add ons and options you are able to buy at later dates. For instance, if your 62 year old husband is in a head on collision and you find that he will need extensive long term care, you may or may not be able to increase your policy to suit the current situation.

Some of these policies can provide an incredible amount of financial help when the time comes. With long term facilities averaging over $500 a day, not many regular insurance plans will cover these for more than a few weeks – no matter what.

Before you go out and buy a policy go to Long Term Care Insurance, ask questions and request a long term care insurance quote. We represent 20 of the top LTCi providers. This gives you tremendous options.

Living frugal in an RV is not about depriving yourself. You will have lots of company with people who find this lifestyle fun and rewarding as well.

The current economy is not the best, causing many to reconsider their retirement plans. Lots of folks have seen their 401K turn into a 150K.

If you want a fun lifestyle, consider living frugal in an RV, you can still retire…you just won’t need much money. One full time RVer said,”All my homes, now and in the future, will have a steering wheel in the living room”. I ran into this fellow in Yellowstone National Park. This particular couple had been full time RVing for 10 years.

So if 2008 and 2009 have sent you lemons…living frugal in an RV is a great way to make lemonade from the cards you are dealt.

Living in a RV is also a great vehicle to find your more permanent retirement location. We RVed for 6 years before we decided on retiring to Arizona. By the end of the six years we were pretty sure that we had seen enough of other places. An RV is a great way of preventing an expensive mistake. You can stay where you want to retire for as long as you want before making that final decision.

Living frugal in an RV is easy with no sacrificing. You can travel where you want without incurring large motel bills. You are bringing your motel with you…and you never have to pack and unpack, all your stuff is with you.

If you find certain places you really enjoy, you will spend more time at each of your favorite spots. This is a money saver since parks will give you a big discount for a stay of a month or more. $500 a month is usually doable as an average monthly price. That is equal to 3 to 4 nights in a motel.

If you are considering frugal ways to retire check out RV living. It is fun…so, enjoy life on the road.

For more information on frugal living in an RV Gary Pierce, 64, has been retired for 15 years he has experienced various retirement lifestyles that are not only frugal but fun. Do not give up on retirement until you visit this site.

LTC Properties, Inc. (NYSE:LTC) (“LTC”) announced last week that it has entered into an agreement to purchase a 120-bed skilled nursing property in Florida for a purchase price of $9.0 million and will enter into a 12-year triple net lease with a third party operator. The terms of the seller’s current financing required a 30-day prepayment notice which was given by seller concurrently upon execution of the purchase agreement and is expected to close on February 22, 2010.

In January 2010, the LTC purchased a 166-bed skilled nursing property in Texas for a purchase price of $7.9 million and entered into a 10-year triple net lease with a third party operator that operated the property under a lease with the seller and paid $0.1 million to the operator as a lease inducement which will be amortized over the life of the lease. LTC stated that both of these transactions were or will be financed by the use of funds from the Company’s unsecured line of credit.

For full details, visit the 8-K.

Retirement Villages Ltd recently announced that it has applied to refurbish the existing Edwardian Manor house as the focal point of a new continuing care retirement community (CCRC).  The multi-million pound investment by Retirement Villages Ltd would create around 100 jobs and would breath new life into the site off Felcourt Road on the fringes of East Grinstead – currently the Sabrewatch Security site and previously the world famous Bush Davies Ballet School.  If approved by Tandridge District Council planners, the 16 acre site will house a total of 83 extra care units and a 60 bed registered care home.

“Charters Towers represents an exciting project for us and also, we hope, for the local community,” said Chief Executive of Retirement Villages Ltd Jon Gooding. “The provision of extra care accommodation we are proposing would meet a need within the area which extensive consultation has identified. And we would love to be able to restore this beautiful house and grounds.

CB Richard Ellis Senior Housing Services announced that Hearth Management purchased Kensington Green of Southbury Senior Living Community for $17,199,000. The senior living community, which is located in Southbury, Connecticut,  includes 120 total units with 96 assisted living and 24 Alzheimer care units.  Established in Binghamton, New York in 1988, Hearth Management currently operates 10 senior living communities in New York, Connecticut and Indiana.

David Rothschild, Matthew Whitlock and Mary Christian of CB Richard Ellis’ national Senior Housing Services Group represented the seller, an affiliate of Salem, Oregon-based Sunwest Management. Hearth Management represented itself.

Volume of the Federal Housing Administration’s reverse mortgage program, the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) grew to $30.2 billion in FY 2009 according to budget documents released earlier this week.  Despite only a slight increase in units endorsed in FY 2009, max claim volume grew 25% compared to the prior FY total of $24.2 billion.  Looking at the calendar year numbers is even more telling, while units were down 2.9% in 2009, the max claim amount and UPB totals were up 26% and 42% respectively from the last year. 

According to data from Reverse Market Insight, 22% of the increase in volume comes from the lending limit increase and the remaining 3% stems from the additional units in FY 2009.  In addition, the shift to the fixed rate product has also been a factor.

“The shift to the fixed rate product further magnifies the increased dollar volumes spurred by higher lending limits, as the unpaid principal balance (UPB) is up 31% for FY 2009,” said John K. Lunde, President of RM Insight. 

Courtesy of Reverse Mortgage Daily

A tax credit is available to those taxpayers who are either 65 years of age before December 31, 2009 or under the age of 65 but retired, and were permanently and totally disabled when they retired. Unfortunately this credit is not as substantial as some of the other tax credits that are available to taxpayers, however like any tax credit, it should not be overlooked since it could result in some unexpected cash in a taxpayers pocket.

How the Elderly Credit Works The credit is equal to 15% of an applicable “initial” amount based on an individual’s filing type i.e. $5,000 for a single individual, $7,500 for married taxpayers filing a joint return where both spouses are qualified. The initial credit is then reduced by certain nontaxable pensions and benefits such as pension ,disability benefits or annuities that are not included in adjusted gross income. The initial credit is then further reduced by one half of the excess of the individual ‘s adjusted gross income over certain predetermined levels, based on the individual ‘s filing status. The levels are single taxpayer is $7,500, married taxpayers is $10,000 and married taxpayers individually filing separately is $5, 000.The credit is calculated by multiplying the adjusted “initial” amount by 15%.

Nontaxable Pensions and Benefits Taxpayers should be careful when listing the nontaxable amounts they receive. These amounts are often verified by the IRS through information supplied by other governmental agencies. Some examples of nontaxable pensions and benefits are (a)nontaxable social security payments,(b)nontaxable railroad retirement pension payments treated as social security, (c) nontaxable pension or annuity payments or disability benefits that are paid under a law administered by the V.A. and (d) pension or annuity payments or disability benefits that are excluded from income under any provision of federal law other than the Internal Revenue Code.

Disability Credit Amount If you are permanently and totally disabled and under the age of 65, the applicable “initial” amount may not exceed the amount of the disability income you received during the tax year. Special rules apply to the initial amounts when one spouse is under 65 to determine and support the permanently and totally disability status being claimed.

Credit Limitations In order to determine if you are entitled to the credit, you must consider two income limits. The first income limit is the amount of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income. The second income limit is the amount of non-taxable Social Security and other non-taxable pensions you received during the year. The amount of credit you can claim is generally limited to the amount of the tax. You may not take this credit if your adjusted gross income(AGI) is equal to and is greater than (a)if single, head of household or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child, the AGI is $17,500, (b)If married filing jointly and one spouse is eligible for the credit the amount the AGI is $20,000. If married filing jointly and both spouses are eligible for the credit the AGI is $25,000. If married filing separately or depending on your filing status the AGI is $12,500, you cannot take the credit if you received certain nontaxable benefits ranging from $3,750 to $7,500.

How Do I Claim the Credit The credit is not available for taxpayers that generally file Form 1040EZ. If you normally file the 1040EZ, it’s not a problem, just file Form 1040 or Form 1040A and attach Schedule R.

Tax laws are complex, change constantly and each situation is unique. This article is not intended to provide legal or accounting advice. The reader should perform his or her own due diligence and consult competent professionals in this area. Special rules exist to determine certain exclusions,amount of the credits and the proper filing status. Please refer to the Internal Revenue Service Publication 52 for more detailed information.

Learn more about how we can assist you determine if you are eligible for the Elderly or Disabled Tax Credit and other available income tax credits and about our competitively priced paperless and internet based method to tax preparation at affordable prices . Sandor(Sandy) E. Lenner,CPA-MBA has provided small business and accounting services for over 35 years and works part-time at his wife’s CPA firm