image: sxc.hu

However, there has been a delay because Mother doesn’t have a Motor Vehicle issued ID or a passport. 

It’s impractical to drive Mother those many miles, so they planned to fly.  Because Mother doesn’t have the proper ID (never thought of getting one when she didn’t renew her driver’s license), she can’t fly on the airlines in this day and age.

(I recall several years ago having to get my mother-in-law an official ID so we could take her and Dad on a flight across the country to visit relatives.  Mum had never driven so didn’t have a license.)

This is something to keep in mind for yourself, if you give up driving.  Also, since many baby boomers care for parents and elderly relatives, they may want to be sure they have an ID for those family members.

Now my friend’s daughter must fly to Florida, take Grandma (who’s in a wheelchair and her Alzheimer’s world) to the Motor Vehicle Dept. to have her picture taken.

Post from: Small Business Boomers

We learned to care for her in all these stages and still keep our businesses going.  It wasn’t easy, but in looking back, I wouldn’t have done otherwise.  Some of our work slowed down as we traveled weekly to her home.  Then that part eased when I moved her to our home.  However, trying to keep on a schedule with an Alzheimer’s patient in the home (who didn’t sleep much at night) became another type of challenge.  Even when Mother resided in the nursing home, there were frequent visits, her care to oversee, and her business affairs in her home state to manage.

What can you do when you’re a caregiver, but still have to go on with life?

• Try to become more organized.
• Find activities the patient can be involved in with you.
• Decide on your priorities and let other matters slide.
• Enlist the help of spouse, children and siblings if possible.  (My husband was a great help; my daughter and family lived 600 miles away; siblings were not in a position to help either.)
• Find if there is professional help available.  My neighbor, who was caring for an aunt with Alzheimer’s, helped me with this.
• Relax and enjoy that person as much as you can.  There are joys in each day and the memories will be worthwhile.
• Take time for yourself.  Take care of your health.

How do you cope with caregiving and business?

Post from: Small Business Boomers

When we were children, my husband and I remember, eating out was a rare treat.  When we traveled in the summer with my father (a service representative who traveled every week), we thought it was cool to go to Howard Johnson’s for every meal.  But at home, we rarely ate out.  Same thing with my husband’s family.

It was only when we were in college that we started eating out more. Now, we consider it a rare treat to stay home and cook.  Well, up until a month or so ago.  Now, we plan our meals to eat in more and out less.  We want to be sure we don’t have to cash out any of our retirement funds.

I just hope our favorite restaurant, a local place that’s been around for more than 30 years, stays around a lot more.  As soon as we can, we’ll start going back regularly again.  Fried chicken, anyone?

How about you?  Are you eating out less?  Take my poll or comment on this page.

Post from: Small Business Boomers

• You can get some needed part-time jobs done that it would be difficult to hire someone else to do
• You can save on taxes
• Your child can spend the money or build up money in a college fund.

If you have children between 7 and 18, you can hire them to do necessary and useful work in your business and you can save money on business and personal taxes.  Notice I highlighted “necessary and useful.”  The work they do has to be of benefit to your business and it has to be part of the normal business operations.  You can’t pay them for vacuuming the floor or dusting; it has to be business-related.  You also must keep very good business records, including giving them a real paycheck from the business.

Your child can deposit the paycheck into a savings account (unless you can find a bank that allows children to have checking accounts).  Your child can take out money to pay for school supplies, or spending money.  You can also leave the money in the account or take some out for a college savings account.

Here is how you can save on taxes by paying your kids:

• You don’t have to withhold FICA taxes (Social Security/Medicare) from your child’s paycheck (if he/she is under 18), and
• The payments are deductible business expenses.

The main things to remember, if you want to save on the taxes:

• Keep everything business-like, with a “paper trail” and real paychecks, etc.
• Make sure the work your child is doing is “necessary and useful.”

If  you are interested in learning more about the tax benefits of hiring your children, read this post in my About.com blog (U.S. Business Law and Taxes).

Image source: Newscom

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Basics (I’m generalizing what is a very complicated subject, to illustrate. Please do your own research to be sure you have the full story):

• Medicare only pays for acute care, for up to 100 days, after you have been in the hospital 3 days
• After that, you go on “private pay” in a nursing home, until you run out of money
• Then Medicare will pay for the nursing home, but possibly in a less desirable room
• Nursing home costs average over $5800 a month ($196 a day), according to AARP (depending on where you live)

Discussion (please understand that I’m using personal experiences to illustrate, and your situation might be quite different):
Medicare is available to those over 65, but it doesn’t pay for everything. It is designed to pay for acute care, for short periods of time. So it’s not going to pay for that nursing home for someone who has Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, or stroke. For example, my mother had heart disease and kidney problems. She had been in an assisted living facility, but after 3 days in the hospital (required by Medicare), she was transferred to a nursing home. Medicare paid for the first 20 days, then $119 a day for 80 more days. Then, if she had lived, she would have gone on what’s called “private pay” in the nursing home and she would have had to pay for it herself.

During that first 100 days, Medicare would only pay for the nursing home if she were actively getting rehab, so she had to get physical therapy every day and dialysis. When she was taken off dialysis, she was no longer in ‘active care’ so she was put on private pay.

Of course, everyone’s situation is different, but you can see that Medicare is not going to pay for long-term nursing care. So if you would need to be in a nursing home for a long time, you would have to pay for it yourself, or get long-term care insurance to pay for it. But what if you don’t get the LTC insurance and you run out of money?

It is a common misconception that if you run out of money (become “indigent”), you get kicked out of the nursing home. Not true. Medicaid can take over if you run out of money. Another example: My aunt had a stroke when she was in her mid 80s. She was in a nursing home for almost 15 years! At one point, she ran out of money, and her nursing home care was paid for by Medicare. Any income she received from her husband’s pension and Social Security was turned over to the nursing home to help pay for her care, but the nursing home never missed a beat in caring for her, until she died at 99.

Some nursing homes will move you to a less-desirable room if you go on Medicare, so that’s a consideration, but you can’t be removed, as far as I know. Now, there are lots of things to know about “running out of money” and how it affects your spouse or others, so read up more on this. I’d recommend a Nolo book called Long-Term Care.

So, here are the questions to think about:

• If you don’t get LTC insurance, what are your chances of having to be in a nursing home for a long time and using up all your savings?
• Do you want to leave money for a spouse or children?
• Do you want to be possibly put in a less desirable room in the nursing home if you go on Medicaid?
• What if you got long-term care insurance and you didn’t need it? But how do you know until something happens?

Like all insurance, you can’t buy it when you need it, but being informed about the possibilities helps you be a more informed consumer.

Next, typical provisions in LTC insurance policies.

Image source: Newscom

Post from: Small Business Boomers

• One website for baby boomers has a domain name of http://seniorjournal.com/BabyBoomers.htm
• Another website touts a “babyboomer/senior” expo. Yuck!
• Every time I try to find photos of baby boomers for posts, I have to type in “senior” to get any photos that aren’t of 20-somethings.

My list of reasons why Baby Boomers are NOT seniors!

1. We are too young. Although some are certainly now eligible for Social Security, the vast majority of boomers are NOT. Some boomers are still in their 40s and early 50s. Quit lumping all of us together.

2. Our parents are the “Seniors.” Younger boomers would have parents in their late 60s, early 70s; those of us who are older might have parents in their 80s and 90s. They are the seniors.

3. Some boomers still have children at home. Younger boomers are very likely to have children in high school, college. That’s not what I would call a “senior” experience.

4. 60 is the new 40.

5. We certainly don’t feel, think, act or look like “seniors.” Consider baby boomers competing as Olympic athletes.

Marketers and the media love to give labels to groups. Maybe this isn’t a big deal to anyone else, but I am tired of being labeled as a “senior.” What do you think?

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Image details: Canine Farewell served by picapp.com

My post yesterday about “brown-bagging it” reminded me of lunch boxes.  Remember when we all carried our lunches to school?  What did your lunchbox look like?
Since many baby boomers are carrying lunches again to save money, maybe we should bring back the good old-fashioned lunch box, including the thermos (soup? milk?)

Post from: Small Business Boomers

While I focus on business issues here at Small Business Boomers, Elizabeth over there at GenBetween talks about personal issues that affect those of us who have both parents and children who still need care.

Here are a couple of her recent posts you might enjoy:

The Hula Hoop turns 50.

Tips for Older Job Seekers

 Regular Alcohol Consumption May Cut Arthritis Risk in Half

and more…

I’m putting GenBetween on my Blogroll and I hope you stop by there occasionally.

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I would be interested in what you think about this type of service franchise.

Don’t forget my “50 things to do at 50-something” contest - comment and put yourself in the running for a $30 book gift certificate. Final comments must be posted by June 20.

Post from: Small Business Boomers

I discovered that there are a number of these “senior service” franchises around. If you are good with elderly people (and they can be as challenging as young children), and you have the ability to find and train others to be helpers, this might be a good type of franchise to consider.

The initial investment is from $50,000 to over $100,000, depending upon the franchise and the exclusive territory. That’s not bad; you really don’t have a huge amount of assets to buy. The types of services you provide are transportation, helping with medication and errands, and help with paying bills and keeping the person’s checkbook. What you do for each person depends upon their needs and the family’s wishes.

The downside to this type of franchise, from what I see, is the emotional cost and the almost 24/7 nature of the business. You have clients (either the seniors or their families) calling you all the time, and you may have some sleepless nights. Emergencies can come up, and you pretty much have to go, or at least talk to the client.

Other than that, a senior care franchise would be a terrific way to be of service to elderly people and give some peace of mind to their families.

Image source: newscom.com

Don’t forget my “50 things to do at 50-something” contest - comment and put yourself in the running for a $30 book gift certificate.  Final comments must be posted by June 20. 

Post from: Small Business Boomers