Hosts: Denise Kovach, CFP®, AIF® and Joe Bert, CFP®, AIF®
Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of On the Money, with the Certified Financial Group, here on News 96.5, WDBO. We are taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965 with Joe Bert and Denise Kovach! Good morning, everyone.
Good morning!
How are you guys today?
Doing great, how are you?
Trying to stay dry and avoid the rain, it’s going to be a wet Saturday.
It’s cool out there this morning, it’s nice, it’s pleasant.
The silver lining to the cloud, that is Joe Bert, your oracle.
A whole lot happened and here we are.
Joe, what can the audience call you about today?
Denise and I are here to answer any questions that might be on your mind regarding your personal finances. As we say, we go through life trying some of this, trying some of that, wake up at age 55 and find out we really need to get our act together and that’s what Denise and I and the other certified financial planner professionals do every day day in and day out for a fee but on Saturday morning we are here for free so if you have any questions regarding your personal finances as they relate to decisions you might have to make about your 401(k), about a mortgage, about stocks and bonds and mutual funds and real estate and long-term health care and IRAs and annuities and reverse mortgages and all that kind of stuff, we are here to take your calls and you don’t even have to use your name. You can pick up the phone and dial these numbers and pretend that you’re Jack or Daphne or Loretta or anybody and we’ll take your call.
All right, just like that!
If you have any questions pick up the phone and dial– what are the numbers?
844-220-0965, 844-220-0965. The text machine is up and running as well, 21232. Just keep it to about 160 characters that’s all we can see on our screen. 21232. Denise Kovach is here, starting off with today’s topic, long-term care insurance if it’s something I need.
Well as you probably know– excuse me, I’m starting to lose my voice already, not a good thing.
Yeah, four words in, not good.
We’re living longer due to health care innovations which is the good news. However, the bad news is that at least 70% of the people over the age 65 will require long-term care services at some point.
Let me give you that number again, 70% of the people over age 65 are going to spend some time needing long-term health care.
And by long-term health care what do you mean there? That’s not just being in the hospital, that means what?
You could have needs for assisted living at home, so home health care. You could be an assisted living facility, which you’re somewhat independent but you’re getting services if you need it, there’s skilled nursing, so that’s a nursing facility, and of course they graduate and so do the prices. So having said that people are often confused that Medicare and private health insurance programs pay for these services but they don’t. Long-term care costs thousands of dollars per month with the average stay being three years. I’m currently looking at an assisted living facility for my mom. A $4,000 down payment is required and the cost of a small one bedroom apartment is just under $4,000 per month plus depending on the level of assistance she’s going to need there’s an additional $700 to $1,700 a month that’s going to be charged on top of that, so what if she wanted a semi-private room, not private, just a semi-private room in a nursing home facility? It just got more expensive and according to Genworth that monthly cost averaged $6,800 in 2016. That was just last year, so —
$80,000 a year.
That’s expensive.
It is expensive.
And that’s average. The most common reasons people require long-term care are dementia, you know, Alzheimer’s, like that–
I got it. I mean, I don’t have it but I understand what you’re saying.
I’m glad you <Inaudible>
You don’t have dementia? I don’t remember.
I hope you have long-term care insurance.
I do. I’m covered.
But dementia, cancer, and stroke. When my dad was alive he was in an assisted living facility because he had dementia. My mom is needing assistance because she has cancer and is fragile. The costs associated with long-term care are high; Medicare will only pay for skilled services or–
Rehabilitative.
Thank you, I needed that. Care in a nursing home for 100 days. Health insurance will pay for some health care service costs but only for specific circumstances and for a very limited time. Medicaid may pay for it but only if you have limited assets and income. Long-term care insurance is a way to cover these costs so what’s available? You can opt to buy a long-term care insurance that you pay for like an automobile policy but if you don’t use it you lose it and premiums can increase over time. Other options include paying a lump sum amount to purchase coverage that will never increase in price, and if you don’t use it it remains a part of your estate. I’m often asked, when is it appropriate, when is it– bleh, I’m having issues today.
Ha ha ha!
Maybe I’m not–
Are you ready for the home? Do you need some more coffee?
Exactly, maybe I need an assisted living– When is it the appropriate time to buy long-term care insurance? I hear that a lot so there’s not a set age at which it is best, however its cost is generally increased with each year that you’re older so you may consider buying it when you’re younger, healthier, and more likely to be approved for coverage. Long-term care costs can easily wipe out your retirement nest egg. If you’re getting older now’s the time to take the step to protect the assets you’ve spent your entire life accumulating and start looking into the appropriate coverage for you.
It is something to consider, there’s no question about it, no question about it. Thank you for your input on that. I’ve got something more I want to add to that but we’ve got some callers here, we’re going to keep them on the line–
Yeah, absolutely. Well, let’s open our phone lines here, 844-220-0965, 844-220-0965. Let’s start off with Mike in Orlando. Mike you’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WBDO.
Good morning!
Well, thanks for taking my call.
Thank you for calling. How can we help you?
I want to ask you about individual municipal bonds.
Okay?
Who should own them? Are they better than bond funds during periods of rising interest rates, and what is laddering?
Okay good questions. Let’s talk about laddering first. Laddering you can do with any kind of fixed income security or investment including CDs or bonds, which means you buy them at differing maturities and as the one that matures when the one matures– Let me back up.
I’m sorry, it’s spreading to you.
Ha ha ha!
Which means–
You guys stay over there, I don’t want to get it today.
Just to make the illustration easy you have five different maturities, one year two year three year four year five year, and when the one year maturity matures you take that one and you wrap that into the net– you go out and buy another five year one because you have the one that’s going to mature in two years, mature in two years and you just keep rolling them. That’s what laddering means. So in a rising interest rate environment that’s not a bad thing to do. You follow where I’m coming from here.
Yes. Right. Right.
Well you don’t sound confident.
No, I understand what you’re talking about, laddering. Yeah.
So the next question you had was individual bond bonds–
Munis.
Individual muni bonds.
Yeah. When you buy an individual security you need to know what you’re doing. It’s not just that it’s issued by somebody whose name you’re familiar with, you need to understand the credit rating, you need to understand what backs it up as it was called a general obligation bond which means it’s backed by the full faith and credit of the county or the city that’s issuing them or is it what’s called a revenue bond which means that it’s issued and the revenue from a certain source like the turnpike, you know, turnpike bonds were sold and the revenue from the turnpike can only be used to pay off the turnpike bonds.
Okay.
So that’s how individual bonds are done. Now the nice thing about those is that you hold them to maturity, and you’re sure– well, I can’t say you’re sure but depending on the creditworthiness of the issuer you’ll get your money back. Right? The problem with that is, is you’re — you have your money. Unless you have a lot of money to spread around and a lot of bonds, most people are better off turning it over to a professional using a mutual fund, right, Denise? I would do that because you own more than one bond, which reduces the risk exposure to you. So you own hundreds of bonds. And you’re–
What you’re doing there is have professional managers select those bonds for you. Now you have insured bond funds, where the only kinds of bonds they will buy are insured. You have those, what are called high yield, which means that that man will take you a little bit more risk to get you a little bit higher yield and then the– here’s the thing about bonds and bond funds. A lot of people say well I don’t want to own a bond fund, interest rates go up and the value of the bonds are going to go down, let me tell you my chicken and egg story. You ever heard my chicken and egg story, Denise?
I think I’m getting ready to.
Okay here you go.
When I look at bonds or bond funds I look at the income that you get from the bonds as the egg. Okay? That egg is going to come in on a regular basis and you’re going to spend it and cook it and eat it. The bond itself is the chicken and in a rising interest rate environment that chicken is going to get skinny because the value of that bond will go down. It’s true for bond funds, it’s true for individual bonds. But if you’re investing in bond funds for income forget what the chicken looks like because the eggs will generally be there. And in a bond fund what you’re going to do is you’re going to take that income and either spend it or if you’re in an accumulation phase you’re going to take the income and reinvest it. Now the good news in a rising interest rate environment when the value of the bonds in the bond fund are going down you’re actually buying more shares because the price is cheaper so the amount of income that you’re ultimately going to get is the function of how many shares that you own so if you’re reinvesting in a high interest rate environment you’re buying more shares at a cheaper price to get more income down the road. So I like to use bond funds. I own them, we recommend them for our clients. We generally don’t recommend buying individual bonds and/or individual stocks, what do you want to add to that?
Well, what I want to add to that, Mike, is obviously when you own municipal bonds whether they are individual or in a mutual fund. They are better held outside of any type of IRA or retirement account because the yields are typically lower. However, on a– they’re not taxable. So the tax equivalent yield is higher in that regard if that makes sense. Right Joe?
That’s right.
Okay!
Does that help you, Mike?
Yep.
Lot of information.
Anything else you want to know while we gotcha?
Well I’m having to pay my RMD for the first time next year and I was just concerned if I had too many bond funds would the interest rates go up, I’ve got to start taking money out of my RMDs so I was just– I was just interested in if it had rising interest rates how that would impact my withdrawals through the years.
Rising interest rates, as you withdraw via the bonds are in your IRA account.
Yes.
They’re not municipal bonds, I’m sure.
Yeah, they’re just bond funds.
Bond funds, okay. Yeah, in a rising interest rate environment the value of those bonds will be gradually decreasing. Now there’s a way to mitigate that and that’s in owning the right kind of bond funds and you want to have bonds generally in your portfolio because we call them the shock absorbers in a portfolio. When you have that market correction generally when stocks go down bonds go up so you’re not really getting impacted by the big drop in the stock market, except in a situation like 2008, 2009, when the bond market and stock market throws up simultaneously but in my mind and Denise’s mind it was a once in a lifetime occurrence so we’ll think about it.
Okay.
All right?
All right. Well, thank you.
Thanks for calling, Mike!
All right, Mike, thanks so much. If you want Mike’s line it’s 844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. We are about a minute away from the three big things you need to know so Debra in Longwood, hang on the line, you’re going to be first up when we come back but right now we are planning tomorrow–
Today!
With the Certified Planning Professionals at Certified Financial Group, here on News 96.5, WDBO.
Welcome back, this is On the Money with the Certified Financial Group, here on News 96.5, WDBO. We are taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965, that’s 844-220-0965. We are five minutes away from latest news, weather, and traffic, so let’s get back to our phone lines. Debra, in Longwood, Debra, you’re on with Joe Bert and Denise Kovach from the Certified Financial Group. Good morning, Debra.
Good morning and thank you for taking my call.
Sure, how can we help you?
I have a quick question. I’m 69 years old, I was wondering what the tax implication is taking $10,000 out of my IRA or incidental expenses that I did not foresee coming this year.
So you’re 69, you said?
I am 69, correct.
Debra, what you’re going to have to do is add that figure onto your ordinary income and you’ll pay your income taxes on that. There’s no penalties because you’re beyond 59 and a half, so you’re just looking at taxes.
So really though it’s no difference between taking it now and taking it when I’m like 70 and a half. Is there a difference, what’s the difference regarding tax implications because those are taxable income, correct?
Correct. There’s no difference.
There is really no difference. Okay, good enough.
At age — Let me back up here.
Go ahead.
If you don’t need it now, at age 70 and a half you have to take it out and you’ll have to —
I understand.
So even if you take money out now at age 70 and a half you’ll still have to take out money, so if you can use the money that you take out now maybe you wait until 70 and a half and don’t have to pay as much on taxes.
Oh perfect. Okay. That’s all I needed. Thank you guys, thank you.
Thank you very much.
We didn’t stutter on that one, did we?
No not yet. It’s early give us time.
Yeah, I saw you get more coffee during the break there. 844-220-0965 is the number to call up a certified financial planner, Certified Financial Group, 844-220-0965. Text is 21232. And we got a text question in here, guys: Is a 457 plan subject to the RMD at 70 and a half RMD is required minimum distribution at 70 and a half?
It is if you’re no longer working for that company. If you’re still working for that company it is not as long as you’re not a 5% shareholder.
Okay. Most people, seems simple enough.
But let me say something, if you do need to take a mandatory distribution because you’re not working for that company and you have IRAs you cannot take a mandatory distribution representing the pooled amount. There’s separate entities, qualified plans versus IRAs. The RMDs must be taken individually from each respective account.
Right.
If it’s a 401(k), the same thing.
Right.
403(b) the same thing.
Okay. Great. Simple enough.
I want to circle back to what Denise was talking about —
I want to say if you want to circle back–
Did want to circle back. Here we go. Circling around. We’re talking about long-term health care or nursing homes and so on and so forth, one of the things that we’ve come to learn is that if you are considering for yourself or a loved one moving into — the first step is using what we call independent living.
Correct.
It’s where you no longer want the big house, you’re tired of the lawn and the maintenance and you just want a nice apartment where they have meals every day in the wonderful dining room and they have the activities and you’re with people of your age and they get on the bus and– that’s independent living. You pay for that and it’s like an apartment, right, but you’re with your peers. Then what happens is as your health deteriorates then you need what’s called assisted living, where you can no longer maybe bathe yourself, clothe yourself, toilet yourself, take medications. You need help getting up in the morning, getting out of the bed, you know, whatever it is, that’s assisted living. And then you may move into maybe what’s the next level is memory care. This is what happens to a lot of people. You know, the dementia sets in and you– it’s memory care. And we’ve seen that time and time again with our clients and parents and loved ones and then you have the skilled nursing home where you’re in the bed and they have the tubes in your nose. What you want to have, ladies and gentlemen, if you’re thinking about making this transition in life is a facility that you look at, be sure that they have all levels of care. If you like that facility what you don’t want to do is uproot Mom or Dad, when they can no longer stay in the independent living side, right?
Correct. And then you have to yank ’em out, you know without any notice, and find them another place to live at perhaps the worst time in their life.
And even provide hospice care. I mean, end of life care needs to be there as well. It’s very important.
So if you’re thinking of making that move, consider looking at something that has all stages of care because life being what it is, chances are you will progress through those life stages and what you don’t want to do is pick up Mom and Dad, because they have to move because the facility that you’re in that they’ve become accustomed to, where they have their friends and family and whatever they have to move because that facility won’t accept them anymore because they need that next level of care.
The change is extremely difficult for them.
The older you are, the tougher it gets. Just ask me.
There you are.
How tough does it get, Joe? No <Inaudible> 844-220-0965 is the number to dial us up if you got a question for the panel today, 844-220-0965 and we also have that text machine up and running. Good old Texty. 21232 is the number to reach us here. Please keep it to about 160 characters, that’s all we can see on our screen, 21232. <Inaudible> an update on what’s going on over there on the Texas coast with Hurricane Harvey and Dave Wahl, <Inaudible> news, weather, or traffic, right here on News 96.5, WDBO.
Hey welcome back! This is On the Money with the Certified Financial Group, here on News 96.5, WDBO, hope you’re driving safe out there in the rain. Please please drive safely in the rain, it is raining the forecast all today but you just heard the weather forecaster <Inaudible> Deion in Severe Weather Center so we’ll keep you updated throughout the day. For right now we are here with the Certified Financial Group taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. Joe Bert and Denise Kovach are here with some great information today. Again, 844-220-0965. We have a text question in, guys, to kick this segment off. Actually it’s Gary Avely, look at that, Gary Avely–
–you also recommend an independent review of their financials at the facility.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes, not a bad idea, so Gary texted in, here.
I’m looking at that.
Gary, our–
While we’re on Gary, he’s got a workshop coming up.
He does. And let me tell you a little bit about that. It’s coming up on — It’s–
September 14, right?
No, it’s September 16.
September 16.
Two days off. We’re having issues, Joe. Anyway, Gary’s going to be talking about the financial basics and basically life strategies for success, it’s going to be held in our office on Saturday, September 16, and it’s going to be from 11:00 to 1:00pm, light refreshments will be served so come on out if you’d like to learn about some life strategies for financial success, with Gary Avely in our office.
This is always a very popular workshop; Gary does a great job. Gary is a frustrated educator. He loves teaching. He loves teaching and the nice thing about Gary is he takes a subject that You would think might be complicated and he breaks it down so grade schoolers could understand.
Well, I would say high schoolers could understand it.
High school is —
Which is good!
Which is great, which is terrific, which is terrific. Your brain doesn’t fry up. He gives you good information, it’s absolutely free. The reason we do this, folks, is two reasons. Number one, to show you stuff that you need to do now so you don’t become a financial casualty. Secondly, to introduce you to our firm, what we do as fee-based planners and how we charge our clients, and get you — whether we need planning now or sometimes in the future, you’ll give us an opportunity to earn your business.
Yeah.
Come on by. You can go to our website, that’s financialgroup.com, financialgroup.com. Click on workshops, you can make a reservation right there.
And we’ll go through that calendar again coming up later in the show, but let’s get back to our phone calls here. Talk to Peter. Peter, you’re on with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Peter!
Good morning.
Good morning. My question is, my wife was involved in a pretty bad car accident a while ago and she just received a very high settlement. So we put it in the bank until we know exactly what we’re going to do with it. But what we’re wondering is, is it okay to pay off the mortgage on our home? We still owe 260,000 and we were thinking of just paying it off. But then my follow-up question is, if we do pay it off, what do we do with those payments that we’re making right now?
Well first of all Peter, I’m sorry to hear about your wife and I’m hoping that she’s okay. So they you a —
Oh, she is.
Good. Good. Did they give you a lump sum? This is not a structured settlement?
No, this was one lump sum.
Okay. Can you tell me how much that was?
It was over 1M.
Okay, and your mortgage is 200 and —
60.
60?
60, right. 260.
What’s your interest rate on the mortgage?
4.25.
Are you benefiting from a tax deduction with that?
No.
So you’re not itemizing, you’re not taking the interest deduction on your tax return?
That’s a no-brainer, I would pay off that house. Then I would take the funds, if you don’t need those funds perhaps, and are you still working?
Well I’m a disabled veteran, I lost both my legs in Vietnam. And we’re pretty well set. That’s why I wanted to pay off the mortgage, get that off of our heads, and take that money that we’re using now, which is about 1,900 a month, and invest it into something.
Okay. Here’s the challenge that you have, Peter. Right now, you know you have to make that mortgage payment every month, right? And you write that check —
Correct.
Because you don’t want to lose your house and that’s probably one of the first things that you pay because it’s important.
It is.
Alright. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, that $1,900 is going to come and it’s going to go and it’s going to slip through your fingers. Unless you set yourself up on a systematic, disciplined approach to every month invest that money month in and month out. Because what happens, I’ve seen this time and time again because we’re all human, you have that extra $1,900 in your checking account and we always find a place to use it or give it to somebody or somehow spend it. Right now, you’re making that mortgage payment you know you need to make it. When it comes a payment that you have to make to yourself, unfortunately human nature takes over and one month it’s there, next month it’s not there.
Right.
So psychologically, it might be best for you, financially it might not be the best. What you really should have done is have a plan done.
Oh, absolutely. That’s a given, Peter. Instead of just asking questions here and there, is have somebody, a certified financial planner, perhaps one of us at CFG, to take a look at your overall situation and walk through the different options available for you and your wife in order to maximize your retirement savings. And to work with you on systematically investing that $1,900. Instead of writing a check for $1,900, you can easily have that just boom, taken out of your checking account once a month and automatically invested. Which is a great help to offset what Joe was talking about.
Peter, how old are you?
Right. 68.
And your wife?
She’s 58.
58, okay. Assuming her accident did not give her long-term medical issues, when we do planning we’ve got to look at about 35 years for your wife in life expectancy. That is a long time. So, what you need to do is actually do some planning. You have gotten a windfall we’ll call it. Unfortunately your wife had to have an experience to get that.
Right.
But you have an opportunity to lay a foundation where you and your wife will not have to worry the rest of your life if you planned properly. Unfortunately, what most people do, you’re going to do the thing that we’ve all be taught to do. Pay off the house, then you take the money and you stuff it in the bank. Then as time goes on, what’s going to happen is you’re going to start eating into that principal because the principal isn’t growing fast enough to keep up with the increasing cost of gasoline, groceries, electricity and all that other stuff that you want to do over the next 25, 30 years. Plan is what will work for you, what that will tell you is how conservatively you can invest that money and still have a high probability of your wife not running out of money when she’s 90 years old. So whether you work with us or another certified financial planner in Central Florida, that’s what I would suggest you do. You want to work with somebody that’s going to charge you a fee to do that. Don’t go somewhere where they say they’re going to do the plan for free, they’re going to give it away, come in, I’ll do a plan for you. Because they’re trying to sell you something. When we do it a Certified Financial Group, we do it in detail, we design something specifically for you. The cost is a lot less. I hear this time and time again where people expect it’s going to be, but the idea is to just give you peace of mind. Like I said, whether you work with us or anybody else in Central Florida, you and your wife should have a plan. I appreciate your call, Peter.
Thank you.
Thank you so much guys. Good day. Bye bye.
Alright, thanks so much. If want Peter’s line, it’s 844-220-0965. That’s 844-220-0965. Joann in Orlando has a comment about the long-term care insurance. Joann, go ahead. You’re one with Certified Financial Group on WDBO. <sp?>
Good morning, Joe.
Good morning!
I’m a client of yours and I just wanted to make a comment on long-term care.
Okay.
I’m 59 years old and I’ve had long-term care insurance with Genworth. I know it’s very — there’s lots of other companies out there. Like I said, I’ve been there for 15 years I’ve had them. I had an unfortunate accident this spring at my house. I fell and I broke my leg and fractured my hip. So I went to the hospital, went through rehab and everything else and I exhausted all my primary care and deductibles and everything. I still needed rehab and was sent to an assisted living facility for just the rested <?> short care. Genworth picked up the entire bill. I was quite young at that time, and I’d say anybody, go get the insurance. It’s well worth the money even if you never use it.
Well, it’s like insurance, you know, we never want to —
Any insurance.
You never want to pay the premium —
Correct.
Until you smell the smoke and the house is burning down.
Yeah.
And then you’re glad you have it.
Yep. yep. I don’t know, there’s so many companies out there, but not a plug for Genworth, but they are top notch. You get to talk to people that know what they’re talking about and they talk in a language you can understand. You know.
Well I appreciate the call and I’m glad — you’re home now, right?
Yeah, I’m at home now. Very cautious about my living conditions here. But you learn to appreciate your health in a hurry.
No joke <?> about that.
I appreciate your call very much.
Yeah thanks so much, Joann. For the record, that’s what we call a plug.
Laugh.
844-220-0965. 844-220-0965. You want to jump in on the conversation. George in Orlando! George, you’re on with the Certified Financial group here on WDBO.
Good morning, George.
Morning.
Morning, guys. How are you? By the way I know that company from the last caller is great, great company to be with. Anyway. Reverse mortgage, 60 years of age, do you recommend it?
You’re not eligible until you’re 62, George.
62? That would make the trick. So you can only apply at 62 years for it?
That’s correct under the current guidelines A62. While we’re on that, unfortunately reverse mortgages have gotten themselves a bad name over the years.
Unfortunately, they have.
The reason being is because people oftentimes — not oftentimes, but on some occasions, they will strip out all the equity out of their home, they will get this big lump sum of money, and what they will do is they end up blowing it. They go on vacations and buy the cars and give money to their kids and yadda, yadda, yadda. All this money was in their equity, they just blew all the equity in their home, and then they don’t have enough income to pay the property’s taxes and insurance, which you still have to do under any circumstances, and they end up losing their home. That’s the worst thing that you can do with a reserve mortgage. There have been some recent articles written in the financial planning journals about using a reverse mortgage as a safety net for you to draw from when that inevitable correction comes and your investments are down. What you do is you turn on the valve on the reverse mortgage and you draw a little bit from the reverse mortgage and wait until the market heals and turns itself back on around, then you turn off the reverse mortgage and you continue drawing from yours accounts. It’s been statistically proven, it’s been factually proven that it’s a very, very powerful tool if used correctly. Unfortunately, most people don’t use it correctly. So, if you want more information about that, I’d be glad to send you an article that was written in financial planning journal, just contact me, joe@financialgroup.com. We don’t sell reverse mortgages, we don’t do reverse mortgages, but we do know the power of them if they’re used correctly.
And one of the benefits is if you think about it, if your income level is at a point where your Medicare premium costs are high, if you take from the reverse mortgage, that’s not taxable. So it could reduce that premium cost.
That’s correct.
Good point! Very, very good point.
Yep, you betcha.
In fact, while we’re on reverse mortgages, I had an e-mail from one of my clients this week who in fact had a reverse mortgage and he paid it off. When you pay off the reverse mortgage, you get the big interest deduction. So in one year, he did not have any — he was able — let me back up. He was able to shift his income to where he took a lot of income because he had this big interest deduction. Then the subsequent year, he didn’t have to take the income so he had no taxable income. The point I’m trying to make is that there is a senior homestead exemption if you’re over the age of 65 and your income is under — he’s in Volusia county, it’s about $29,000 or less. Your adjusted gross income, which is the income on the front page of your 1040, you are entitled to an extra homestead exemption. In his case, he got an extra savings of $800, $900.
Really?
Yes. However, it expires, at least in Volusia county, on September 1st. So if you’re in that situation, have low income, adjusted gross income, and if you’re over the age of 65, you may want to check on that. You may be entitled to reduce your property taxes because the bills have just <Inaudible> on their way.
Huh.
Interesting.
There you go.
Yes.
Ah, <Inaudible>.
That’s why we’re here.
Amen.
Planning tomorrow today.
Bye George, thanks so much for the phone call. It’s 844-220-0965 if you would like George’s line. Again, the number 844-220-0965. We are coming up on the final segments. It’s your last chance to get your question answered. Text machine is up and running, as well. 21232. I see some text questions here. We’ll get to those on the other side. Right now it’s time to get the three big things you need — and welcome back to On The Money here on news 96.5 WDBO’s ask the experts weekend. We have Joe Byrd and Denise Kovas, certified financial planner professionals from Certified Financial Group taking your phone calls at 844-220-0965. That’s 844-220-0965. We are five minutes away from the latest news, weather, and traffic, so let’s get back to our conversations here with our great callers. Ness in Kissimmee. Ness, you’re up next. You’re with the Certified Financial Group here on WDBO.
Good morning, Ness!
Morning.
Yes, good morning, good morning guys. Thanks a lot for taking my call. My question is, I have Medicare, actually I’m retired. I’m just wondering whether the program that I have with Freedom Health is sufficient enough that I don’t need insurance, because you guys were talking about insurance for retirement for health insurance.
Okay, well you’re talking about what you have is Medicare supplement, which picks up with part B —
Correct.
Of your Medicare doesn’t cover. So you have the basic —
Right.
Medicare. You go in the hospital, you’re going to pay for the hospital, the part B’s going to pick up the doctor’s cost. What we were talking —
Right.
Is what happens when they take you out of the hospital then you can’t go home because you have to be taken care of? Or you don’t even go to the hospital —
Right.
And you end up in a nursing home for some reason.
Mhm.
Right.
Yeah, we’re talking about long-term care insurance.
Long-term healthcare. That’s not Medicare.
Okay. Okay. So it’s long-term healthcare insurance.
That’s correct.
Okay.
It’s to pick up what your basic Medicare does not cover. As Denise said, Medicare — if you go from the hospital, my understanding is if you’re in the hospital for three days and you go into a facility, directly in the facility, Medicare will pick up the first 100 days.
Correct. For skilled services.
Right.
For skilled services.
It’s very limited.
But you will find, and I found this out dealing with my dad who unfortunately has passed away. The hospitals watch that three day clock, they’ll push you out on the curb after two days because they don’t want that three days because you go directly in the facility and Medicare kicks in. So I’m going to tell you, you’ve got to be very, very careful when it comes to how that whole situation works. The other thing is we have learned, if you go in the hospital, you have to be sure that you’re admitted, not under observation. Because if you go in under observation, Medicare part A doesn’t cover — you’re not covered.
Huh.
It’s only if you’re admitted. So you want to be —
Right.
Careful when you go in the hospital that you’re admitted. People say, well I’m in the hospital, I’ve been here two days! I’m admitted! No, you’re not. You might be under observation. Be sure that you’re talking to somebody, be sure that you know what the deal is.
Alright, Ness, that help you?
<Inaudible>.
Okay.
Okay.
So then, you guys do have that kind of insurance policy or something? A backup?
We have different options.
Yes, there are different insurance policies available depending on your needs. Absolutely.
Could you guys send me a list or something that I could go by and see what the prices are going to be?
Why don’t you give us a call at the office and we can have a conversation? Our number is 407-869-9800. Give us a call and we can help you out. Okay.
Alright, Ness. Thanks so much for the phone call. If you want on Ness’ line, it’s 844-220-0965.
Let’s circle back to Gary, Gary Abley, our colleague sent us about five consecutive texts here about the situation in nursing homes, which is very, very important. I didn’t get it on the first text. But why don’t you read those?
Okay. We can start off here from number one. We also recommend an independent review of the financials of the facility. My in-laws were in a facility in Tampa that is now bankrupt, elevators not working, limited dining, etcetera. Taxes could be higher on IRA distributions if someone waits to take it when also drawing Social Security. That’s two fun facts.
Yes, but the important thing is — and this is critical, because if you go in a facility and you —
And you go bankrupt.
To be there the rest of your life —
It’s a probably.
Yes.
Now you’re about on the streets and maybe if you paid a down payment or who knows what and it’s — yes. That’s another good point, Gary. Appreciate it very much.
Thanks, buddy.
Gary’s got that workshop coming up, right Denise?
Yep.
Plug those workshops, got one minute left.
It is. Dag durn. It’s coming up quickly too. September 16th in our offices. It’s going to be that Saturday from 11:00 until 1:00pm. He’ll be serving light refreshments. He’ll be talking about financial basics. Your life strategies for success in financials. So come out and visit Gary. He’s got some good information. Again, it’s in our offices on September 16th from 11:00 to 1:00.
Our office is in Altamont Springs just south of 434. You can go to our website, financialgroup.com. Financialgroup.com. Click on workshops, you make a reservation right there. In addition to being a certified financial planner professional, Gary is also a CPA. Highly qualified and a great educator. Hope to see ya there!
Yeah, wow. That was a fast hour today!
How about that?
It seemed fast to you, eh, it was fast. Alright.
Yep.
Well, hope next Saturday at 9:00am will be just as fast. That’s when we will be back here with the certified financial planner professionals of the Certified Financial Group planning tomorrow —
Today!
Right here on News 96.5 WDBO. Time, place, news, weather, and traffic in an update on Hurricane Harvey right now.
Dictation made on 8/30/2017 4:42 PM EDT.