by Meridian Bank Texas

Many times, people put off saving for retirement, which can seriously derail retirement planning. While it’s always a good idea to have a trusted financial advisor with whom you can speak about your goals and progress, these 10 tips will get you started on the right track to saving for retirement.

1. Put as much money into your company’s 401(k) as you can. The maximum cap is 15%, but at the very least, contribute up to what your company matches. Otherwise, you’re throwing away free money.

2. If your company does not offer a 401(k) plan, open your own IRA (Individual Retirement Account).

3. Pay yourself first. Have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and invested for retirement.

4. Do not dip into your retirement savings, before seeking advice from your financial advisor.

5. Set new priorities to spend less and save more – now. Sometimes this means selling a more expensive car and buying a cheaper one to cut back on your car payments, thus giving you more money to sock away.

6. Develop a retirement savings plan with the help of a financial advisor. It’s important to be realistic and know how much money you will need to live the lifestyle you want in retirement.

7. Invest your savings appropriately. Learn when to take on more risk and when to take on less.

8. Commit to saving more. Calculate the most you think you can put away for retirement, and then add 10% to that amount. That’s a big commitment, but well worth the rewards.

9. Don’t “cash in” your retirement money when switching jobs as you could lose money to taxes and penalties. Instead, roll your money over to another plan or an IRA.

10. Start now! No matter how young or old you are, you don’t have time to waste. Starting to save immediately will get you on the right track for retirement that much sooner.

If you are age 50 or 60 and you actually feel 10 or 15 years younger, it just might be shocking to be called Grandmother Jones at the grocery store. You know who Grandmother Jones is; she’s your husband’s mother, and certainly not you. As a child, your Grandma and Grandpa’s last name may have been included when you spoke of them, so you could identify which set of grandparents you were referring to since both were called the same.

Over the years we have moved from Grandmother and Grandfather to Grandpa and Grandma, and then on to Meemaw and Pawpaw type names.  For you and other forever-young baby boomers, Gran, Granny and Gramps just won’t do. It doesn’t feel right, and the baby boomer generation was built on “how it feels” related issues.  The whole generation is, in fact, reinventing old age according to the experts at AARP.

As it turns out, men are showing that they are just as sensitive to age-related names as women are. Pawpaw does still work for some, but most are now looking for a unique representation of who they are. One of the writers for Saturday Night Live reported that he wanted to be called “Sheriff.”   Some go for names that are a cue to their personality or even an extension of their own name, like Skipper or Coach.

I have a friend whose grandmother’s name is Honey, another Sweetie, and still another is called Mia and a grandpa who is called Tooie.  Nana remains a popular overall choice. One grandmother chose Oma and another YiaYia (YaYa) even though neither was German or Greek.  We have lost any inhibitions of a name being related to nationality and sometimes choose one specifically because of that to express our historical background.

Often the children of baby boomers are puzzled that their parents are so determined to finding a name that they can call their own.  Mia’s daughter asked her “are you afraid to be called Grandma & Grandpa, are you concerned that it sounds too old?”  Some of today’s boomers say it’s not about trying to stay young, it’s about recognizing their individuality.  So these new grandparents have managed to convince their children and come up with a name they can all agree to.

Then again, one grandmother says she doesn’t care what her granddaughter calls her, just so she calls her.

Grandparent’s Day is September 11th and is a day set aside exclusively for your grandfather and grandmother who have played a very influential role in your family.  No matter what you call them, enjoy and celebrate their impact in your life and your children’s.

Summertime is the perfect time for the grandkids to spend some extra time with Grandparents.  It is just not so easy to entertain these days with grandkids that are use to constant activities and stimulation. Give them some of the old treasures that may not be part of their norm.

Knowledge can be taught, but wisdom?  Yes, I think so, through example.  When you are the luckiest people in the world getting to have special time with your g-kids, make sure you intentionally and delicately bestow some good virtues on them.  Make a point to express how important it is to you to: turn the lights off when you leave a room, take some of your extras to the local food pantry to help others who need them (the process of collecting and preparing the items will actually be a fun time), make soft and gentle comments about what type of songs you want and don’t want to hear on your radio.  Careful not to overstep, but you can let them know that for you some of the words or phrases in some songs are just hard for your heart to hear.

Listening is such an extreme luxury for the kids nowadays.  Let them talk; let them tell you about them and their world as they see it.  It may not be really easy to get going but once the joyful words start flowing they will love the time and interest you are showing.  Kids lives are generally so fast paced that getting to talk; really talk about what is happening with them will be a refreshing treat, one that can ultimately set a tradition with both of you and hopefully may build solid link forever.

Get them outdoors.  Kids just don’t get outside enough anymore so whenever possible, get your grandkids out of the house, away from the TV, the computer, and the Wii. When you were kids you probably spent a lot of time in the backyard. When you have the kids over, take them out in your yard and play or take a nature walk.  Walk along a stream. Skip rocks on a lake. Get them swimming in something other than a chlorinated pool. Gaze at the night sky. Find the Big Dipper. Count shooting stars. Contemplate the universe and God and man together.   You live in Texas and there are no wider- open spaces to teach them to adore.  Show them what nature has to offer.

Share life with them. Remember that old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, well it is useless if no one sees it.  Pull out old pictures of you to share with them, make sure they know and remember the younger you too.  The same goes for their parents.  Bring out Mom or Dad’s kiddo photographs and talk about the days of, the laughs and the goobers that were made.

Memories of a lifetime are made from the simplest pleasures.  Enjoy your special time with the Grandkids.

The good news, Americans are living longer than before. If you’re over 65, you are part of the fastest-growing population in the U.S., thanks to today’s advanced medicine and healthier, active lifestyles.

By 2020, there will be more than 40 million licensed drivers age 65 and older, according to AAA. This group is more likely to wear their seatbelts, less likely to drink and drive, and less likely to speed, BUT, more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash.

The senior group have the second-highest crash death rate per mile (next to teenagers), and are at the highest risk for intersection crashes. They also are more likely to injure themselves than others in a crash.

The ability to get around in the future was named as an area of concern so high that it was only topped by financial security and healthcare cost, in a recent AAA survey of more than 1,000 seniors. Almost 90 percent of those 1,000 seniors said they drive themselves to get around on a daily basis.

Because of this concern, family apprehension and the senior groups desire to change these statistics several groups, including AAA, are looking seriously at efforts to help seniors improve their drivers safety.

The automobile association has developed “Roadwise Review: A Tool to Help Seniors Drive Safely Longer,” a computer-based screening tool that enables older drivers to test their cognitive, physical and visual abilities in the privacy of their own homes.
The tool helps identify physiological changes that could affect driving and problem areas correlated with crash risk. For instance, it tests flexibility, the ability to see in low light and to scan across a field of view, all functional abilities critical for safe driving. “Roadwise Review” also offers practical suggestions for improvement. The measures in AAA Roadwise Review were scientifically validated in a study of crash risk in nearly 1,000 seniors.

The most important and positive action you can take is to decrease the driving risks associated with aging. Do not wait until problems become serious. Tending to your health and well-being on a regular basis can help in your efforts to stay independent and mobile. Some of the most common risk factors related to safe driving are listed below along with suggested steps you can take:

Visual decline:  Get your eyes checked yearly and make sure that corrective lenses are kept current.  Keep your windshield, mirrors and headlights clean.

Hearing decline: Get your hearing checked yearly and if hearing aids are prescribed, make sure they are worn while driving.

Mobility and reaction time: An occupational therapist or a certified driving rehabilitation specialist can prescribe equipment.

Medicine: Talk with a doctor about the effects of medications you are taking on driving ability.

Sleeping well is essential to driving well. If there are problems, try to improve nighttime sleep conditions and talk with a doctor about the effect of any sleep medications on driving.

Aside from taking care of your health, you can take an active role in helping yourself or another senior to drive more safely.
Find the right car and aids you need for driving. Choose a vehicle with automatic transmission, power steering, and power brakes. Keep your car in good working condition by visiting your mechanic for scheduled maintenance.

Take it slow and give yourself plenty of room. If cars are passing you on both the right and left lanes, you may be driving more slowly than you used to. Move into the slow lane so others can pass you safely. Also, to avoid problems if the vehicle in front of you stops suddenly, stay back about two car lengths. Be sure to yield the right of way in intersections. Senior drivers accidents are statically the highest at intersections when making left turns. Work to avoid those scenarios altogether by making successive right turns and keeping going around the block or blocks to get to your destination.

Avoid distractions. In general, many accidents happen because of distractions like talking on the phone, tuning the radio, eating or drinking, reaching for something, turning your head to talk with a passenger or looking around at the scenery instead of the road. Even a few seconds of taking your mind off driving can be precarious.

Avoid uncomfortable driving situations. Many senior drivers voluntarily begin to make changes in their driving practices. For instance, you may decide to drive only during daylight hours if you have trouble seeing well in reduced light. If fast-moving traffic bothers you, consider staying off freeways, highways, and find street routes instead. You may also decide to avoid driving in bad weather (rain, thunderstorms, snow, hail, ice). If you are going to a place that is unfamiliar to you, it is a good idea to plan your route before you leave so that you feel more confident and avoid getting lost.

For more information, contact your local AAA club or visit www.aaa.com/publicaffairs.

At the time, her eleven year old wanted muscles, and it was as simple as that. She felt he was a bit young to join a gym or health club, so she signed him up for Martial Arts classes.  After watching a few classes, she decided this would be an excellent activity for the whole family.  Both her boys loved it, the oldest earning a brown belt and the youngest earning a black belt.

Betty Ortez too earned a black belt and today, 27 years later, she hasn’t stopped.  Betty says she is still hooked on the sport that has allowed her “ loads of fun, improved coordination, strength, endurance, flexibility, self-awareness, self-defense tactics, concentration, posture, cardio, physical fitness, and it has been an excellent tool in lowering stress levels”.

A public school teacher, a mother of three boys, a grandmother of seven, and now, at age 64, she is still practicing Karate and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and proclaims that Martial Arts is the best exercise you can do, because it works all parts of the body and mind at the same time.

For twelve years, she taught martial arts at local gyms and fitness centers.  Her husband helped at times as did her son and this gave them more time to work out together and to continue the family tradition.

“When you become so involved with what you are doing, such as outsmarting your opponent, or accomplishing a specific Martial Arts skill, you forget about the difficulty level involved. Soon you realize how much you have accomplished, and you just constantly want to learn more”.

Betty Ortez is calling out to local seniors to check out Martial Arts.  “At any age, it is an easy program to get involved in; it is just perfect for seniors”.

Four things to watch

by Mark S. Stegman, Financial Advisor, ameripriseadvisors.com/mark.s.stegman

One of the biggest hurdles to the passage of the sweeping health care overhaul was to determine how it will be funded. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will tap a variety of funding sources, and will shift some costs from one part of the system to another as modified by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010. As a result, the average health consumer may see shifts in their premiums, taxes, deductibles, and co-pays. Here are four ways in which the health care reform bill might possibly change your finances, and each of them is worth watching.

You may receive a tax subsidy.
The new law establishes state- or region-based insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses can shop for insurance plans. These regulated plans will be subject to standardization rules, and may offer better benefits than some current plans – but that may also drive their price tag higher. Enter the tax subsidy program, which will offset some of the increased cost of plans available in the exchanges, beginning in 2014. Families earning up to four times the poverty rate ($88,200 for a family of four in 2009) will be eligible for a tax subsidy that ensures they pay no more than 9.5 percent of their income.

You’ll pay if you don’t play.
Beginning in 2014, the federal government will fine those who don’t have health insurance. Why? Those most likely to risk living without health insurance are the young and the healthy. However, when insurers are forced to cover anyone who applies, and the healthy people leave the system, the insured pool is likely to need more health services, and be more expensive on average. That starts a negative trend where premiums are driven higher, and even more healthy people opt out.

The insurance mandate, for which there are only a handful of exemptions, will levy fines that go up for the first three years.

You might pay more if you earn more.
Couples who earn more than $250,000 a year, and singles earning more than $200,000 through wages or self-employment, will be subject to an additional tax starting in 2013. If you fall into one of these categories, you will pay an additional 0.9 percent tax for Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) on earned income over the threshold amount. Additionally, for couples with modified adjusted gross income (AGI) over $250,000, ($200,000 for singles) there is a new Medicare surtax of 3.8% on the lesser of net investment income or the excess of AGI over the threshold amount. This tax also begins in 2013.

Your premiums might rise.
Insurance policy pricing today is based on risk. So, sicker people pay higher premiums and healthier people pay less. The reform effort seeks to even out those premiums, which will help those at a higher risk, but it will hurt those on the lower end of the risk scale. Subsidies, and the ability to remain on a parent’s plan longer, will help offset the increased cost.

Other Implications.
Other ways that individuals may be affected is in the way plans may evolve to avoid being in the so-called Cadillac Plan tax. Plans may ask enrollees to share more of the costs for premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. The use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) where individuals save money for out-of-pocket health costs on a tax-advantaged basis may increase.

There is one sure thing: the reform bill will have an impact on the entire industry. So, no matter whether you remain with your employer-sponsored health plan or you take advantage of a new plan through your state’s insurance exchange, there will be changes. Changes worth watching.