Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 4, 2015

11

THE GOOD LIFE

Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 4, 2015

SOCIAL SECURITY OFFERS LUMP SUM PAYOUTS TO RETIREES

FYI - SENIORS - DON’T BE A TARGET

THE F.B.I. Common Fraud Schemes webpage provides tips on how you can protect you and your 
family from fraud. Senior Citizens especially should be aware of fraud schemes for the following 
reasons:

 Senior citizens are most likely to have a “nest egg,” to own their home, and/or to have excellent 
credit—all of which make them attractive to con artists.

People who grew up in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were generally raised to be polite and trusting. 
Con artists exploit these traits, knowing that it is difficult or impossible for these individuals to say 
“no” or just hang up the telephone.

 Older Americans are less likely to report a fraud because they don’t know who to report it to, are 
too ashamed at having been scammed, or don’t know they have been scammed. Elderly victims may 
not report crimes, for example, because they are concerned that relatives may think the victims no 
longer have the mental capacity to take care of their own financial affairs.

When an elderly victim does report the crime, they often make poor witnesses. Con artists know the 
effects of age on memory, and they are counting on elderly victims not being able to supply enough 
detailed information to investigators. In addition, the victims’ realization that they have been 
swindled may take weeks—or more likely, months—after contact with the fraudster. This extended 
time frame makes it even more difficult to remember details from the events.

Senior citizens are more interested in and susceptible to products promising increased cognitive 
function, virility, physical conditioning, anti-cancer properties, and so on. In a country where new 
cures and vaccinations for old diseases have given every American hope for a long and fruitful life, 
it is not so unbelievable that the con artists’ products can do what they claim.

 For more information go to: http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/seniors

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HELPFUL HINT: Burned a pot of rice? Just place a piece of white bread on top of the 
rice for 5-10 minutes to draw out the burned flavor. Be careful not to scrape the burned pieces off 
of the bottom of the pan when serving the rice

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FOR YOUR FUNNY BONE 

“Now, Ms. Lyons,” said the doctor, “you say you have shooting pains in your neck, dizziness, and 
constant nausea. Just for the record, how old are you?” “Why, I’m going to be 39 on my next birthday,” 
the woman replied indignantly. “Hmmm,” muttered the doctor, “Got a slight loss of memory, too.”

 ~ ~ ~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! … April Birthdays…

Howard Rubin, Mary Harley, Bette White, Dorothy White, Doris Behrens, Freda Bernard,

Beth Copti, Terri Cummings, Marilyn Diaz, Virginia Elliott, Elma Flores, Julia Gottesman, 
Betty Jo Gregg, Barbara Lampman, Betty Mackie, Elizabeth Rassmusen, Maria Reyes, 
Marian DeMars, Anne Schryver, Chrisine Bachwansky, Colleen McKernan, Sandy Swanson, 
Hattie Harris, Hank Landsberg, Ken Anhalt, Shannon Vandevelde

 . *To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. 
YEAR of birth not required.

ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the Hart Park 
House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 

 YMCA San Gabriel Valley Intervale Senior Café: Monday-Friday at 12:00 Noon 

(Participants are urged to arrive no later than 11:45 A.M.) 

All seniors 60 and up can take part in the lunch program. There is a suggested donation of $2.00 
for those 60 and over and $3.75 for non-senior guests. Daily reservations are necessary as space is 
limited. Please call 24 hours in advance...626.355.0256

HAWAIIAN AND POLYNESIAN DANCE CLASS: Every Tuesday morning from 10am to 11am. 
Join instructor Barbara Dempsey as she instructs you in the art of hula.

BINGO: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00pm. Cards are only $0.25 each! Everyone is welcome to 
join. May be canceled if less than 5 people.

FREE BLOOD PRESSURE TESTING: 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11am to 12pm. No appt. 
is necessary.

BRAIN GAMES: Tuesday, March 17th, 11am -12pm, improve your memory and strengthen your 
brain. Activities facilitated by Swati Puri, Community Liaison for ComForcare Senior Services in 
Pasadena.

FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION: Wednesday, March 18 from 10:30am to Noon. Attorney Lem 
Makupson is available for legal consultation. He specializes in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates, 
and Injury. Appointment are required by calling 626-355-7394.

CHAIR YOGA: Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:45 am, except on the third Monday of 
the month. A suggested donation of $5 at one of the classes is requested, but is not required.

CASE MANAGEMENT: Meets the 2nd Thursday of the month. Case Management services are 
provided by the YWCA and provide assistance in a variety of areas. Appointments are required and 
can be scheduled by calling the HPH Office at 626-355-7394.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS: Every second Thursday of the month the Hart Park House Senior 
Center celebrates birthdays of our patrons. The free birthday cake is provided by the Sierra Madre 
Civic Club.

GAME DAY: Every Thursday starting at 12:45pm. A regular group of seniors play poker. Other 
games available for use.

TAX ASSISTANCE: Every Thursday February 5th through April 9th from 1:00pm-2:00pm. Don 
Brunner is available for income tax consultation. Appointments are required, call 626-355-7394.

FREE STRENGTH TRAINING CLASS: Every Friday from 12:45pm to 1:30pm with Lisa 
Brandley. The class utilizes light weights for low impact resistance training. All materials for the 
class are provided.

SENIOR CLUB: Every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown bag lunch at 11:30am. 
Club meeting at noon. Bingo 12:30-3:30pm. Annual Membership is only $10.00.

LUNCH & LEARN PRESENTATION - Thursday, April 16th, 2015 beginning at 12:00pm

Tanya Mazzolini from The Kensington will give a talk about French artist Henri Matisee while 
demonstrating a project in his style of art. Matisee, known for his use of color and his fluid and 
original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily 
as a painter. Matisse is commonly regarded along with Pablo Picasso and Marcel Dunchamp, as one 
of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the 
opening decades of the twentieth century. 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS


Dear Savvy Senior:

I’ve heard that Social Security offers a lump-sum 
payment to retirees who need some extra cash. I have 
not yet started drawing my benefits and would like to 
investigate this option. What can you tell me?

Almost Retired

 Dear Almost:

There are actually two different kinds of Social 
Security claiming strategies that can provide retirees 
a big lump-sum benefit, but you need to be past full 
retirement age to be eligible, and there are financial 
drawbacks you need to be aware of too. 

 First, let’s review the basics. Remember that while 
workers can begin drawing their Social Security 
retirement benefits anytime between ages 62 and 
70, full retirement age is currently 66 for those born 
between 1943 and 1954, but it rises in two-month 
increments to 67 for those born in 1960 and later. 
You can find your full retirement age at ssa.gov/pubs/
ageincrease.htm.

 At full retirement age, you are entitled to 100 
percent of your benefits. If you claim earlier you’ll 
receive less, while if you delay you’ll get more – 
roughly 8 percent more for each year until age 70.

 Lump Sum Options

 If you are past full retirement age, and have 
not yet filed for your benefits, the Social Security 
Administration offers a retroactive lump-sum 
payment that’s worth six months of benefits.

 Here’s how it works. Let’s say you were planning 
to delay taking your Social Security benefits past age 
66, but you changed your mind at 66 and six months. 
You could then claim a lump-sum payment equal to 
those six months of benefits. So, for instance, if your 
full retirement age benefit were $2,000, you would be 
entitled to a $12,000 lump sum payment.

 If you decided at age 66 and four months that 
you wanted to file retroactively, you’d get only four 
months’ worth of benefits in your lump sum, because 
SSA rules prohibit you from claiming benefits that 
pre-date your full retirement age. 

 Another option that provides even more cash is 
the “file and suspend” strategy. Again, this option is 
only available to people on (or after) full retirement 
age.

 Here’s how this strategy works. Let’s say you’re 66, 
and you decide to delay your benefits. You could file 
for your benefit and then immediately suspend it. 
This gives you the ability to collect a lump sum going 
back to the date you filed. So if you need money at age 
69 for example, and your full retirement age benefit 
was $2,000, you could get a three-year lump sum of 
$72,000.

Drawbacks

The big downside to these strategies is that once 
you accept a lump-sum payment, you’ll lose all the 
delayed retirement credits you’ve accrued, and your 
future monthly retirement benefit will be reduced to 
reflect the amount you already received. 

 Here’s an example of how this works. Let’s say that 
you are entitled to a $2,480 monthly benefit at age 
69. By taking a three-year lump sum payment, your 
future benefits will shrink back to $2,000 per month, 
which is what you would have received at your full 
retirement age. This also affects your future survivor 
benefit to your spouse or other eligible family 
members after you die.

 You also need to consider Uncle Sam. Depending on 
your income, Social Security benefits may be taxable, 
and a lump-sum payment could boost the amount of 
benefits that are taxed. To help you calculate this, see 
IRS Publication 915 “Social Security and Equivalent 
Railroad Retirement Benefits” at irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/
p915.pdf, or call 800-829-3676 and ask them to mail 
you a copy.

 One other caveat: If you’re married and you “file 
and suspend” your Social Security benefit, you cannot 
file a “restricted application” too, which gives you the 
ability to collect spousal benefits while delaying your 
own retirement benefit past full retirement age. 

 Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. 
Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.
org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today 
show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.


KATIE Tse..........This and That

NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH

Tomorrow is Easter, and where will 
you be? In one sense, it’s a literal 
question. Will you be in church? 
Will you celebrate with family? Will 
tomorrow be different than any 
other day? And in another sense 
it is a spiritual question. Where 
are you in relation to God? Is He 
a philosophical idea floating out 
in space? Is He some superstitious concept left over 
from the pre-enlightened era? Or is He your Lord and 
Savior? Because the question, “where will you be?” is 
really asking more than just the location of your physical 
body tomorrow. It’s asking where your soul will be for 
all eternity.

 Most people don’t like to talk about these things. I get 
very uncomfortable at the prospect of telling family or 
friends that, although they are smart, kind, moral people, 
the only way they’ll get to heaven is through Jesus (John 
14:6, Matt. 7:13-14). Talk about narrow-minded! It just 
doesn’t seem fair that a loving God would let kind, moral 
people go to hell. Shouldn’t it be that, if my good deeds 
outweigh my bad ones, then I get in? 

 The reason this theory is found in so many religions 
is because it goes right along with our natural way of 
thinking. When we compare ourselves to ourselves, 
we look pretty good! Many of us even look great when 
we compare ourselves to others. “Susie may be nice, 
but I contribute to charity and volunteer at church.” “I 
may have cheated on my taxes, but it’s not like I held 
up a bank!” But let’s extrapolate a bit farther. “I caused 
someone to become paralyzed, but they’re still alive.” 
“Okay, I committed manslaughter, but that’s not the same 
as murder.” “I let a village of peasants starve to death, 
but what is that compared to the nation?” This line of 
thought vindicates Stalin’s infamous quote, “One death is 
a tragedy, a million is a statistic.” 

 Of course that’s an extreme example, but you understand 
the point. When we use ourselves or others as the 
standard, we can finagle any conclusion we want. This is 
especially true in these modern times, when situational 
ethics and values clarification have replaced objective 
truth. Issues that used to be black and white have been 
diluted into 50 shades of gray.

 So if God and the afterlife are real, how will He determine 
whether we are good enough to go to heaven? Maybe we 
should look at the current occupants of heaven. Who’s up 
there? God is. What’s He like? He’s sinless and perfect. 
He’s so sinless and perfect, in fact, that He could not 
tolerate Satan and his demonic angels, and that’s why He 
kicked them out. Anything less than sinless perfection 
cannot enter heaven.

 Who then can be saved? No one is perfect, that’s 
impossible! And that is precisely the point of Christianity. 
It is humanly impossible to get to heaven. That’s why, if 
God wanted us to be with Him in heaven, His only choice 
was to send His Son to die in our place. Only the death 
of a sinless person could atone for sin. Only one person 
has ever fit that bill, and His name is Jesus. He paid your 
fare. He doesn’t pay it when you accept Him; it’s already 
finished. It’s like the Olympics. People who watched it 
on TV were surprised to see so many empty seats in the 
stands. What they discovered was that businesses bought 
out large sections for their employees and clients, but not 
everyone showed up. Jesus bought your place in heaven. 
But He doesn’t force Himself upon you; you must choose 
to accept Him as your Savior.

 As Christians, we look forward to heaven, and 
particularly the rapture. It might be soon, it might be 
hundreds of years away. Either way, when we see the 
events of the world, the heinous acts committed against 
innocents, we cry out to God, “Come, take us now!” 

 Certainly the rapture will be a wonderful thing, and 
it’s natural to pine for it. But then I look at my family 
and friends who don’t know Jesus and think, “If God 
took us now, they’d still be here.” The Bible teaches that 
the tribulation which will follow the rapture will be the 
darkest, most harrowing time the world has ever seen. 
Many will follow a charismatic leader who will seemingly 
solve all the world’s problems, only to discover too late 
that he is the Antichrist. In the midst of that horror, 
however, there will be a great spiritual awakening and 
many will be saved. But a great number of them will be 
martyred for their faith. It’s that realization that causes 
me to say, “Okay, God, thank you for extending the time, 
so that my loved ones may accept You and be spared that 
suffering.”

 You see, the only thing holding God back from taking 
us now is that He wants people to be saved. He is not 
willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). But He will 
not wait forever. There will be a day when the trumpet 
sounds and His children will be called home. Whether it 
is soon or far from now is not the point. Either way, the 
time is short for each of us. None of us know how much 
time we have left on this earth. So it comes back to the 
original question, “Where will you be?” 

 If you choose to accept Jesus as your Savior you can 
pray this prayer and He will come into your heart and 
give you peace with God --today and forever!

 “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask 
for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and 
rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You 
to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow 
You as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.” 


UPCOMING EXCURSIONS:

THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE (LOS ANGELES)

 Thursday, April 30, 2015 8:45am to 3:30pm

 Meeting Location: Hart Park House Senior Center

 Cost: $15 (Does not include lunch)

Opened in 1993, built at a cost of $50 million by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named after Simon 
Wiesenthal, Holocaust Survivor. We’ll have a 3 hour docent-led tour of the Museum of Tolerance, a 
multimedia museum in Los Angeles designed to examine racism and prejudice around the world with 
a strong focus on the history of the Holocaust. Lunch will be on your own at Factor’s Deli, a landmark 
location for over 65 years. It’s a booth-lined Jewish delicatessen known for its matzo ball soup and 
corned beef on rye. Participants should bring money for lunch and souvenirs. Last day to register is 
April 22nd. Level of walking: Medium to high. For more information, please call the Hart Park House 
at 626-355-7394.

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SENIOR CINEMA • 1st and 3rd Wednesday

Shown at the Hart Park House Senior Center 

April 15th – Maleficent (2014)

As a beautiful young woman of pure heart, Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) has an idyllic 
life in a forest kingdom. When an invading army threatens the land, Maleficent rises 
up to become its fiercest protector. However, a terrible betrayal hardens her heart 
and twists her into a creature bent on revenge. She engages in an epic battle with the 
invading king’s successor, then curses his newborn daughter, Aurora, realizing only 
later that the child holds the keep to peace in the kingdom. Start time: 1:00pm (run 
time 98 minutes)


626-355-5700245 West Sierra Madre BlvdSierra Madre, CA 91024www.TheKensingtonSierraMadre.comRCFE License198601953The Kensington isnow open andwelcoming residentsOffering seniors the special benefitsof an enhanced spectrum of care and ourinnovative, two-tiered memory care programSelect Suites Still AvailableCall or Visit to Reserve Yours Today