Mountain Views News          Saturday, December 19, 2015

11

THE GOOD LIFE

 Mountain Views News Saturday, December 19, 2015 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

HELPING AN AGING PARENT WITH THEIR FINANCES


Dear Savvy Senior

Can you offer any tips on helping an elderly parent with their 
finances? My 82-year-old mother is having some trouble 
keeping up with her bills, and I just found out that she 
has been making a lot of small contributions to suspicious 
charities. 

Concerned Daughter

Dear Concerned,

Millions of adult children today serve as financial helpers 
to their elderly or ill parents or other loved ones. They 
provide services like paying bills, handling deposits and 
investments, filing insurance claims, preparing taxes and 
more. Here are some tips and resources that can help you 
help your mom.

Have a Talk

Taking on some or all of the financial responsibility of 
an elderly parent or other loved one can sometimes be 
awkward and difficult. 

 The first step in helping your mom is to have a thoughtful 
and respectful talk with her, expressing your concerns, and 
offering your help in simplifying her financial life. If you 
have siblings, it can be a good idea to get them involved 
too. This can help you head off any possible hard feelings, 
plus, with others involved, your mom will know everyone is 
concerned. 

Get Organized

If your mom is willing to let you help manage her financial 
affairs your first order of business is to get organized by 
making a list of her financial accounts, and locate her 
important legal documents. This will help you get a handle 
on her overall financial situation and let you know if any key 
documents are missing. Your list should include her: 

 Monthly bills: Phone, cable, water and trash, gas, electric, 
credit card accounts, etc.

 Financial accounts: Including bank accounts, brokerage 
and mutual fund accounts, safe-deposit boxes and any 
other financial assets she has.

Company benefits: Any retirement plans, pensions or 
health benefits from your current or former employer. 

 Insurance policies: Life, home, auto, long-term care, 
Medicare, etc. 

 Important legal documents: A will, advanced medical 
directive which includes a living will and health-care 
proxy, and durable power of attorney which gives one or 
more people the legal authority to handle her finances if 
she becomes incapacitated. Make sure these documents are 
prepared.

 Taxes: Copies of your mom’s income tax returns over the 
past few years. 

 Contact list: Names and phone numbers of key contacts 
like insurance agents, financial advisor, tax preparer, family 
attorney, etc. 

Seek Advice

If your mom has considerable assets or a complex financial 
situation, you and your mom should sit down with her 
financial advisor or attorney to review her situation. If 
she doesn’t have anyone, consider hiring a reputable fee-
only financial planner who can help you figure things out 
and put a smart plan in place. Fee-only planners do not 
earn commissions by selling you financial products. They 
charge only for their services, which can be around $150 to 
$300 an hour. To locate one in your area, visit napfa.org or 
garrettplanningnetwork.com. 

Simplify Financial Tasks

One of the easiest ways to simplify your mom’s monthly 
financial chores is to set up automatic payments for her 
utilities and other routine bills, and arrange for direct 
deposit of her income sources. You can also make 
arrangements to have her bank statements mailed directly 
to you, so you can monitor what’s coming in and going 
out each month. Or, you could set up your mom’s online 
banking service (if available), so you can pay bills and 
monitor her account anytime. 

 For more tips on financial caregiving, the 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers four 
guides on “Managing Someone Else’s Money” that 
you can read online at consumerfinance.gov/blog/
managing-someone-elses-money.

 If you need some help or live far away, you may want to 
consider hiring a daily money manager (aadmm.com, 877-
326-5991) who can come in once or twice a month to pay 
bills, make deposits, decipher health insurance statements 
and balance her checkbook. Costs range between $50 and 
$150 per hour. 

 

 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.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …December Birthdays*

Pat Karamitros, Joan Hufnagel, Mary Alice Cervera, Carol Horejsi, Shirley Anhalt, 
Mignon Grijalva, Helen Reese, Levon Yapoujian, Toni Buckner, Lottie Bugl, Pat 
McGuire, Sheila Wohler, Nan Murphy, Eleanor Hensel, Sylvia Curl, Elizabeth Levie, 
Gayle Licher, Cindy Barran, and Melissa Stute. 

 *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

 

 Activities at the Senior Center

 YWCA San Gabriel Valley - Intervale Senior Cafe 

Seniors 60 years of age and up can participate in the YWCA Intervale daily lunch program held 
at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Meals are served Monday through Friday at 12:00 pm 
and participants are encouraged to arrive by 11:45 am. Meals are a suggested donation of $3.00 
for seniors 60 and over or $5.00 for non-senior guests. Daily reservations are necessary, space is 
limited. Please reserve your lunch by calling 626-355-0256.

Tech Talk: Held on Monday, October 19th and 26th from 1:30-2:30pm. Learn how to use your new 
technology devises. Please reserve your space with the Hart Park House by calling 626-355-7394. 

 

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: Thursday, October 15th, 10:30am - 11:30am, improve your memory and strengthen 
your brain. Activities facilitated by Swati Puri, Community Liaison for New Wave Home care of 
Pasadena. 

 

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesday, October 21st 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. 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 at the Hart Park House. The free 
birthday cake is provided by the Sierra Madre Civic Club. 

 

Game Day: Every Thursday starting at 12:00pm. (Please note the time change.) A regular group of 
seniors play poker. Other games available for use. 

 

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. 


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

LOST IN TRANSLATION

I am, in many ways, a closet old 
person. I can’t say that since 
I’m older now, the younger 
generation annoys me. Even 
when I was the younger 
generation I still felt old on the 
inside. One of the few ways in which I’m slowly, 
unwillingly, adapting to modern living is through 
use of the smart phone --or, as I sometimes call 
mine, the dumb phone. 

 But as time goes by I make baby steps along 
the continuum of technological progress. With 
my phone I’m able to access email and the internet. 
And if it’s an exceptionally good day and the planets 
are all aligned, I might even be able to use the GPS 
feature to navigate unfamiliar territory --like Old 
Town Pasadena. Aside from that, I often use my 
phone for texting. 

 My parents sometimes tease me about my 
tendency to text rather than call people. “Gosh!” 
they say as I fire off a series of messages to my 
husband or friends. “Wouldn’t it be easier just to 
call them?” “But it’s not an emergency,” I reply. 
“This way they can read it at their leisure and 
respond to it when they feel like it.” “Aren’t you 
meeting them for lunch in half an hour? Doesn’t 
sound like much leisure time to me!” Despite their 
protests, my texting usually turns out okay. That 
is, unless I’ve failed to actually check who it is I’m 
sending the texts to!

 Last week was a real doozy as far as texting was 
concerned. I met one of my friends for lunch (we’ll 
call her Sandy), and of course all our pre-lunch 
correspondence was by text. The day after our 
lunch, Sandy texted that she had grapefruits and 
lemons for me. Meanwhile, one of my other friends 
(we’ll call her Tina) texted me that her father was 
not doing well. At some point during all this I 
texted Sandy “How’s your dad doing?” It was late 
at night so I realized before Sandy responded that I 
had mistakenly texted her instead of Tina.

 “I’m so sorry, Sandy!” I wrote, “My friend’s dad 
isn’t doing well and I texted you on accident. But I 
hope your dad is doing well! Have a great weekend!” 
Sandy’s a good sport and texted back, “I’m sorry to 
hear that and I will pray for him. Thankfully my 
dad is doing well.” This incident in and of itself 
was enough to cause minor embarrassment, but 
miscommunication struck again the next day when 
my husband and I were debating (by text) what to 
do for dinner. “Are you home?” I asked him, “I 
will be there soon.” He was taking an annoyingly 
long time to respond when I suddenly received this 
query from Sandy, “Hi, I’m not home right now. Do 
you want to pick up the fruit tomorrow?” My face 
flushed. That’s really bad when you’re demanding 
that your friend be home so you can pick up free 
fruit at your convenience! “Oh my gosh Sandy!” 
I texted back, “I keep texting you thinking I’m 
texting other people! You must think I’m a nut!” 
Well, at least Sandy and I have been friends for a 
long time so she’s used to my nuttiness. The moral 
of the story is: Check before you text, especially if 
the phone you’re using is smarter than yourself. 

 *As promised in an earlier article, I am trying to 
keep my column light and humorous. However, I 
see very little to take lightly in the way our country 
and world is going. The Bible teaches that “The 
world is passing away… But he who does the will of 
God abides forever” (1 John 2:17). I honestly believe 
that, apart from Divine intervention, our world 
is on a collision course with destruction. While 
saving the world is beyond our individual control, 
the decision to save your eternal soul is not! You 
need to decide today what you will do with Jesus. 
Neutrality is not an option. Do not delay, as you 
have no assurance that you will have another 
opportunity. Today is the day of salvation!

 If you want to receive Jesus as your personal 
savior, pray this prayer to have Him come into 
your heart today and have peace with God forever. 
“Dear God, I confess that I am a lost sinner. I thank 
You for sending Your Son to die for me and save 
me from my sins. Please come into my heart as my 
personal Savior. I choose to follow You. Thank 
You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.”


SIERRA MADRE CANDLELIGHT WALK

DECEMBER 20TH 7:00 PM

“And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.”

 The Sierra Madre “Candlelight Walk” is a holiday island within that great Season of Celebration. 
Whether in the spring of life or the winter of reflection the candlelight procession will awaken the spirit 
of emotion in the charitable birth of a child.

 The Candlelight Walk is held each Christmas season to celebrate the journey Joseph and Mary made 
to Bethlehem where Jesus was born over 2,000 years ago. With “Mary and Joseph” leading the way, 
the procession will begin at St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Sierra Madre, accompanied by participants 
holding candles and singing traditional Christmas carols. The procession will end at Kersting Court in 
the center of town where the Christmas story will be read from the Scriptures.

 The event begins at St. Rita traveling down Baldwin to Kersting Court. It is recommended to arrive at 
6:45p.m., as the walk will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m.

626-355-5700245 West Sierra Madre BlvdSierra Madre, CA 91024www.TheKensingtonSierraMadre.comRCFE License198601953At first, Dad and I didn’tsee eye to eye about moving toThe Kensington, but sincehe did, we’re both thrilledLimited Senior Living Suites Still AvailableCall or Visit to Reserve Yours Today
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