Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, April 23, 2022

HOW TO FIND EDUCATIONAL TRIPS FOR RETIREES WHO LOVE TO LEARN 

Dear Savvy Senior:
My wife and I planning to travel much more frequently in retirement and are very interested in educational 
trips and adventures. Can you recommend any groups or firms that specialize in this type of travel geared towards 
retirees? Love to Learn 

Dear Love: 
Educational travel, which combines travel with in-depth learning opportunities has become a very popular 
way of travel among retirees. Here are a few good 
places to turn to find these types of trips in the U.S. and 
abroad. 
Tour OrganizationsOne of the best places to start is with Road Scholar 
(RoadScholar.org), which in-vented the idea of educational 
travel for older adults in the mid 1970s. The 
Bos-ton-based organization offers 5,500 learning adventures 
in all 50 states and 150 countries. 


You can search for learning adventures by location, interest, activity level and price. Road Scholar also offers 
“Choose Your Pace” senior travel tours that allow participants to adjust their level of challenge on a daily 
basis. And for skip-gen vacations, they offer tours designed specifically for grandparents traveling with their 
grandkids. 

Another excellent option is Smithsonian Journeys (SmithsonianJourneys.org), a nonprofit travel group affiliated 
with the Smithsonian Museum. They lead 350 educational trips a year on every continent that are 
led by experts from a variety of fields — academia, the diplomatic corps, scientists and curators, among 
oth-ers. 

If you’re seeking more adventure, you may want to consider ElderTreks (www.ElderTreks.com), which offers 
50-plus travelers small-group adventures by both land and sea in more than 100 countries. Their trips 
center on adventure, culture and nature, letting you get up close and personal with the locals. 

Academic Travel 
Another good source for educational trips is colleges and universities. Some of my favorites include Cornell 
University’s Adult University (SCE.Cornell.edu/travel), which offers a half-dozen educational trips and 
courses in the U.S. and abroad, each lasting a few days to a week or more. And Stanford Travel/Study 
(Alumni.Stanford.edu) that offers educational travel journeys to more than 80 countries each year. 

Most college/university trips are led by faculty who share their expertise, along with regional experts and 
local guides, and you don’t need to be an alumnus to participate. 

Also check out the Traveling Professor (TravelingProfessor.com), a small-group touring company led by 
Steve Solosky, formerly a professor at the State Univer-sity of New York. They offer a dozen or so tours 
abroad each year and take be-tween 8 and 16 people. 

Cruising OptionsIf you enjoy cruising, consider Grand Circle Travel (GCT.com), which offers edu-cational travel aboard 
small ships, and Naturalist Journeys (NaturalistJourneys.com), which specializes in nature and birding 
tours. 

American Cruise Lines (AmericanCruiseLines.com) also offers more than 35 river and coastal itineraries 
in the Northeast, Southeast, Pacific Northwest and along the Mississippi River. And it has themed cruises 
(Lewis and Clark, Mark Twain, Civil War, etc.) for people with specific historical, literary or other interests. 

And Viking River Cruises (VikingRiverCruises.com), which is geared to older trav-elers, focuses on European 
art, history and culture. Each cruise makes one to two port stops a day as the ship winds its way up 
or down Europe’s most famous rivers like the Rhine, Seine, Danube and Douro. A free sightseeing tour is 
includ-ed at all stops, and special-interest excursions are available for additional fees. Viking offers tours in 
the United States too. 

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. 

FAMILY MATTERS

 By Marc Garlett 

PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN'S INHERITANCE WITH 
A LIFETIME ASSET PROTECTION TRUST 


As a parent, you’re likely 

hoping to leave your 

children an inheritance. 
In fact, doing so may be one of the primary factors 
motivating your life’s work. But without taking the 
proper precautions, the wealth you pass on is at serious 
risk of being accidentally lost or squandered due 
to common life events, such as divorce, serious debt, 
devastating illness, and unfortunate accidents. 

Creating a will or a revocable living trust offers some 
protection for your kid’s inheritance, but often, you’ll 
be guided to distribute assets through your will or 
trust to your children at specific ages and stages, such 
as one-third at age 25, half the balance at 30, and the 
rest at 35. 

If you’ve created an estate plan, check to see if this is 
how your will or trust leaves assets to your children. If 
so, you may not have been told about another option 
that can give your children access, control, and airtight 
asset protection for whatever assets they inherit 
from you. 

I always talk to parents about the option of creating 
a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust for their children’s 
inheritance. These unique trusts safeguard your kids’ 
inheritance from being lost to common life events, 
such as divorce, serious illness, lawsuits, or even 
bankruptcy. 

But that’s not all they do. 

Indeed, the best part of these trusts is that they offer 
your kids the best of both worlds: 1) airtight asset 
protection and 2) the ability to use and control their 
inheritance. You can even provide your heirs with a 
unique educational opportunity in which they gain 
valuable experience managing and growing their inheritance. 
More on all of this below. 

Not Only for The Super Rich

Contrary to what you might think, Lifetime Asset 
Protection Trusts are not just for those with massive 
wealth. In fact, these trusts are even more useful if 
you’re leaving a relatively modest inheritance because 
they can be used to educate your children about how 
to grow your family wealth, instead of quickly blowing 
through it. 

Not to mention, the smaller the inheritance, the more 
at risk it is of getting wiped out by a single unfortunate 
event like a medical emergency, lawsuit, or serious 
accident. 

Don’t Take Any Chances

Regardless of how much financial wealth you have (or 
don’t have), if you plan to leave your kids anything 
at all, you should do everything you can to make it 
more likely that they grow what’s left behind, instead 
of losing it. This way, your resources can have a truly 
beneficial effect on their lives—and even the lives of 
future generations. 

A Lifetime Asset Protection Trust can achieve each of 
those goals and so much more. 

Not All Trusts Are Created Equal

When it comes to leaving an inheritance, most lawyers 
will advise you to place the money in a revocable 
living trust, which is the right thing to do. However, 
many of those lawyers would have you distribute the 
trust assets outright to your loved ones at specific 
ages, such as one-third at 25, half of the balance at 35, 
and the rest at 40. Check your own trust now to see if 
it does this or something similar. 

Rather than risking their inheritance by leaving it 
outright to your children at certain ages or following 

certain life events, such as graduating college, you can 
gift your assets to your children at the time of your 
death using a Lifetime Asset Protection Trust. When 
you gift the inheritance to your kids via a Lifetime Asset 
Protection Trust, the Trustee of the trust owns the 
assets, not your children. 

Therefore, if your kids ever get divorced, file bankruptcy, 
have a major medical issue, or are ordered to 
pay damages in a lawsuit, they can’t lose their inheritance 
because they never owned it in the first place. 

Here’s how it works: A Trustee of your choice holds 
the trust assets upon your death for the benefit of your 
child or children. Because a Lifetime Asset Protection 
Trust is discretionary, the Trustee has the power to 
distribute the assets at their own discretion, instead 
of being required to release them in a rigid structure. 
This discretionary power enables the Trustee to 
control when and how your kids can access their inheritance, 
so they’re not only protected from outside 
threats like ex-spouses and creditors, but from their 
own poor judgment as well. 

A Lifetime of Guidance & Support

Given that distributions from a Lifetime Asset Protection 
Trust are 100% up to the Trustee, you may be 
concerned about the Trustee’s ability to know when to 
make distributions to your child and when to withhold 
them. To address this issue, you can write up 
guidelines to the Trustee, providing the Trustee with 
direction about how you’d like the trust assets to be 
used for your beneficiaries. 

For example, many of our clients add guidelines describing 
how they’d choose to make distributions in 
different scenarios. These scenarios might involve 
higher education, the purchase of a home, a wedding, 
the start of a business, and/or travel. 

An Educational Opportunity

Beyond these benefits, a Lifetime Asset Protection 
Trust can also be set up to give your child hands-on 
experience managing financial matters, like investing, 
running a business, and charitable giving. And he or 
she will learn how to do these things with support 
from the Trustee you’ve chosen to guide them. 

This is accomplished by adding provisions to the 
trust that allow your child to become a Co-Trustee at 
a predetermined age. Serving alongside the original 
Trustee, your child will have the opportunity to invest 
and manage the trust assets under the supervision 
and tutelage of a trusted mentor. 

You can even allow your child to become Sole Trustee 
later in life, once he or she has gained enough experience 
and is ready to take full control. As Sole Trustee, 
your child would be able to resign and replace themselves 
with an independent trustee, if necessary, for 
continued asset protection. 

A Lifetime Asset Protection Trust gives you the opportunity 
to turn your child’s inheritance into a valuable 
teaching tool. Do you want to give your child the 
ability to leave trust assets to a surviving spouse or a 
charity upon their death? Or would you prefer that 
the assets are only distributed to his or her biological 
or adopted children? You might even want your child 
to create their own Lifetime Asset Protection Trust 
for their heirs. 

Lifetime Asset Protection Trusts offer you a wide variety 
of options that can be tailored to fit your values 
and family dynamics. Be sure to check your trust for 
these provisions if this is something that interests you. 

Mountain View News Saturday, April 23, 2022 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS 


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! …APRIL Birthdays* 

Howard Rubin, Anita Hardy, Hattie Harris, Wendy Senou, Mary Harley, Bette 
White, Doris Behrens, Freda Bernard, Beth Copti, Terri Cummings, Marilyn 
Diaz, Virginia Elliott, Elma Flores, Betty Jo Gregg, Barbara Lampman, Betty 
Mackie, Elizabeth Rassmusen, Maria Reyes, Marian DeMars, Anne Schryver, 
Chrisine Bachwansky, Colleen McKernan, Sandy Swanson, 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 
THE HART PARK HOUSE SENIOR CENTER IS OPEN!!!! 
SIERRA MADRE SENIOR CLUB Every Saturday from 11:30am-3:30 pm in the 
Hart Park House Senior Center. Join us as we celebrate birthdays, holidays and pay 
BINGO. Must be 50+ to join. For more information call Mark at 626-355-3951. 

DOMINOES TRAIN GAME Wednesday, 4/6 & 4/20 11:00 am— 12:30 pm Hart 
Park House The object of the game is for a player to play all the tiles from their hand 
onto one or more trains, emanating from a central hub or “station”. Call Lawren with 
questions that you may have. 

PAINT PALS 

Tuesday, 4/12 & 4/26,, 10:30 am—Hart Park House If you enjoy painting, sketching, 
water color, or making some other form of artistic creation please join our new 
program, PAINT PALS!!! Bring a project that you are working on to the HPH and 
enjoy some quality art time with other artists looking to paint with a new pal. 

TEA AND TALK SENIOR BOOK CLUB Tuesday, 4/6 & 4/20— 9:00 am Staff has 
launched a new book club series, Tea and Talk, which meets twice a month to discuss 
the fun, suspense, intrigue, love and so much more that each selection will have in 
store! 

FIBER FRIENDS Tuesday, 4/5 & 4/19 —10:00 am If you enjoy knitting, crocheting, 
embroidery, needlepoint, bunka, huck, tatting or cross stitch then we have a 
group for you! Bring your current project, a nonalcoholic beverage, then sit and chat 
with likeminded fiber friends. We meet in the Hart Park House 

BINGO Tuesday 4/12 and 4/16 1:00 pm- 2:00 pm Come on down to enjoy this 
time with friends. We are trying a new spin on BINGO fun so please bring your good 
luck charms and BINGO markers! 

TAX ASSISTANCE WEDNESDAYS 1:00 -2:00PM LAST DAY APRIL 6TH Don 
Brunner is available for income tax consultation. Please call 626-355-5278 x 704 

CHAIR YOGA Every Monday and Wednesday, 10-10:45 am Please join us for some 
gentle stretching, yoga, balance exercise and overall relaxation with Paul. Classes are 
ongoing and held in the Memorial Park Covered Pavilion or the Hart Park House.. 

HULA AND POLYNESIAN DANCE Every Friday, 10-10:45 am Bring a lei, your 
flower skirt or just your desire to dance! Hula in the Park is back and waiting for you 
to join in on all the fun! Memorial Park Pavilion. 

SENIOR CINEMA WEDNESDAY, 4/13 1:00 PM 
EASTER PARADE PG 1H 43M 

Don Hewes and Nadine Hale are a dancing team, but she 
decides to start a career on her own. So he takes the next 
dancer he meets, Hannah Brown, as a new partner. After a 
while, this new team is so successful that Florenz Ziegfeld 
is interested in them, but due to the fact that Nadine Hale 
also dances (and stars) in the Ziegfeld Follies, Don says no. 
Despite the fact that he is in love with Hannah, he keeps the 
relation with her strictly business. So Hannah is of the opinion that he is still in love with 
Nadine, and her suspicion grows when he dances with Nadine in a Night Club Floor Show. 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder 

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE GROUCHY 


Have you ever had a week 
where everything went 
just perfect? Neither have 
I. 

Every Monday morning, I plan a perfect 
week, and I try my best to stick to that 
plan.
My problem is simple, I do not know the 
meaning of the word "perfect." So I asked 
The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage 
once, she looked at me and said with a 
smile, "Just watch me."
I flashed a smile back at her, knowing 
exactly what she was saying. I also knew 
that if I were as perfect as she was, she 
would not know how perfect she really 
was. I believe it's part of my re-sponsibility 
as a husband to show her how perfect 
she is every day. I hope someday to get a 
Nobel Peace Prize for this. 
My plans are quite simple, I just want 
to have somewhat of a perfect week. To 
have a perfect week, I need to have a perfect 
plan. To have a perfect plan, I need 
to have perfect ideas. Thus, I have a great 
challenge before me.
Recently my week wasn't going very 
well, and I was getting a little, well, what 
should I say, grouchy.
Normally I'm never grouchy, so I did not 
know how to be grouchy until I was at 
the grocery store and saw the epitome of 
Mr. Grouchy.
I'm not sure the basis of this guy's 
grouchiness, but from my point of view, 
he has practiced this all his life. If there 
ever was a Mr. Grouchy, it was this guy. 
At the time, I had a little bit of pity for 
his wife. But, of course, I didn't know if 
he was married or not. If he was, she deserves 
my pity.
Not only could you see his grouchy demeanor, 
but he followed that up and supported 
it with words that I cannot repeat 
in public. Let me just say he was well-
versed in French. 
My curiosity got the best of me, and I 
just wanted to know more about him. I 
couldn't go up and talk to him, I knew 
how that would turn out. So, I followed 
him throughout the store from a distance 
and watched and listened. That afternoon, 
I got a Ph.D. in Groucholgy.
During these times, stores are not as 
well-stocked as they used to be. For example, 
I can't find the cans of cat food I 
used to get for my cats. They're just not 
there. And, many other things aren't on 
the shelves anymore.
Obviously, Mr. Grouchy did not know 
that the rough times we were going 
through were affecting our stores.
I didn't know all of the things he was 
looking for because his French got in the 
way of understand-ing what he was saying. 
Obviously, he couldn't find what he 
wanted, which fueled his grouchiness.
Soon one of the employees walked by, 

and Mr. Grouchy caught him and angrily 
told him a thing or two, No, make that a 
dozen, but then I stopped counting. Obviously, 
Mr. Grouchy knew more about 
the store than this poor employee. So I 
would say he was giving the employee a 
piece of his mind, but he's a sorry person 
if that was his mind he was giving.
"Is there anything I can do to help you?" 
The employee asked. After he asked that 
I'm sure he wished that he had never 
asked that question.
For the next 10 minutes, Mr. Grouchy 
lectured the store employee on what he 
should be doing. I couldn't help but stand 
in the aisle next to him and just listen to 
his lecture. I'm sure the store em-ployee 
learned quite a bit from Mr. Grouchy’s 
lecture. 
I want to go back someday and meet up 
with the store employee and ask him how 
much he learned from those lectures. 
When Mr. Grouchy paused to catch his 
breath the store employee said, "Please 
forgive me, but I have an appointment 
to go to, and I'm late for it." With that, 
he hurried away as fast as ever. I think I 
know what appointment he had and I'll 
ask him when I see him. 
Even after the store employee had departed 
for his "appointment," Mr. Grouchy 
continued the lec-turing in his outdoor 
voice. 
Then Mr. Grouchy realized that the store 
employee wasn't there. So he looked 
around and yelled, "Hey, where are you? 
Get back here." 
I was so tempted to answer that question, 
and it took every resource I had available 
to keep from answering.
Finally, he went to the checkout counter 
and told the cashier how miserable his 
visit was in the store, while she rang up 
his purchases.
I wasn't too far behind, and I slowly came 
up to the same cashier to check out my 
things. I looked at her, smiled, and said, 
"Aren't you glad there are customers like 
me?" Then she laughed.
As I got in my vehicle to drive home, I realized 
that my week wasn't quite as crazy 
as Mr. Grouchy.
Driving home I was reminded of a verse 
of Scripture. “This you know, my beloved 
brethren. But everyone must be quick to 
hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;” 
(James 1:19).
Everybody faces moments of anger. The 
key is not to let those anger moments 
control your attitude at the time. When I 
control my tongue everything else is under 
control, 

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL 
with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. 
Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail 
jamessnyder51@gmail.com. Website is 
www.jamessnyderministries.com. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 
Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com