 Social Security Benefits
If you receive Social Security or SSI, you likely have already noticed that your check is slightly larger this year. The Social Security Administration provided a 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for benefit payments, which brings the federal SSI payment to $794. In addition, the amount that workers can earn before losing their eligibility for disability based on their work has increased to $1,310 for non-blind individuals.
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 One of the worst side effects of the coronavirus pandemic has been a drastic rise in uncertainty. As our collective attentions are turned toward public health, the economy and our personal well-being, there has been an unfortunate rise in identity theft and fraud as scammers attempt to exploit the situation. Particularly within the senior population.
COVID-19 has provided fuel for cyber criminals to prey upon the public’s concern about this global crisis. Recent scams are designed to trick people into sending money, to disclose personal information or to click on emails and websites that deliver computer malware onto the recipients’ computer or network.  Some people get scared off by the term "estate planning" because they think it sounds like something only the wealthy need to do. When in truth, one of the greatest gifts you can make for your loved ones is leaving instructions regarding your wishes. Not only for after you die, but in case you can't make health or financial decisions while you're alive.
Remember, it's not always about money, it's about planning to make things easier, for the transfer of your assets and if anything should happen to you.  One of the worst side effects of the coronavirus pandemic has been a drastic rise in uncertainty. As our collective attentions are turned toward public health, the economy and our personal well-being, there has been an unfortunate rise in identity theft and fraud as scammers attempt to exploit the situation. Particularly within the senior population.
COVID-19 has provided fuel for cyber criminals to prey upon the public’s concern about this global crisis. Recent scams are designed to trick people into sending money, to disclose personal information or to click on emails and websites that deliver computer malware onto the recipients’ computer or network.  In the past few weeks, an escalating number of clients have hurried to meet by videoconference and phone with their legal advisers.
Mortality is on everyone’s minds. Spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, clients who I haven't touched their legal documents in years as well as prospective new clients, have been reaching out to update their existing estate planning documents, or write new ones. COVID-19 has caused scores of people to write Wills and make critical estate planning decisions about who will oversee their medical care and finances if they become ill or incapacitated. Yet, more than 50 percent of people age 55-plus do not have a Will or the other key estate planning documents they might need during the pandemic, according to Caring.com.  Simple, essential steps for putting your affairs in order
The steady drone of coronavirus news this year has spurred countless older Americans to face a long-procrastinated task: writing — or rewriting — their wills. A 2016 Gallup poll found that more than 30 percent of people 65 and older and more than 40 percent of people ages 50 through 64, do not have a will. The main reasons people stall, according to Caring.com? Most say they haven't gotten around to it, or they don't have enough assets to leave to anyone. |
