By Jennifer C. Kerr; The Associated Press ~ Feb 15, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s the top complaint to a U.S. Senate hotline for seniors: fraudsters posing as IRS agents, threatening arrests and demanding money.
Treasury Department official Timothy Camus told the Senate Aging Committee on Wednesday that more than 10,000 people have reported falling prey to the so-called “IRS impersonation scam” over the last several years – many of them elderly Americans.
From Carol Marak, NA; Forbes ~ Feb 15, 2017
When you live alone without support of loved ones nearby as an “elder orphan,” long-term care planning is not only essential, it demands complex thinking. That’s especially true for picking a surrogate or executor of a will, power of attorney for health care, and financial matters or other tasks.
By Akankshita Mukhopadhyay; Reuters ~ Feb 14, 2017
Feb 14 – Merck & Co Inc said it would halt a late-stage trial of its drug in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease after an external panel pointed to a lack of effectiveness.
The company’s shares were down 2.4 percent at $64.06 in after-market trading on Tuesday.
Merck said the external data monitoring committee, which assessed overall benefit or risk of verubecestat, determined that there was “virtually no chance of finding a positive clinical effect”.
From Larry Light; Forbes ~ Feb 12, 2017
Guest post written by Rick Kahler
Rick Kahler is president of Kahler Financial Group in Rapid City, S. D.
The prospect is scary, but must be faced. For older people, it’s prudent to put a plan in place for when your mental capacity slips. In this first of two articles, Rick Kahler, president of Kahler Financial Group in Rapid City, S. D., tells us how to know when the time has come and what to do:
From Olivia Mitchell; Forbes ~ Feb 10, 2017
Many American households will face a significant retirement financing gap unless they save more, invest more efficiently, retire later, and/or distribute their retirement assets more efficiently. Yet the pain of such difficult behavioral changes might be mitigated by better use of an asset that almost 80 percent of retirees have: the family home.
From Andrew Biggs; Forbes ~ Feb 09, 2017
You Can Thank IRAs and 401(k)s For This
Retirees are “increasingly dependent on Social Security benefits,” says U.S. News and World Report. “Social Security made up 38 percent of the total income of people age 65 and older in 2009—up from 30 percent in 1962.”
By Ann Carrns; The New York Times ~ Feb 08, 2017
No one likes to think about dying — and that is probably one reason most Americans lack wills.
Fewer than half of American adults (42 percent) have a will, according to a survey published this week on Caring.com, a website that offers resources for older Americans and their caregivers.
By Zachary Tracer, Robert Langreth, & Anna Edney; Bloomberg ~ Feb 08, 2017
Pharmacy benefits managers lay out lobby plan in strategy memo
President has said he’ll focus on drug costs, pricing
In the fast-moving Washington game of who’s to blame for high U.S. drug prices, an often-overlooked industry is readying its defenses against pharmaceutical companies that fault other parts of the health sector for the costs faced by patients.
From Laurence Kotlikoff; Forbes ~ Feb 07, 2017
When Congress changed Social Security spousal benefit provisions in November 2015, it grandfathered anyone 62 or over 62 as of January 1, 2016. The grandfathering permitted anyone meeting this birth deadline to file just for a spousal benefit starting at full retirement age, while waiting till 70 to collect their own retirement benefit, when it would start at its largest possible value.
By Cécile Daurat & Toluse Olorunnipa; Bloomberg ~ Feb 07, 2017
‘He’s for it, yes,’ spokesman says at press briefing
Stocks slump, then pare losses as investors ponder position
President Donald Trump supports Medicare drug price negotiations, his spokesman said Tuesday, remarks that sent pharmaceutical stocks swinging again as investors tried to assess whether drugmakers will be forced into bidding wars for government business.
