Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/111210
8A Daily News ��� Saturday, February 23, 2013 Glory Days maturity &lifestyles Organizing finances a kindness By Claudia Buck The Sacramento Bee (MCT) Weeding out unnecessary paperwork has obvious benefits: staying on top of bills and taxes, avoiding late fees, reducing exposure to identity theft and even making a grab-and-go exit easier in a natural disaster. But it���s not just about eliminating paper pileups. Getting organized also can be a godsend to your family, said Claes Bell, senior banking analyst at Bankrate.com. ���A lot of people don���t think about this, but if you or a loved one passes away unexpectedly, having account numbers, website log-ins and other key financial information in some kind of order can make it much easier on your (family),��� he said. ���Do you really want to burden them with the chore of cutting through your financial clutter?��� For all those reasons, here are five tips: LESS IS MORE: If you have lots of different bank or brokerage accounts, you���re generating lots more paper than you may need. Unless you have a specific plan, such as better savings rates or laddered CDs, it can pay to consolidate your accounts among a few banks or credit unions, says Bell. Some banks offer perks, such as waiving fees or paying higher interest rates, to those with more than one account. Just be sure your combined deposits stay below the $250,000 limit for FDIC coverage. It���s the same with investments and brokerage accounts. Several years ago, John Ulzheimer, consumer education president for SmartCredit.com, realized he had ���way too many��� overlapping stocks among the dozen mutual funds in his IRAs and 401(k). Not to mention all the prospectuses Tax help comes with health insurance advice By Chad Terhune Los Angeles Times (MCT) and quarterly reports that arrived in the mail. So he simplified, converting some mutual funds to bond funds or consolidating into existing funds. Not only was there a dramatic drop in the amount of paper he dealt with, but Ulzheimer said his investment returns improved. SWITCH TO ONLINE BANKING: One obvious way to shed paper is to pay bills online, from utilities to credit cards to cellphones. Remember to keep track of payment due dates so you don���t incur a late fee. And if you set up automatic payments, be aware of triggering overdraft fees if your bank account dips too low. Online payments also can help protect against fraud, since you���re not mailing or generating as many financial pieces of paper, ���the stuff that fraudsters love to get their hands on,��� said Ulzheimer. DITCH EXTRA CREDIT CARDS: Getting rid of excess plastic can unclutter your wallet, as well as drop the number of monthly billings. And there are added benefits: ���You won���t accidentally make a purchase on a little-used credit card and then forget to pay the bill, which can mean big late fees and serious credit consequences,��� Bell said. But be careful. If you close too many credit cards at once, it can ding your credit score. Rather than closing the extra accounts, Bell suggests it might be better to cut up the cards, so you���re not tempted to use them. Just remember to periodically check unused cards for fraudulent activity. GO DIGITAL: Almost any financial record can be found online. Switching to electronic delivery of banking, bills and tax documents can save lots of trees. Several years ago, Ulzheimer found himself buried in file boxes, mainly financial paperwork for his clients and family. ���Clutter doesn���t begin to describe what my office and 1,600square-foot storage unit used to look like,��� said Ulzheimer. ���It was more of a disaster area than an office.��� Five years ago, he started switching everything online, including his 1099 tax documents, brokerage statements and check deposits. ���It���s a myth that you have to have a paper copy of everything.��� For instance, Ulzheimer receives all his 1099 tax documents online, then emails everything to his CPA at tax season. By shrinking the amount of incoming paper, ���I���m trying to live a minimalist life, financially.��� An added bonus: He emptied the storage unit, saving roughly $1,100 in fees every month. GET OFF LISTS: One way to zap financial clutter is to stop it from entering your house ��� or your computer. Here���s how: ���Junk mail: DMAChoice, a service of the Direct Marketing Association, a Washington, D.C.based trade group, lets consumers delete their names from thousands of mailing lists, including offers from many credit card companies, banks, magazines and retailers. You also can stop mail for deceased persons and mail addressed to ���Current Resident��� or ���Occupant.��� Requests take up to 90 days to become effective but are good for three years. ���Unwanted email: DMAChoice also offers its ���Email Preference Service (eMPS), which lets you get off many ��� but not all ��� email marketing lists. (It does not apply to most charitable, political, alumni or professional organizations.) Registration is good for five years. ���The do-it-yourself way: Spend some time deleting any regular emails you rarely open. Scroll down and look for the tiny print that says ���Unsubscribe,��� then follow instructions. Derrick Bean filed his income taxes at an H&R Block office in Los Angeles this month, and the 26-year-old left with something unexpected: a price quote on federally subsidized health insurance. Using the information from his 2012 return, a tax advisor told the actor and waiter that he would qualify for significant government help and pay only about $65 a month in premiums under the federal health care law. If he skips coverage, H&R Block warned him, he faces a $95 tax penalty next year and $356 the following year. ���I was surprised to hear all that,��� Bean said. ���It���s good to finally see some concrete evidence that this is happening.��� As tax season kicks into high gear across the country, millions of Americans are getting their first taste of the biggest change to health insurance in nearly half a century. Many of the changes in President Barack Obama���s Affordable Care Act take effect in January, when most Americans will be required to buy coverage or incur a penalty. The individual effects and consequences of the nation���s health care overhaul in 2014 are far from certain, but insurance companies, tax consultants and other financial planners are starting to offer cost estimates for next year and describe the penalties for inaction. For many consumers, their 2012 tax returns will offer some of the first clues on what financial aid may be available and what coverage may cost. ���Your 2012 tax return is key to determining if you���re eligible for any financial assistance on health insurance,��� said Meg Sutton, senior advisor for tax and health care services at H&R Block. ���This law represents sweeping changes for how the middle class will get insurance.��� The Internal Revenue Service and state insurance exchanges will rely primarily on 2012 federal tax returns, officials say, to verify people���s income and household size and to help determine what premium subsidies are available. By October, state exchanges are slated to open for enrollment and allow comparison-shopping of health plans. At an H&R Block Inc. office in Los Angeles, Cindy Salcedo Bravo, 35, flipped through a stack of drugstore receipts on a recent Friday morning as her 8-month-old son, Fernando, bounced on her knee. She rattled off dollar amounts to her tax advisor, who tallied them for a potential deduction on medical expenses. Then they sorted through W-2 forms, investment statements and other paperwork. As they wrapped up, tax advisor Blanca Chavez began the company���s free health insurance review by asking the Los Angeles mother whether her family of six had health coverage. Bravo responded that they have insurance through her husband���s engineering job. Chavez reminded Bravo that her family could face a steep penalty if they lost employerbased insurance and didn���t find new coverage. ���On my tax return? Regardless of my age?��� asked Bravo, her reddish-black hair pulled back in a ponytail. ���I didn���t have any idea about that. I need to talk to my parents, because they don���t have health insurance.��� Red yeast rice is unregulated and little studied DEAR DOCTOR K: My last two blood tests showed that my cholesterol is too high. My doctor wants me to take a statin drug, but I���d rather use a natural remedy. I saw an ad for red yeast rice that says it���s as effective as statins. What do you think? DEAR READER: ���Allnatural��� products have an obvious appeal. ���Natural��� chemicals have been on earth for as long as we have ��� in fact, much longer. It seems logical that since we have coexisted forever that we should tolerate natural chemicals better than those humans have created in just the past century or so. Most pharmaceuticals fall into that category. Many of my patients think that if God put a chemical in our environment, it must be safe. But if clever humans put it there ��� maybe it���s dangerous. Maybe we���re not as clever as we think. It surely is true that most of the ���unnatural��� drugs created by humans can have side effects along with their benefits. But it also is true that many ���natural��� chemicals in our environment ��� such as arsenic ��� can be toxic. Red yeast rice is an example of a natural treatment that can have benefits ... and risks. It is formed by a chemical reaction between rice and a particular type of yeast. The reaction produces a family of chemicals called monacolins, which lower cholesterol by inhibiting the liver enzyme HMGCoA reductase. That���s exactly what the cholesterol medicines, statins, do. Red yeast rice does, indeed, lower blood choles- Now Serving Beer & Wine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prime Rib every Fri. & Sat. Best Homemade Pies in Town ��� Ice Cream Orders to go 731 Main St., 530.529.4012 open 7 days 5:30am-9pm terol levels. But it also could ��� and you won���t know Either could produce the same side which. effects as the statin drugs, adversely affect your health. Maybe more important, including muscle damage there are few scienand liver inflammatific studies of the tion. possible benefits Given that you and side effects of need a statin to red yeast rice. reduce your cholesStatins have been terol and cardiac carefully studied in risk, should you get hundreds of thouit from red yeast sands of people rice or a prescripover many years. tion medication? In Dr. K We have solid scimy view, the by Anthony L. entific evidence of answer is clear: Use a prescription Komaroff, M.D. their benefit, and a solid idea of how statin. Because red yeast rice is often they produce side sold as a dietary supple- effects. We just don���t have ment, the FDA does not reg- any such evidence with red ulate how it is manufac- yeast rice. And if cost is on your tured. No one besides the manufacturer is assuring mind, consider this: Many that it is free of dangerous insurance plans cover impurities that could lead to statins. I���m not against natural serious health problems. In addition, the monacolin remedies; I���m against any content can vary from brand type of treatment ��� natural to brand and batch to batch or unnatural ��� that has not of red yeast rice. So, unlike been scientifically validata statin pill, you may be ed. In the case of cholesunderdosing or overdosing terol, there are several natural remedies that have been solidly validated: diet, exercise and weight control. Announcing Practice Closure Michele Martin, DPM INCOME TAX Office Closing February 28, 2013 Fast, Friendly, Reasonable Fees 527-2523 Medical Records Request P.O. Box 609 Cottonwood Ca 96022 PREPARATION Fee for Short or Long form includes all the tax credits and E-filing with direct Deposit. Also Bookkeeping, Payroll and Financial Services available P RALPH CAMPBELL, EA Enrolled Agent 855 Walnut St. #2 530-529-9540