Archives for February 2021

My siblings and I had always gotten on quite well, but we feared a breakdown in overall family dynamics if we weren’t careful, even as we were desperate to act fast to protect our dad and his wife as best we could. The living needed at least as much help as the client who was dying. To the three of us, at least, feelings were going to matter just as much as finance.

But on the most primal level, we were simply reeling in those first few months. A.L.S. is an unpredictable disease — one that could progress rapidly and remain challenging for a while, draining away assets that took a lifetime to accumulate. We didn’t quite know which task to tackle first.

A financial planner’s first course of action, though, is often rejiggering and simplifying investments while developing an all-new cash-flow plan. This was especially necessary in my father’s case. Years earlier, I’d had “the talk” with him: Don’t let a nice stranger sweet-talk you into a suite of proprietary, expensive, underperforming, actively managed mutual funds. But it didn’t take, and he’d done it anyway.

That was only the beginning. As Carl Richards, the former New York Times Sketch Guy columnist, is fond of saying, real financial planning is a process, not a collection of investment products.

Any illness that might mean a precipitous decline — whether A.L.S., Alzheimer’s or certain cancers — involves countless questions as the worlds of medicine and money collide. A good financial planner can answer them off the top of her head.

Some of these questions are immediately evident, even if some of the details vary. When do you start or stop a Medicare Advantage plan? When do you call in hospice, what do its workers do, and who pays? In this case, there were questions about navigating the Veterans Affairs system, a bureaucracy as befuddling as it can be generous. (Seriously, to whoever arranged the benefits for veterans with A.L.S., thank you. You might have kept Dad from zeroing out his assets altogether.)

Then there were things we never could have imagined. He gave up his car keys voluntarily, but would we have to ban his beloved red wine? Does it make sense for an A.L.S. patient to have a colonoscopy? And what about that feeding tube?

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/your-money/financial-planner-end-of-life.html

He said years ago that a condominium on Third Avenue in Manhattan — some four blocks from the East River — had tried to argue in court filings that its views were guaranteed. The court dismissed the motion. “Views are not guaranteed,” he said.

People buying into a large condo building should look at the offering documents to understand just what types of businesses can go into retail space in the building and who is paying the fees for upkeep, said Deborah Friedland, managing director in the real estate group at EisnerAmper, an accounting firm.

“There may be a Whole Foods there, but can someone come in and build a very low-end use for that commercial space?” she asked. “You want to understand how the fees are split between the condos and the retail unit. Are members responsible for a lot of the fees and common charges?”

Ms. Friedland added that buyers in an older building needed to understand the plans for the lobby and common areas, because renovating them can cost millions. When it comes to disputes among residents, “it’s always about the common area,” she said. “The charges can be tremendous.”

The same holds true for structures like docks, particularly those that have been there a while. Environmental rules for waterways have changed considerably, so what was once allowable may no longer be. There is no problem as long as the dock is in good repair, but if a storm knocks it out, the new owner may not be able to replace it.

“If you’re buying the property, you have to see if the dock is permitted,” Mr. Goldberg said. “If it’s not permitted and it gets washed away, you’re never going to rebuild that dock. If it is permitted, you at least have hope, if you can build it in whatever environmentally sensitive way is required.”

In Mr. Tracy’s case, the economic and environmental reasons for change aren’t straightforward. A desert preserve would not generate the revenue that a golf course does, and the city still has many more years of $1 million annual bond payments to make from when it renovated Tahquitz some two decades ago. There’s also the possibility of desert sand blowing through the neighborhood.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/your-money/house-buying-pandemic.html

If the money is deposited in an ABLE account, it doesn’t count toward the $2,000 cap. It can be saved or invested and spent later on a variety of disability-related needs that arise, like housing, transportation, education and training.

Disabled people working toward independence can save for a down payment for an apartment or a wheelchair-accessible car. Or the funds can be used to save for specialized therapy or legal fees.

“It’s incredibly helpful to save for those bigger expenses,” said Bethany Lilly, senior director of income policy with the Arc, a nonprofit organization that works on behalf of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In the first round of stimulus payments, individuals got up to $1,200, based on income; in the second round, up to $600. The third round, which is subject to congressional negotiations, is expected to be $1,400, but income caps may be lower.

“By putting it into an ABLE account, it’s an emergency fund,” Ms. Morris of ABLE Now said. “It’s a really nice opportunity.”

Some families have hesitated to use ABLE accounts because some have high account and investment fees. Increasing the number of participants, account proponents say, could help bring down costs. Many states have formed partnerships to better market the accounts, said Andrea Feirstein, managing director of AKF Consulting Group.

Also, legislation reintroduced in Congress aims to expand the pool of people who qualify for the accounts. Currently, to be eligible for an ABLE account, someone must have been disabled by age 26. The ABLE Age Adjustment Act would raise the age threshold to 46. Such a move would increase the pool of eligible people to about 14 million, Ms. Feirstein said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/your-money/stimulus-able-savings-account.html

If the money is deposited in an ABLE account, it doesn’t count toward the $2,000 cap. It can be saved or invested and spent later on a variety of disability-related needs that arise, like housing, transportation, education and training.

Disabled people working toward independence can save for a down payment for an apartment or a wheelchair-accessible car. Or the funds can be used to save for specialized therapy or legal fees.

“It’s incredibly helpful to save for those bigger expenses,” said Bethany Lilly, senior director of income policy with the Arc, a nonprofit organization that works on behalf of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In the first round of stimulus payments, individuals got up to $1,200, based on income; in the second round, up to $600. The third round, which is subject to congressional negotiations, is expected to be $1,400, but income caps may be lower.

“By putting it into an ABLE account, it’s an emergency fund,” Ms. Morris of ABLE Now said. “It’s a really nice opportunity.”

Some families have hesitated to use ABLE accounts because some have high account and investment fees. Increasing the number of participants, account proponents say, could help bring down costs. Many states have formed partnerships to better market the accounts, said Andrea Feirstein, managing director of AKF Consulting Group.

Also, legislation reintroduced in Congress aims to expand the pool of people who qualify for the accounts. Currently, to be eligible for an ABLE account, someone must have been disabled by age 26. The ABLE Age Adjustment Act would raise the age threshold to 46. Such a move would increase the pool of eligible people to about 14 million, Ms. Feirstein said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/your-money/stimulus-able-savings-account.html