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If you’re a landlord and the income you get from tenants paying rent payments is the way you pay your own mortgage, taxes, insurance, and other costs, then when the rent comes in short—or not at all—you might find yourself struggling to make ends meet. Help is available. State and local governments are distributing billions of dollars in federal emergency rental assistance, and you may have a right to apply for it. Rental assistance isn’t just for tenants. Rental assistance can help you recoup lost rent. If you’re a landlord, you may think of rental assistance as help for renters. But at the moment, most programs require landlords to apply for assistance first. Payments are usually made to you directly. State and local programs are delivering money straight to landlords, utility companies, and other providers. You have a role to play. You may be able to apply for your tenants. Where tenants can apply, they may need your help to complete the application process. They usually Talso need your information in order to pay you. Learn more about rental assistance and help for landlords, and share this information with your tenants and professional networks. About the Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives. Learn more at consumerfinance.gov. 

By Jeff D. Opdyke If you're looking to get your hands on a second passport without having to buy or inherit it, then consider this less-costly, more-organic, nearly assured path: Move somewhere and gain citizenship—and a passport—via the naturalization process. That's not as difficult as it might sound. While lots of countries require that you live within their borders for a decade or longer before you can apply for citizenship, several impose a much-shorter timeline of between two and five years. And as a U.S. expat who's lived in Prague now for nearly two years, I can tell you those years fly by quickly. So, if you've ever given consideration to securing citizenship and a second passport, here are several countries where the process of citizenship-by-naturalization is relatively quick. Source:  https://internationalliving.com/a-second-passport-without-having-to-buy-or-inherit-it-trl/ For more International Living content, click HERE

Do you know how to win before trial? Lawyers drag out cases so they can bill for more time. You don't have to wait for trial to win! You aren't billing for your time! Many pro se litigants fail to do things "the right way" as JurisDictionary® explains. Then they get trapped into going through a full-blown trial where time constraints and nervous pressure makes winning difficult. If you have a winnable case, my course shows you how to win before trial. Do you have the winning facts and law on your side? Then learn how to win before trial! 1.    There is no evidence you cannot get in before trial. 2.    There are no witnesses you cannot question under oath before trial. 3.    There are no documents or things you cannot get in before trial. 4.    There are no legal arguments you cannot make before trial. 5.    There is nothing going to happen at trial that cannot be made to happen before trial. The "trying" of your case with the first pleading and continues with discovery and motions before trial. Common reasons cases go to trial are: 1.    Lazy lawyer didn't do the pre-trial work he could have done. 2.    Stupid lawyer didn't know how to do the pre-trial work he could have done. 3.    Greedy lawyer didn't want to do the pre-trial work he could have done. 4.    No lawyer had no idea how to do the pre-trial work that could have been done ... pri-trial work you will learn in this case-winning tactics course.. Don't wait for trial! 1.    Trial is uncertain, especially with unpredictable juries and crooked lawyers. 2.    Trial is "think on your feet" with opponent trying to throw you off with objections. 3.    Trial is a nasty battle against lawyers' willing to cheat if they can. 4.    Trial is a last bite at the apple, with no take backs and no retreats. Win before trial ... and do it without a lawyer! It's easier than you may imagine! Learn How to Win in Court – For information on the “How to Win in Court” online course, click HERE   For more JurisDictionary content, click HERE Website:  https://www.howtowinincourt.com?refercode=SR0094 WealthCare Connect may receive a referral fee from Juris Dictionary for purchases make through these links.

Are you ready for an inflationary storm? Inflation had already entered the system courtesy of the Fed printing over $3 trillion last year while the U.S. federal government paid out over $2 trillion in stimulus checks. Then Joe Biden won the presidency. Last week President Biden suggested a stimulus program that will be in the “trillions” with a price tag that will be “twice as high.” Democrats are also proposing massive infrastructure spending, healthcare programs, as well as the Green New Deal and other climate change policies. I’m not saying I’m for or against any of this. I’m simply pointing out that all of it involves printing TRILLIONS of dollars. And that is going to unleash inflation. The Fed’s own research shows that food inflation is the best predictor of future inflation. Take a look at what agricultural food prices are doing and you’ll see a decade-long bear market that is ending. Then of course there’s Gold which has already hit new all-time highs: Not to mention emerging markets. The writing is on the wall. All three of those asset classes are inflationary in nature. All three of them are exploding higher. Simply put, inflation is already in the financial system. And as history has shown us, the longer it’s there, the worse it gets. Those investors who are well positioned to profit from it could see literal fortunes. Regards, Graham Summers Editor, Money & Crisis For more postings by Hard Asset Alliance, click HERE Website:  https://www.hardassetsalliance.com/?aff=TWC WealthCare Connect may receive a referral fee from Hard Asset Alliance for purchases make through these links.

Most price forecasts aren’t worth more than an umbrella in a hurricane. There are so many factors, so many ever-changing variables, that even the experts usually miss the mark. But there is value in considering predictions. It can solidify why one has invested, point to factors that may have been overlooked, or compel one to revise their expectations. So while we take predictions with a grain of salt, let’s look at what might be ahead for gold in 2023, as well as the next five years. I’ll start with a survey of analysts, then examine the individual factors that are likely to have the biggest impact on gold, and then conclude with the prices I see based on those factors, including some long-term projections. This will be fun, so let’s jump in! Gold Price Prediction Chart Gold ended 2022 at $1,825 per ounce, so let’s see where some analysts forecast it goes this year.  These are predictions I gathered from analysts both inside and outside of the gold industry.   Billionaires Agree: Own This Asset To Protect Your Portfolio The world’s wealthiest investors are buying the one asset class that historically outperforms everything else during high inflation. Learn how easy it is for everyday folks to invest alongside billionaires and protect portfolios of any size today with this free guide. You’ll see how one simple allocation change can preserve your savings for decades to come. Learn More   There were some interesting comments that accompanied these forecasts. ● Ole Hansen: “In general we are looking for a price friendly 2023, supported by recession and stock market valuation risks — an eventual peak in central bank rates combined with the prospect of a weaker dollar and inflation not returning to the expected sub-3% level by year-end — all adding support. The gold price will be higher once markets realize global inflation will remain hot despite monetary tightening.”    ● Juerg Kiener wrote that many economies could face “a little bit of a recession” in the first quarter, which would lead to many central banks slowing their pace of interest rate hikes and make gold instantly more attractive. He added, “Gold is also the only asset which every central bank owns.” ● In the bank and institutional investor survey, we’ll note the group is notoriously bearish. That said, Bank of America wrote “gold could top $2,000 an ounce next year.” Citigroup analysts said, “elevated risks of a global recession could boost inflows into gold funds, with prices potentially breaking out by mid-2023 to average more than $1,900.” ● JC Parets’ prediction is interesting because he’s known as a long-time gold bear. “There is a good chance the gold market sees a major move, it’s not going to be just 10% or 20%, but a move that will really make new highs… the fact that bullion prices haven’t sunk means there are buyers who are helping keep the price robust… from less than $425 in 2004 to $1,900 in 2011, gold gained around 350%. A similar move would see prices above $8,000.” ● Frank Holmes wrote, “Since the year 2000, gold has been up 80% of the time.” ● Eric Strand: “It is our opinion that central banks will pivot on their rate hikes and become dovish during 2023, which will ignite an explosive move for gold for years to come. We therefore believe gold will end 2023 at least 20% higher.” ● George Milling-Stanley: “Gold has nothing to fear from interest-rate hikes. It’s the impact of rate increases on the dollar that is important. If the dollar has peaked, I expect to see gold above $2,000 again this year… history suggests that when gold is in a sustainable long-term uptrend, which has been in place since the price last touched $250 in 2001, prices tend to move up stepwise, consolidating at every stage in the upward march.” There were some bearish predictions too, of course, the most common reason cited was the belief that interest rates will continue to rise and inflation will fall, each of which they believe will soften demand. Gold Price Predictions for Next 5 Years Let’s examine the factors that are most likely to impact gold in 2023 and the next few years and see if we can come up with a reasonable expectation. We’ll start with the big three—inflation, recession, and interest rates… Inflation. One big question is how far inflation might fall. The CPI peaked at 9.1% last June, the highest rate in almost 40 years, and ended the year at 7.1%. This chart shows the CPI reading for the last 18 months. As a reminder, the Fed and government economists said inflation would be “transitory” in April 2021—which was obviously wrong. Further complicating the inflation question is the Fed’s insistence that it will lower the CPI to 2%. But… This begs us to ask… can we trust their forecasts? How effective will the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes be? And what if inflation remains above their 2% target for—gulp—years? Recession. The odds of a recession are high; the most reliable indicator of an upcoming recession is a negative yield curve (10-Year Treasury minus 2-year), and it went negative in Q3 last year. How does gold perform during recessions? Gold has historically risen during recessions. In some cases the gains were substantial, and the only two declines were single digits. Interest Rates. How much more can the Fed realistically raise rates? It’s a fair question, because between the aggressive rate hikes and surging debt levels, payments on federal debt are now at record highs. This is the steepest rise in history. It’s a path that is clearly unsustainable. Further, will the Fed continue to hike rates if the public and investors begin to grumble if we enter a recession and stock markets continue to fall? And here’s something you may find surprising… since the 1950s, the average time from the last rate hike to the first rate cut is just five months! This suggests that if the Fed ends rate hikes in 2023, it is entirely plausible it could begin cutting them before the year is over. This would be very bullish for gold. U.S. Dollar. One of the factors that kept gold from rising in 2022 was the soaring U.S. dollar, since gold and the dollar are typically inversely correlated. Does the dollar cool off in 2023? It wouldn’t be surprising to see a pullback, given the extent of the gain last year. If so, one of gold’s biggest barriers will be removed. Vulnerable Stock Markets. The S&P 500 fell 19.4% in 2022, while the Nasdaq crashed 33.1%. After that shellacking, one could easily be convinced that stocks will bounce. But if inflation persists, rate hikes continue, and a recession materializes, equities will face several strong headwinds. This table shows gold’s performance during the 10 biggest crashes in the S&P 500. Green means gold rose during the crash, red means it fell more than stocks, yellow means it fell but less than stocks. Gold is historically inversely correlated to stocks, an ideal hedge to weak markets. If we see further stock market weakness or a crash in 2023, gold is likely to rise. Resumption of QE? The Financial Times says the cycle of global liquidity is bottoming out. “Quantitative easing programmes by central banks to support markets are impossible to reverse quickly because the financial sector has become so dependent on easy liquidity.” It’s a fair point, since… ● The very act of quantitative tightening creates systemic risks that demand more QE. A resumption of QE is exactly what money manager Marc Faber said he expects in 2023. Meanwhile, President Biden signed a $1.66 trillion bill funding the U.S. government for fiscal year 2023. The budget remains deep in deficit. Central Banks. Central bank buying lends support to the price. This may explain why gold didn’t fall in 2022. As a group, central banks bought more gold through Q3 last year than any year since 1967, ironically when the U.S. was on a gold exchange standard. According to the World Gold Council, demand was “primarily driven by a flight towards safer assets.” China, for the first time in three years, bought more gold for its official Reserves. It purchased 32 tonnes in November, its total now at 1,980 tonnes. Cleary, the world’s central banks see something that compels them to make an overweight allocation to gold at this time. Gold’s Technical Picture. A number of chartists have pointed out that gold has a strong technical setup. Here’s what Silver Chartist says in their chart below: “Last month gold staged a clean breakout above the 2022 red downtrend line, suggesting a major trend reversal is underway. Of course, nothing moves in a straight line, but higher highs and higher lows are expected and gold’s prospects for 2023 look bright.” While the precise timing of an up-move is hard to pinpoint, it suggests a surge is coming in 2023. Add It All Up. This combination of factors shows there are multiple catalysts that could propel gold higher in both the short-term (one-year) and long-term (two to five years), even if one or more doesn’t play out. And that’s a big advantage of gold ownership: it isn’t about one factor or another, it’s about any factor that increases uncertainty on the part of investors. And there are a lot of risks surrounding us at this point that could drive investors into gold. Due to all these factors, my most confident prediction is that over the next few years, possibly longer, the gold price will be trading at much higher prices than where it is now, regardless of what it may do this year. 2023 Gold Price Prediction My forecast for the gold price in 2023 is based on the likely trajectory of inflation, recession, interest rates, stock markets, U.S. dollar, central bank demand, QE, and technical indicators. As a result, I expect the gold price to be higher in 2023. Here are my predictions. The most important message from this analysis is that even if I’m wrong, it has rarely been more important to own gold. That means dips in price should be bought, especially if they don’t hold a meaningful amount relative to your net worth. Either way, remember to… ● Make sure you own actual gold, that is actually yours.       We hope you have enjoyed this article. If you agree that now is a good time to own precious metals, log in to your Hard Assets Alliance account, check your exposure, and consider adding to your physical metal positions today. Log in to Buy Gold and Silver Don't have an account? Signing up is easy. It only takes 5 minutes to set up and start precious metals investing. With Hard Assets Alliance you get:   • Trusted Platform with $3B+ in assets and more than 100,000 investors. • Liquidity when you need it – buy or sell 24/7 – just like trading stocks • Secure storage with global vault options and on-demand home delivery • Automatic investing with MetalStream, as low as $25/month • Amazing potential tax benefits with precious metals IRAs • Real help via phone, email, or chat from our U.S.-based team Open Your Account Need assistance? Call us at 1-877-727-7387 (we're open 9am to 6pm ET) or reply to this email.  

People invest in gold because, in times of inflation and extraordinary amounts of money printing, gold and silver have a tendency to rise.   But do they? Astute investors see what precious metals are really doing… and that is maintaining purchasing power. Gold doesn’t go up in value, the dollar drops when priced in gold. Unfortunately, Uncle Sam doesn’t think that way... The way the IRS sees it, the dollar is not worth less – gold went up. And, if you want to realize that relative gain, you must pay taxes on it. And here’s the rub: real physical gold and silver get the short end of the stick on taxes... When you’ve held gold for a long time either in anticipation of a financial crisis or simply to preserve wealth… All looks good until you file your taxes and find out that – unlike equities and other capital gains, which get a favorable tax treatment – gold held for more than one year is taxed as collectibles, not investments. That means precious metals are taxed as high as 28%, much higher than long term capital gains. That’s a sizable bite out of your gains – just at the time you probably want to use that money for another investment. Thankfully, there is a simple way, open to every American, to change that. You just have to make one simple move... If you invest in gold inside a retirement account you could greatly reduce, or even eliminate, your tax bill on that investment.   You are probably already aware: investments inside a qualified retirement account in the US grow tax deferred, and in some cases they can even be withdrawn tax free. But did you realize this has a bigger impact on precious metals than on say stocks or bonds? That’s because if you sell your gold or silver for a profit inside an IRA, you don’t get hit with that large collectible tax bill. You can control when and how you are taxed. For example, because that cash stays in your retirement account – tax-deferred until you need to take it out – it can be reinvested in full, with no need to hold anything back for the tax man. If you post $100,000 in gains, for example, instead of paying taxes and then reinvesting the $75k or so left over into stocks, bonds, oil, or whatever is next for you… you get to invest the full lot, compounding the speed at which your investments grow. If you need to withdraw the money to live in retirement, there are still benefits. For example, because retirement gains are taxed as income when withdrawn, then taking your earnings out in smaller chunks over a few years can help keep your tax bracket down and minimize what you pay. And those examples are just if you are using a “traditional” or pre-tax retirement savings account – the run of the mill IRA or funds you rolled over from an old 401(k). If you are eligible for and savvy enough to have invested some dollars in a “Roth” account, then any of the gains you make on your gold will be tax free when you withdraw them, too. Same benefit to compounding growth and no taxes to worry about on the far end. The point is, investing in gold through an IRA gives you options... You get the flexibility and liquidity of a brokerage account with your choice of tax advantages for holding what many people view as the ultimate safe haven asset: physical precious metals. And ultimately, if the value of your gold rises and you want to rebalance when other assets are relatively cheaper, you get more hedge for your dollar. Perhaps no asset is more suited to an IRA than gold. That’s why Hard Assets Alliance has launched a new, easy and secure way to open a gold IRA and start enjoying all its benefits right away. Open a Gold IRA in 5 Minutes • Invest in physical gold or silver for retirement • Ability to enjoy tax benefits including income deductions and tax-deferred or tax-free distributions • Easily rollover from a 401k, or transfer from an existing IRA • With help from our expert custodian partners at Equity Trust available every step of the way • Get more hedge for your dollar invested by combining gold with an IRA For more postings by Hard Asset Alliance, click HERE Website:  https://www.hardassetsalliance.com/?aff=TWC WealthCare Connect may receive a referral fee from Hard Asset Alliance for purchases make through these links.

This is the strangest holiday season of a lifetime, isn’t it? We get warnings about not visiting during holidays of all kinds and the rates of infection keep going up. Given that it’s inarguable now that the rates of infection by Covid-19, hospitalizations and ICU admissions are worse that ever, we have to consider the painful question before us: is it worse to visit our elders this season or is it worse to stay away? It’s individual, as situations vary. We see our aging parents, perhaps on Zoom, lonely and in need of company. We can talk on the phone with them, but there are many limitations. One 98 year old client of ours at AgingParents.com can speak on the phone but he’s quite hard of hearing. Calls tend to be brief. And he gets confused by Zoom. His company is his caregivers. At least they can come to his home and he can afford to pay for in-home care. Some seniors have little contact with others now in person. Technology is sometimes difficult enough for Boomers, and imagine how odd it feels for those Boomers’ parents, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s or older. For those with dementia, it is even worse. Difficulty learning new information is a characteristic of dementia and learning how to be on a video call is definitely new information for many. Yet, the emotions aging parents with dementia or other conditions feel are just as real as they are for anyone else. No one likes to be lonely and cut off from whatever fun they used to enjoy before the pandemic. Lonely aging parents need to be protected from exposure to Covid-19 When anyone asks me for advice about which is worse, possible exposure to Covid-19 from an asymptomatic person or serious depression and loneliness, I say possible exposure to disease. At least we have some ways we can address loneliness, as well as depression. We can make those phone calls to aging loved ones who are away from us, even if they’re very short because of hearing loss, confusion or anything else. We can try video calls when anyone in the house is capable of helping with logging on or using technology like FaceTime. We can coordinate with our aging parents’ physician, in the event that they are looking so depressed you are very worried about it. Medication does work for most depressed folks and Medicare pays for standard medications to treat depression. Adult children may need to be advocates for their loved ones about this. It’s unlikely that an aging person is going to tell their family they’re depressed and need medication to get by during isolation. Family can step up and ask for an evaluation of depression symptoms from the doctor. It makes sense to take the edge off painful feelings when we can, even temporarily, as current isolation finally has an end in sight. Pharmaceuticals for treating depression are readily available and they work with medical supervision for kind, dosage and eventually getting off the medications. What we know about Covid-19 now is what we knew early on when the disease ravaged nursing homes. Elders are by no means the only ones getting sick, but they have the worst mortality rate of any age group. Exposing them is not worth the risk of a holiday visit, painful as it is to forego it. They are just too vulnerable. For families who can’t bear the thought of not seeing Mom, Dad, or a grandparent during times when families always try to be together, consider that you could be saving lives if you refrain from the visit you want to have with them. I take comfort in knowing that apart from healthcare workers and those on the front lines of the fight against Covid-19, elders will be among the first to get the vaccine. That means that they have a better chance to get in front with protection and can avoid this life-threatening illness sooner than younger people can. The takeaway is that this holiday season is the time to grit your teeth and stay away from your aging parents unless you already live with them. It will not be long before we can use the first vaccines to save them from getting Covid-19. Meanwhile, do the best you can with the phone, gifts sent in the mail, flowers, cards, letters, and possibly video calls with them. Importantly, contact your aging loved one’s doctor and ask for an evaluation if what you see looks like serious depression. Appropriate medications can lift the spirits, help people function better, and help them feel more inclined to participate in whatever is offered to keep them engaged. And for all of us with elders in our lives, hang on a little longer. The vaccine will help us end this pandemic and enable us to look forward to a much better holiday season with aging parents next time around. You can feel good about staying away, as it is truly a responsible and loving act to protect those most vulnerable in our families. Carolyn L. Rosenblatt, R. N, Elder Law Attorney, co-founder of AgingParents.com and AgingInvestor.com

Do you wish to know where the economy is heading? The bond market holds the answer, say the veterans.   The birds of the moment, the flighty birds, flock to the stock market. But the owls nest in the bond market.   The owls are the wiseacres.   The Federal Reserve's hocus-pocus fails to trick them. They know the card is up the sleeve. And they enjoy exposing the fraud.   New York Times economics reporter Neil Irwin: Savvy economic analysts have always known the bond market is the place to look for a real sense of where the economy is going, or at least where the smart money thinks it is going. For example: Is inflation ahead? The bond market will tell you — Treasury bonds in particular. Bonds and Inflation Longer-dated Treasury notes will telegraph the signal. If they wire an inflationary message, their prices will fall. And their yields will rise.   (Bonds operate as seesaws operate. When prices go up, yields go down. When yields go up, prices go down).   Yields would rise because inflation would eat into the bond’s value... as the termite eats into wood. Under inflation a bond is a sawdust asset.   Bond purchasers would demand a higher yield to compensate them for inflation’s ravages.   That is, they would demand insurance against the termite’s evils. The Message of the Bond Market Does today’s bond market indicate inflation is ahead?   It does not. 10-year Treasury notes presently yield under 1% — 0.923%.   These are historic lows. 10-year yields average 4.40% across time.   In brief… the bond market indicates no inflationary menace. Inflation is as tame as a tabby.   But is today’s bond market the reliable inflation detector it once was? Alas, it is not. That is because the Federal Reserve has distorted, garbled, jammed and censored its messages.   The bond market is transmitting static.   Investors who depend upon its clear telegraphing fumble about, lost.   The owls are down from their perches. The Fed’s Buying Spree And so we ask:   Do 10-year yields hover at historic lows because inflation expectations hover at historic lows?   Or do 10-year yields hover at historic lows because Federal Reserve Treasury purchases hover at record highs — which pummels down yields?   The Federal Reserve has purchased a walloping $2.4 trillion of Treasuries this past year...doubling its Treasury holdings.   It now owns 16.5% of United States government debt — a record amount. It owned 9.3% before the pandemic… in contrast.   Macroeconomic analyst Peter Schiff: The bond market is not working the way it has in the past because the Fed is artificially manipulating interest rates. The biggest buyer (of Treasuries) is the Federal Reserve…   The Fed is... trying to influence the economy, stimulate the economy, prop up the stock market. That is the purpose of the Fed buying Treasury bonds… And so when you have the Fed in the market, the whole thing is distorted… The bond market is broken. You can’t look at the bond market. It would appear not. But the wildly distorted bond market holds aloft the wildly distorted stock market. 1,124 Times Earnings??? The Federal Reserve’s gargantuan bond purchases are the energy behind quantitative easing. Schiff: The Fed is trying to maintain these excess stock market valuations... the key to the overvalued stock market is the overvalued bond market. We must agree — the stock market is overvalued. The S&P’s price-to-earnings ratio presently reads 37.21. Its historic average is 16.   Individual stocks are preposterously, deliriously overvalued. Netflix boasts a P/E ratio of 84. Amazon, 92.   And Tesla? An impossible 1,124 — if you can believe it. The stock trades at 1,124 times company earnings.   That is, at current earnings a fellow purchasing the stock would require 1,124 years of accumulated earnings to justify the purchase!   But let us recover our wits… and refocus our attention on the question of inflation... Food: An Omen of Inflation Bonds report little inflation ahead. Yet we have documented how the Federal Reserve has overpowered bonds’ signals with its own.   Is inflation closer than bonds indicate? Let us seek our answer in the supermarket…   Food prices have jumped 3.9% these past 12 months — most of all consumer items. It is the greatest increase in 11.5 years.   The Federal Reserve’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) is an atrocious bellwether of inflation. Its crystal-gazing is hopelessly botched.   Yet the Federal Reserve itself admits that food prices give a far truer inflation reading: We see that past inflation in food prices has been a better forecaster of future inflation than has the popular core measure… we find that the food component still ranks the best among them all… We doff our cap to Phoenix Capital Research for supplying the quote.   The 10-year bear market in food prices is ending, concludes Phoenix:   “Higher inflation is coming. And coming soon.” Clues From the Stock Market Is the stock market — ironically — the market presently telegraphing inflation? Consider commodities…   The S&P Metals & Mining ETF has jumped nearly 130% since March. The S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF is 94% higher.   In all, inflation-sensitive assets have outraced the broader market since March. The “contrarian” KCI Research: Inflationary equities are appreciating at their most rapid clip since the recovery out of their late 2015 and early 2016 lows… Commodity prices are signaling that we are on the cusp of higher than expected future inflationary pressures. Yet, the bond market argues the signals are false. Deflation — disinflation, at least — is its message.   Which is correct? Time will tell us. Toying With Fire But to toy with inflation is to toy with fire. Strike a match, and you risk an inferno. Explains Jim Rickards: Once inflation expectations develop, they can take on lives of their own. Once they take root, inflation will likely strike with a vengeance. Double-digit inflation could quickly follow.   Double-digit inflation is a non-linear development. What I mean by that is, inflation doesn’t go simply from two percent, three percent, four, five, six.   What happens is it’s really hard to get it from two to three, which is ultimately what the Fed wants. But it can jump rapidly from there.   We could see a struggle to get from two to three percent, but then a quick bounce to six, and then a jump to nine or ten percent.   The bottom line is, inflation can spin out of control very quickly. Minerva’s Owl Is inflation on the way?   We suspect it is on the way, and for the reasons listed. Yet like a dreaded mother-in-law, we do not know when it will turn up.   Nor do we know if it spins beyond control once it does.   The gods have denied us the gift of foresight… and the wisdom that attends it.   Like most, our answer will likely arrive after the fatal hour.   Minerva’s owl — Minerva’s Owl of Wisdom — flies only at dusk...   Regards, Brian Maher   Brian is the Daily Reckoning's Managing Editor. Before signing on to Agora Financial, he was an independent researcher and writer who covered economics, politics and international affairs. His work has appeared in the Asia Times and other news outlets around the world. He holds a Master's degree in Defense & Strategic Studies. Hard Assets Alliance was created as a cooperative of investment professionals who believe there's a better way to invest in precious metals. This is a guest perspective on the markets from one of these partners; we hope you enjoy it. For more postings by Hard Asset Alliance, click HERE Hard Asset Alliance is also listed in the DIY Marketplace Website:  https://www.hardassetsalliance.com/?aff=TWC WealthCare Connect may receive a referral fee from Hard Asset Alliance for purchases make through these links.

                                    <h1>100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt</h1> <div>    <span class="byline">Noam N. Levey</span>         <time class="posted-on" datetime="2022-06-16T05:00:00-04:00">             June 16, 2022        </time>         </div> <p>Elizabeth Woodruff drained her retirement account and took on three jobs after she and her husband were sued for nearly $10,000 by the New York hospital where his infected leg was amputated.</p><p>Ariane Buck, a young father in Arizona who sells health insurance, couldn’t make an appointment with his doctor for a dangerous intestinal infection because the office said he had outstanding bills.</p>    <p>Allyson Ward and her husband loaded up credit cards, borrowed from relatives, and delayed repaying student loans after the premature birth of their twins left them with $80,000 in debt. Ward, a nurse practitioner, took on extra nursing shifts, working days and nights.</p><p>“I wanted to be a mom,” she said. “But we had to have the money.”</p><p>The three are among more than 100 million people in America ― including 41% of adults ― beset by a health care system that is systematically pushing patients into debt on a mass scale, an investigation by KHN and NPR shows.</p><p>The investigation reveals a problem that, despite new attention from the White House and Congress, is far more pervasive than previously reported. That is because much of the debt that patients accrue is hidden as credit card balances, loans from family, or payment plans to hospitals and other medical providers.</p><p>To calculate the true extent and burden of this debt, the KHN-NPR investigation draws on <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/kff-health-care-debt-survey/">a nationwide poll conducted by KFF</a> for this project. The poll was designed to capture not just bills patients couldn’t afford, but other borrowing used to pay for health care as well. New analyses of credit bureau, hospital billing, and credit card data by the Urban Institute and other research partners also inform the project. And KHN and NPR reporters conducted hundreds of interviews with patients, physicians, health industry leaders, consumer advocates, and researchers.</p><p>The picture is bleak.</p><p>In the past five years, more than half of U.S. adults report they’ve gone into debt because of medical or dental bills, the KFF poll found.</p><p>A quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000. And about 1 in 5 with any amount of debt said they don’t expect to ever pay it off.</p><p>“Debt is no longer just a bug in our system. It is one of the main products,” said Dr. Rishi Manchanda, who has worked with low-income patients in California for more than a decade and served on the board of the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt. “We have a health care system almost perfectly designed to create debt.”</p><p>The burden is forcing families to cut spending on food and other essentials. Millions are being driven from their homes or into bankruptcy, the poll found.</p><p>    Loading…</p><p>Medical debt is piling additional hardships on people with cancer and other chronic illnesses. Debt levels in U.S. counties with the highest rates of disease can be three or four times what they are in the healthiest counties, according to <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/which-county-characteristics-predict-medical-debt">an Urban Institute analysis</a>.</p><p>The debt is also deepening racial disparities.</p><p>And it is preventing Americans from saving for retirement, investing in their children’s educations, or laying the traditional building blocks for a secure future, such as borrowing for college or buying a home. Debt from health care is nearly twice as common for adults under 30 as for those 65 and older, the KFF poll found.</p><p>Perhaps most perversely, medical debt is blocking patients from care.</p><p>About 1 in 7 people with debt said they’ve been denied access to a hospital, doctor, or other provider because of unpaid bills, according to the poll. An even greater share ― about two-thirds ― have put off care they or a family member need because of cost.</p><p>“It’s barbaric,” said Dr. Miriam Atkins, a Georgia oncologist who, like many physicians, said she’s had patients give up treatment for fear of debt.</p><p>Patient debt is piling up despite the landmark 2010 Affordable Care Act.</p><p>The law expanded insurance coverage to tens of millions of Americans. Yet it also ushered in years of robust profits for the medical industry, which has steadily raised prices over the past decade.</p>    <p>Hospitals recorded their most profitable year on record in 2019, notching an aggregate profit margin of 7.6%, according to the <a href="https://www.medpac.gov/document/http-medpac-gov-docs-default-source-data-book-july2021_medpac_databook_sec-pdf/">federal Medicare Payment Advisory Committee</a>. Many hospitals thrived even through the pandemic.</p><p>But for many Americans, the law failed to live up to its promise of more affordable care. Instead, they’ve faced thousands of dollars in bills as health insurers shifted costs onto patients through higher deductibles.</p><p>Now, a highly lucrative industry is capitalizing on patients’ inability to pay. Hospitals and other medical providers are pushing millions into credit cards and other loans. These stick patients with high interest rates while generating profits for the lenders that top 29%, according to <a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-reports/medical-patient-financing-industry/">research firm IBISWorld</a>.</p><p>Patient debt is also sustaining a shadowy collections business fed by hospitals ― including public university systems and nonprofits granted tax breaks to serve their communities ― that sell debt in private deals to collections companies that, in turn, pursue patients.</p><p>“People are getting harassed at all hours of the day. Many come to us with no idea where the debt came from,” said Eric Zell, a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. “It seems to be an epidemic.”</p><p><strong>In Debt to Hospitals, Credit Cards, and Relatives</strong></p><p>America’s debt crisis is driven by a simple reality: Half of U.S. adults don’t have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill, according to the KFF poll.</p><p>As a result, many simply don’t pay. The flood of unpaid bills has made medical debt the most common form of debt on consumer credit records. </p><p>As of last year, 58% of debts recorded in collections were for a medical bill, <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_medical-debt-burden-in-the-united-states_report_2022-03.pdf">according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau</a>. That’s nearly four times as many debts attributable to telecom bills, the next most common form of debt on credit records.</p><p>But the medical debt on credit reports represents only a fraction of the money that Americans owe for health care, the KHN-NPR investigation shows.</p><ul><li>About 50 million adults ― roughly 1 in 5 ― are paying off bills for their own care or a family member’s through an installment plan with a hospital or other provider, the KFF poll found. Such debt arrangements don’t appear on credit reports unless a patient stops paying.</li><li>One in 10 owe money to a friend or family member who covered their medical or dental bills, another form of borrowing not customarily measured.</li><li>Still more debt ends up on credit cards, as patients charge their bills and run up balances, piling high interest rates on top of what they owe for care. About 1 in 6 adults are paying off a medical or dental bill they put on a card.</li></ul><p>How much medical debt Americans have in total is hard to know because so much isn’t recorded. But an earlier <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/the-burden-of-medical-debt-in-the-united-states/">KFF analysis</a> of <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sipp.html">federal data</a> estimated that collective medical debt totaled at least $195 billion in 2019, larger than the economy of Greece.</p><p>    Loading…</p><p>The credit card balances, which also aren’t recorded as medical debt, can be substantial, according to an <a href="https://www.jpmorganchase.com/institute/research/healthcare/spending-during-the-pandemic">analysis of credit card records</a> by the JPMorgan Chase Institute. The financial research group found that the typical cardholder’s monthly balance jumped 34% after a major medical expense.</p><p>Monthly balances then declined as people paid down their bills. But for a year, they remained about 10% above where they had been before the medical expense. Balances for a comparable group of cardholders without a major medical expense stayed relatively flat.</p><p>It’s unclear how much of the higher balances ended up as debt, as the institute’s data doesn’t distinguish between cardholders who pay off their balance every month from those who don’t. But about half of cardholders nationwide carry a balance on their cards, which usually adds interest and fees.</p><p>    Loading…</p><p><strong>Debts Large and Small</strong></p><p>For many Americans, debt from medical or dental care may be relatively low. About a third owe less than $1,000, the KFF poll found.</p><p>Even small debts can take a toll.</p><p>Edy Adams, a 31-year-old medical student in Texas, was pursued by debt collectors for years for a medical exam she received after she was sexually assaulted.</p><p>Adams had recently graduated from college and was living in Chicago.</p><p>Police never found the perpetrator. But two years after the attack, Adams started getting calls from collectors saying she owed $130.68.</p><p>Illinois law prohibits billing victims for such tests. But no matter how many times Adams explained the error, the calls kept coming, each forcing her, she said, to relive the worst day of her life.</p><p>Sometimes when the collectors called, Adams would break down in tears on the phone. “I was frantic,” she recalled. “I was being haunted by this zombie bill. I couldn’t make it stop.”</p><p>Health care debt can also be catastrophic.</p><p>Sherrie Foy, 63, and her husband, Michael, saw their carefully planned retirement upended when Foy’s colon had to be removed.</p><p>After Michael retired from Consolidated Edison in New York, the couple moved to rural southwestern Virginia. Sherrie had the space to care for rescued horses.</p><p>The couple had diligently saved. And they had retiree health insurance through Con Edison. But Sherrie’s surgery led to numerous complications, months in the hospital, and medical bills that passed the $1 million cap on the couple’s health plan.</p><p>When Foy couldn’t pay more than $775,000 she owed the University of Virginia Health System, the medical center sued, <a href="https://khn.org/news/tag/uva-lawsuits/">a once common practice </a>that the university said it has reined in. The couple declared bankruptcy.</p>    <p>The Foys cashed in a life insurance policy to pay a bankruptcy lawyer and liquidated savings accounts the couple had set up for their grandchildren.</p><p>“They took everything we had,” Foy said. “Now we have nothing.”</p><p>About 1 in 8 medically indebted Americans owe $10,000 or more, according to the KFF poll.</p><p>Although most expect to repay their debt, 23% said it will take at least three years; 18% said they don’t expect to ever pay it off.</p><p><strong>Medical Debt’s Wide Reach</strong></p><p>Debt has long lurked in the shadows of American health care.</p><p>In the 19th century, male patients at New York’s Bellevue Hospital had to ferry passengers on the East River and new mothers had to scrub floors to pay their debts, according to a <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/2520/care-strangers">history</a><a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/2520/care-strangers"> of American hospitals</a> by Charles Rosenberg.</p><p>The arrangements were mostly informal, however. More often, physicians simply wrote off bills patients couldn’t afford, historian Jonathan Engel said. “There was no notion of being in medical arrears.”</p><p>Today, debt from medical and dental bills touches nearly every corner of American society, burdening even those with insurance coverage through work or government programs such as Medicare.</p><p>    Loading…</p><p>Nearly half of Americans in households making more than $90,000 a year have incurred health care debt in the past five years, the KFF poll found.</p><p>Women are more likely than men to be in debt. And parents more commonly have health care debt than people without children.</p><p>But the crisis has landed hardest on the poorest and uninsured.</p><p>Debt is most widespread in the South, an analysis of credit records by the Urban Institute shows. Insurance protections there are weaker, many of the states haven’t expanded Medicaid, and chronic illness is more widespread.</p><p>    Loading…</p><p>Nationwide, according to the poll, Black adults are 50% more likely and Hispanic adults 35% more likely than whites to owe money for care. (Hispanics can be of any race or combination of races.)</p><p>In some places, such as the nation’s capital, disparities are even larger, Urban Institute data shows: Medical debt in Washington, D.C.’s predominantly minority neighborhoods is nearly four times as common as in white neighborhoods.</p><p>In minority communities already struggling with fewer educational and economic opportunities, the debt can be crippling, said Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz, chief executive of Capital Area Asset Builders, a nonprofit that provides financial counseling to low-income Washington residents. “It’s like having another arm tied behind their backs,” he said.</p><p>Medical debt can also keep young people from building savings, finishing their education, or getting a job. One analysis of credit data found that debt from health care peaks for typical Americans in their late 20s and early 30s, then declines as they get older.</p><p>Cheyenne Dantona’s medical debt derailed her career before it began.</p><p>Dantona, 31, was diagnosed with blood cancer while in college. The cancer went into remission, but when Dantona changed health plans, she was hit with thousands of dollars of medical bills because one of her primary providers was out of network.</p><p>She enrolled in a medical credit card, only to get stuck paying even more in interest. Other bills went to collections, dragging down her credit score. Dantona still dreams of working with injured and orphaned wild animals, but she’s been forced to move back in with her mother outside Minneapolis.</p><p>“She’s been trapped,” said Dantona’s sister, Desiree. “Her life is on pause.”</p><p>    Loading…</p><p><strong>Barriers to Care</strong></p><p>Desiree Dantona said the debt has also made her sister hesitant to seek care to ensure her cancer remains in remission.</p><p>Medical providers say this is one of the most pernicious effects of America’s debt crisis, keeping the sick away from care and piling toxic stress on patients when they are most vulnerable.</p><p>The financial strain can slow patients’ recovery and even increase their chances of death, cancer researchers have found.</p><p>Yet the link between sickness and debt is a defining feature of American health care, according to the Urban Institute, which analyzed credit records and other demographic data on poverty, race, and health status.</p><p>U.S. counties with the highest share of residents with multiple chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, also tend to have the most medical debt. That makes illness a stronger predictor of medical debt than either poverty or insurance.</p><p>In the 100 U.S. counties with the highest levels of chronic disease, nearly a quarter of adults have medical debt on their credit records, compared with fewer than 1 in 10 in the healthiest counties.</p><p>    Loading…</p><p>The problem is so pervasive that even many physicians and business leaders concede debt has become a black mark on American health care.</p><p>“There is no reason in this country that people should have medical debt that destroys them,” said George Halvorson, former chief executive of Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest integrated medical system and health plan. KP has a relatively generous financial assistance policy but does sometimes sue patients. (The health system is not affiliated with KHN.)</p><p>Halvorson cited the growth of high-deductible health insurance as a key driver of the debt crisis. “People are getting bankrupted when they get care,” he said, “even if they have insurance.” </p><p><strong>Washington’s Role</strong></p><p>The Affordable Care Act bolstered financial protections for millions of Americans, not only increasing health coverage but also setting insurance standards that were supposed to limit how much patients must pay out of their own pockets.</p><p>By some measures, the law worked, <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0369">research shows</a>. In California, there was an 11% decline in the monthly use of payday loans after the state expanded coverage through the law.</p><p>But the law’s caps on out-of-pocket costs have proven too high for most Americans. Federal regulations allow out-of-pocket maximums on individual plans up to $8,700.</p><p>    Loading…</p><p>Additionally, the law did not stop the growth of high-deductible plans, which have become standard over the past decade. That has forced many Americans to pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets before their coverage kicks in.</p><p>Last year the average annual deductible for a single worker with job-based coverage topped $1,400, almost four times what it was in 2006, according to an <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/2021-employer-health-benefits-survey/">annual employer survey</a> by KFF. Family deductibles can top $10,000.</p><p>While health plans are requiring patients to pay more, hospitals, drugmakers, and other medical providers are raising prices.</p><p>From 2012 to 2016, prices for medical care surged 16%, almost four times the rate of overall inflation, <a href="https://healthcostinstitute.org/hcci-research/hmi-2018-prive-level-v-growth?highlight=WyJwcmljZSIsImluZmxhdGlvbiJd">a report</a> by the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute found.</p><p>For many Americans, the combination of high prices and high out-of-pocket costs almost inevitably means debt. The KFF poll found that 6 in 10 working-age adults with coverage have gone into debt getting care in the past five years, a rate only slightly lower than the uninsured.</p><p>Even Medicare coverage can leave patients on the hook for thousands of dollars in charges for drugs and treatment, <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/medicare-part-b-drugs-cost-implications-for-beneficiaries-in-traditional-medicare-and-medicare-advantage/">studies show</a>.</p><p>About a third of seniors have owed money for care, the poll found. And 37% of these said they or someone in their household have been forced to cut spending on food, clothing, or other essentials because of what they owe; 12% said they’ve taken on extra work.</p><p>The widespread burden of medical debt has sparked new interest from elected officials, regulators, and industry leaders.</p><p>In March, following warnings from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the major <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/03/18/medical-debt-removed-from-credit-reports/">credit reporting companies said</a> they would remove medical debts under $500 and those that had been repaid from consumer credit reports.</p><p>In April, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/11/fact-sheet-the-biden-administration-announces-new-actions-to-lessen-the-burden-of-medical-debt-and-increase-consumer-protection/">Biden administration announced</a> a new CFPB crackdown on debt collectors and an initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services to gather more information on how hospitals provide financial aid.</p><p>The actions were applauded by patient advocates. However, the changes likely won’t address the root causes of this national crisis.</p><p>“The No. 1 reason, and the No. 2, 3, and 4 reasons, that people go into medical debt is they don’t have the money,” said Alan Cohen, a co-founder of insurer Centivo who has worked in health benefits for more than 30 years. “It’s not complicated.”</p><p>Buck, the father in Arizona who was denied care, has seen this firsthand while selling Medicare plans to seniors. “I’ve had old people crying on the phone with me,” he said. “It’s horrifying.”</p><p>Now 30, Buck faces his own struggles. He recovered from the intestinal infection, but after being forced to go to a hospital emergency room, he was hit with thousands of dollars in medical bills.</p><p>More piled on when Buck’s wife landed in an emergency room for ovarian cysts.</p><p>Today the Bucks, who have three children, estimate they owe more than $50,000, including medical bills they put on credit cards that they can’t pay off.</p><p>“We’ve all had to cut back on everything,” Buck said. The kids wear hand-me-downs. They scrimp on school supplies and rely on family for Christmas gifts. A dinner out for chili is an extravagance.</p><p>“It pains me when my kids ask to go somewhere, and I can’t,” Buck said. “I feel as if I’ve failed as a parent.”</p><p>The couple is preparing to file for bankruptcy.</p><h4>About This Project</h4><p>“Diagnosis: Debt” is a reporting partnership between KHN and NPR exploring the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in America.</p><p>The series draws on the “<a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/kff-health-care-debt-survey/">KFF Health Care Debt Survey</a>,” a poll designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at KFF in collaboration with KHN journalists and editors. The survey was conducted Feb. 25 through March 20, 2022, online and via telephone, in English and Spanish, among a nationally representative sample of 2,375 U.S. adults, including 1,292 adults with current health care debt and 382 adults who had health care debt in the past five years. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and 3 percentage points for those with current debt. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.</p><p>Additional research was <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/which-county-characteristics-predict-medical-debt">conducted by the Urban Institute</a>, which analyzed credit bureau and other demographic data on poverty, race, and health status to explore where medical debt is concentrated in the U.S. and what factors are associated with high debt levels.</p><p>The JPMorgan Chase Institute <a href="https://www.jpmorganchase.com/institute/research/healthcare/spending-during-the-pandemic">analyzed records</a> from a sampling of Chase credit card holders to look at how customers’ balances may be affected by major medical expenses.</p><p>Reporters from KHN and NPR also conducted hundreds of interviews with patients across the country; spoke with physicians, health industry leaders, consumer advocates, debt lawyers, and researchers; and reviewed scores of studies and surveys about medical debt.</p><em><a href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.</em><p><a href="https://khn.org/morning-briefing/">Subscribe</a> to KHN's free Morning Briefing.</p><img src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/collect?v=1&t=event&ec=Republish&tid=UA-53070700-2&z=1655472248871&cid=db6197ea-b9e7-4f43-bdd4-a7a87e7f6d60&ea=https%3A%2F%2Fkhn.org%2Fnews%2Farticle%2Fdiagnosis-debt-investigation-100-million-americans-hidden-medical-debt%2F&el=100%20Million%20People%20in%20America%20Are%20Saddled%20With%20Health%20Care%20Debt"/>                               

Ah, retirement. Fun in the sun, golf and lemonade by the pool are the dream of every working person. While you’re welcome to retire anywhere you want, where you choose to retire can have a significant effect on your finances and retirement lifestyle.   The right state for your retirement will depend on your level and sources of income. Different states have different tax laws that can really make a difference in the amount of money you'll have left over in your pocket at the end of each month. It’s financially smart to consider your financial situation and sources of retirement income before you choose.   During retirement, determining your best taxation situation depends on more than just seeing if your state has a state income tax or not. For example, your favorite state might have a state income tax, but not tax pension income. So, if pension income is your main source of income, it might still benefit you financially to consider that state.   Let's look at the 4 main taxes different states apply to varying degrees:   Taxes on Pension Income. Currently, there are only three states that don’t tax pension income. Those states are Mississippi, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. If you have a military or government pension, there are several more tax-free options: New York, Michigan, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Alabama.   Other states tax your pension income to varying degrees. Do your homework if you receive a pension as part of your retirement income.   Sales Taxes. If you don't want to pay any sales tax, then Alaska, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Montana are your answer. Of course, sales tax rates vary from state to state. Also, some states exempt certain items like food and medical care / medical supplies. Take a look before you make the leap.   The more you like to shop, the more sales tax will detract from your bottom line.   Property Taxes. If you own an expensive home or multiple properties, property taxes can be significant. Property taxes are largely a function of property values, so you can limit your property taxes by living in an area with lower real estate prices.   Keep in mind that city and local taxes can be a significant portion of property taxes. Find out what you can expect to pay in property taxes before you choose your retirement location. In certain areas, it might even make sense to rent instead of own property.   Taxes on social security benefits. There are 36 states (and Washington D.C.) that do not tax social security benefits. The other states do tax to some degree, though most of these states have limits to the amount that can be taxed. Thankfully, there are a lot of ways you can avoid paying taxes on social security.   The degree to which this tax impacts you will depend on your other sources of income. If your only income is from social security, this tax will matter more to you. This tax will be minimal for most folks, but be sure to find out how it may impact your situation in your desired locale.   Now that you know the main taxation issues that can affect your retirement funds differently in each state, you may want to really dig into the information that's available online to make a wise choice.   Visit the Department of Revenue website for each state that interests you as a possible retirement location. The information is easy to find and available to everyone. Everyone dreams of retiring to the perfect location, but some locations are more retirement friendly than others. If you'll do your homework before you move, it's a lot more likely that your move will be a happy one. Make an informed decision and enjoy your retirement! The information, views, and opinions provided or expressed by authors or publishers on WealthCare Blogs are for general education and entertainment purposes only. No advice or recommendations are provided. You should consult with an appropriately licensed wealthcare professional or do your own due diligence before making any wealthcare decisions.

Well known radio host and author Dave Ramsey has come out strongly against reverse mortgages. The truth is, Dave only likes 15 year fixed mortgages, or preferably cash when buying a home. For the sake of full disclosure, I am a Dave Ramsey fan, having facilitated his flagship program Financial Peace University in two different churches. And, I do offer reverse mortgages to senior homeowners. Dave is against debt. However, many wealthy people have become so because of leveraging debt on real estate, President Donald Trump being one of them. Baby boomers are the first generation that had to fund their own retirement. They survived the dot.com bust of the late 1990s and have recovered from the real estate correction and the Great Recession of 2008-9. They sent their kids to college and incurred the most student loan debt of any generation (parent plus loans). So, they are entering their golden years with more debt than their parents did. The silent generation was taught to pay off your home and pass it on to your kids. However, only 1% of children want their parents home, as they have homes of their own. For many senior homeowners, a reverse mortgage can help them: 1. remain at home; 2. retain ownership; 3. maintain their independence and 4. increase their cash flow. Recently someone sent me a clip about Dave ranting against reverse mortgages as a senior was being foreclosed on and going to lose their home. As I listened to this Dave says this senior didn’t pay their property taxes. Newsflash! If you don’t pay your property taxes you will ultimately lose your home to foreclosure, whether you have a mortgage, reverse mortgage or no mortgage. The county will get their money one way or another eventually. Now in a perfect world, Dave is right. Cash is king. However, most people don’t have $200,000-$700,000 cash laying around to buy a home. Also, with all the challenges they have faced in life, and not batting .1000 when it comes to their finances, there have been mistakes made. Rather than punish people, or be their financial judge, I want to give people a break and allow them to unlock and access their home equity, tax-free. Clients have told me they sleep better at night knowing they can remain in their home and not worry about making a mortgage payment on a fixed income. Here’s what retirement for a senior homeowner could look like. No mortgage payment Line of credit on a portion of their home equity that earns 4-6% a year compound interest guaranteed and protected from a real estate market correction A healthier 401k or IRA if they take the amount of their mortgage payments they are no longer making and fund their retirement account AND/OR they can buy a life insurance policy to replace any equity they may lose with a reverse mortgage, and if healthy enough add a long term care rider on it to protect their assets and leverage insurance for health care they may need  While they continue to work, possibly to age 70, they delay taking Social Security and then at age 70 they receive the maximum benefit  This is why I wrote my book, The Swiss Army Knife of Retirement Cash Flow, to show people that a reverse mortgage is a financial tool with many uses. Why would anyone, including Dave Ramsey, be against helping a senior increase their cash flow, have more certainty and sleep better at night in their golden years? 

                                    <h1>Nursing Homes Are Suing the Friends and Family of Residents to Collect Debts</h1> <div>    <span class="byline">Noam N. Levey</span>         <time class="posted-on" datetime="2022-07-28T05:00:00-04:00">             July 28, 2022        </time>         </div> <p>ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Lucille Brooks was stunned when she picked up the phone before Christmas two years ago and learned a nursing home was suing her.</p>    <p>“I thought this was crazy,” recalled Brooks, 74, a retiree who lives with her husband in a modest home in the Rochester suburbs. Brooks’ brother had been a resident of the nursing home. But she had no control over his money or authority to make decisions for him. She wondered how she could be on the hook for his nearly $8,000 bill.</p><p>Brooks would learn she wasn’t alone. Pursuing unpaid bills, nursing homes across this industrial city have been routinely suing not only residents but their friends and family, a KHN review of court records reveals. The practice has ensnared scores of children, grandchildren, neighbors, and others, many with nearly no financial ties to residents or legal responsibility for their debts.</p><p>The lawsuits illuminate a dark corner of America’s larger medical debt crisis, which <a href="https://khn.org/news/article/diagnosis-debt-investigation-100-million-americans-hidden-medical-debt/">a KHN-NPR investigation</a> found has touched more than half of all U.S. adults in the past five years.</p><p>Litigation is a frequent byproduct. About 1 in 7 adults who have had health care debt say they’ve been threatened with a lawsuit or arrest, according to a <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/kff-health-care-debt-survey/">nationwide KFF poll</a> conducted for this project. Five percent say they’ve been sued.</p><p>The nursing home industry has quietly developed what consumer attorneys and patient advocates say is a pernicious strategy of pursuing family and friends of patients despite federal law that was enacted to protect them from debt collection. “The level of aggression that nursing homes are using to collect unpaid debt is severely increasing,” said Lisa Neeley, a Massachusetts elder law attorney.</p><p>In Monroe County, where Rochester is located, 24 federally licensed nursing homes filed 238 debt collection cases from 2018 to 2021 seeking almost $7.6 million, KHN found. Several nursing homes did not file any lawsuits in that period.</p><p>Nearly two-thirds of the cases targeted a friend or relative. Many were accused — often without documentation — of hiding residents’ assets, essentially stealing. The remaining cases targeted residents themselves or their spouses.</p><p>Nursing homes have gone after some families for tens of thousands of dollars. In a few cases, debts surpassed $100,000.</p><p>In Monroe County alone, one nursing home sued the daughter and granddaughter of a former resident. The daughter pleaded with the court to release the granddaughter, promising she would pay the $5,942 debt. Another home sued a woman twice, for her husband’s and her mother’s debts. Yet another claimed a woman owed $82,000 for her mother’s care. The resident was, in fact, a cousin, according to court papers.</p><p>“I get calls all the time from people who are served with these lawsuits who had no idea that this was even a remote possibility, who call me crying and frantic,” said Anna Anderson, an attorney at the nonprofit Legal Assistance of Western New York who has represented defendants in such suits, including Brooks. “They believe not only that they’re going to lose their own income and their own houses and assets, but also they’re concerned that their loved ones who are still in the nursing home may be potentially kicked out.”</p><p>The legal strategy is often rooted in admissions agreements, the piles of paperwork that family or friends sometimes sign, not realizing the financial risks. “The world of nursing facilities is a black hole for most people,” said Eric Carlson, a longtime consumer attorney at the nonprofit Justice in Aging. “This happens in the shadows.”</p><p>In most cases reviewed by KHN, the people sued didn’t have an attorney, which can be expensive. In nearly a third, the nursing homes won default judgments because the defendants never responded, a common phenomenon in debt cases. In many cases, lawsuits sought interest rates as high as 18% on top of the debt.</p><p>Long-term care officials and attorneys say they must use the courts when bills go unpaid. “It would be a disservice to the hospital’s residents, and to Monroe County’s taxpayers, to allow residents who have assets not to pay what is owed,” said Gary Walker, a spokesperson for Monroe County, which operates Rochester’s largest nursing home, Monroe Community Hospital.</p><p>From 2018 to 2021, the county filed 60 debt collection cases, including the lawsuit against Brooks, KHN found.</p><p>Nationally, Beth Martino, a spokesperson for the American Health Care Association, the largest nursing home industry group, said lawsuits against families are “not a common occurrence.”</p><p>But consumer attorneys in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio said they regularly see lawsuits against family and friends.</p><p>In 2020, Washington, D.C., <a href="https://oag.dc.gov/blog/stopping-deceptive-billing-practices-nursing-homes">secured an agreement</a> with two nursing homes to stop what authorities called “deceptive billing practices.” The homes had sued at least 15 family members, the attorney general found.</p><p>Ahmad Keshavarz, an attorney who documented debt lawsuits around New York City, said nursing homes see adult children as more appealing targets than older residents. “Sons or daughters are more likely to have assets,” he said. “They have wages that can be garnished.”</p><p>In Ohio, Robyn King, a former teaching assistant from Cleveland, was sued for more than $70,000 by a nursing home where her mother had been a resident. “The lawsuit made no sense to me since I told them I would not be personally responsible for my mom’s medical expenses,” King <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/economic-impact-of-the-growing-burden-of-medical-debt">told a U.S. Senate committee</a> in March. “The stress was unbearable. I thought, ‘I will not be able to afford my mortgage.’”</p><p><strong>Trapped by Paperwork</strong></p><p>In upstate New York, Brooks faced a smaller yet shocking bill: $7,967.05.</p><p>“People like us live on a fixed income,” Brooks said. “We don’t have money to throw around, especially when you don’t see it coming.” She was so worried that she didn’t tell her husband at first.</p><p>Brooks initially thought there had been a mistake. She and her brother, James Lawson, were part of a big family that moved north from Mississippi to escape segregation in the 1960s. Lawson, who was a gifted athlete despite losing an arm as a child, spent his career at the Rochester Parks and Recreation Department. Brooks worked in insurance. They lived on opposite sides of the city. “My husband is somewhat disabled, and that keeps me pretty busy,” said Brooks, who is also active in her church. “My brother always took care of his own business.”</p><p>In summer 2019, Lawson was hospitalized after experiencing complications from a diabetes medication. The hospital released him to the county-run nursing home, and Brooks didn’t find out for a few days. She visited her brother there several times. No one talked to her about billing, she said. And she was never asked to sign anything.</p><p>After two months, Brooks’ brother went home. A year later <a href="https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=ASPjnNo6sqC957Zx/GhTig==&display=all&courtType=Monroe%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=2">came the lawsuit</a>.</p><p>The county alleged that Brooks should have used her brother’s assets to pay his bills and that she was therefore personally responsible for his debt. Attached to the suit was an admissions agreement with what looked like Brooks’ signature.</p>  <a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/22121933-e2020010204_county_of_monroe_v_james_lawson_et_al_exhibit_s__4/annotations/2131991">View note</a><p>Such agreements, which can run multiple pages, have long been standard in the long-term care industry. They often designate whoever signs as a “responsible party” who will help the nursing home collect payments or enroll the resident in Medicaid, the government safety-net program.</p><p>Many lawyers say making a family member financially liable is unfair. “If you bring your child to a doctor, you should pay for the child’s medical care. But if your adult child brings you to a nursing home and you’re 80, the law doesn’t bind you to pay those bills,” said Paul Aloi, a Rochester attorney who has represented all sides — patients, hospitals, and nursing homes — in debt collection cases.</p><p>Federal laws and regulations prohibit homes from requiring a resident’s relatives or friends to financially guarantee the resident’s bills. Facilities cannot even request such guarantees.</p><p>But consumer advocates say nursing homes slip the admissions agreements into papers that family members sign when an older parent or sick friend is admitted. Sometimes people are told they must sign, a violation of federal law. Sometimes there is barely any discussion. “They are given a stack of forms and told, ‘Sign here, sign there. Click here, click there,’” said Miriam Sheline, managing attorney at Pro Seniors, a nonprofit law firm in Cincinnati.</p><p>When Chris Ferris helped admit his mother to Kirkhaven nursing home in Rochester in 2019, he said, he asked the staff whether any papers he had signed made him financially liable for her care. “They said ‘no,’” he said.</p>    <p>Ferris, who was estranged from his mother, had no legal control over her finances. She had been managing her own affairs. Nevertheless, the <a href="https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=_PLUS_p9VyilIwLpp7bLgjYkCAg==&display=all&courtType=Monroe%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1">nursing home sued</a> Ferris two years later for nearly $11,000. “It’s not right,” said Ferris, who is no longer speaking with his mother.</p><p>In more than a third of the cases that nursing homes filed in Monroe County against friends and relatives, the people sued had no power of attorney, limiting their access to residents’ money to pay bills.</p><p><strong>Accused of Stealing</strong></p><p>Court records show Rochester-area nursing homes also frequently accuse family and friends of hiding residents’ money and property to avoid paying the debts. The allegation is known in debt law as “fraudulent conveyance.” But it is commonly interpreted by those being sued as an accusation of theft, which can be very frightening, consumer attorneys say.</p><p>The practice can intimidate people with means into paying debts they may not even owe, said Anderson, the legal assistance attorney. “People see that on a lawsuit and they think they’re being accused of stealing,” she said. “It’s chilling.”</p><p>Families do sometimes prey on older relatives, taking their bank cards or selling their property, advocates for seniors say. But nursing home lawsuits in Rochester contain almost no documentation to support these claims.</p><p>Monroe County provided supporting records in only three of the 29 lawsuits it filed that included a fraudulent conveyance claim against a friend or relative of a resident. And Underberg & Kessler, a Rochester law firm that has represented the county and other nursing homes, attached documentation in only five of the 70 actions it filed with such claims. The firm has filed the most nursing home debt cases in Monroe County.</p><p>Anna Lynch, a partner, said the firm always has “factual and legal grounds” to file. “The fact that the complaint does not make reference to the specific evidence does not mean there is not evidence,” she said. “When we do institute legal action on behalf of a nursing home, the firm reviews the agreements between the parties and the facts to make sure there are grounds for claims against the persons who are legally responsible for payment.”</p><p>Barbara Robinson, an 81-year-old widow who lives alone outside Rochester, said that wasn’t her experience. She was <a href="https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=3/kK536_PLUS__PLUS_8cfvE2un_PLUS_1JVg==&display=all&courtType=Monroe%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=2">sued by Monroe County</a> three years ago for $21,000.</p><p>Robinson, who lives on a fixed income, signed papers for an older friend who was admitted to the county home, and she said she helped staff gather information to enroll her friend in Medicaid.</p><p>“As far as I knew, that was that,” Robinson recalled. After the friend died, however, the county accused Robinson of taking her friend’s assets. The county provided no documentation.</p>  <a href="https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/22121932-e2019005713_county_of_monroe_v_county_of_monroe_summons___complaint_1/annotations/2131939">View note</a><p>Robinson said there was no money to take, noting that her friend “had spent every single dime.” A court ultimately dismissed the case, first reported by WHEC-TV in Rochester. Judge Debra Martin admonished the county for the lack of evidence. “Plaintiff must allege some facts to support its claims,” she wrote, noting that the county’s case “does not meet the bare minimum requirements.”</p><p>Ferris, who was sued over his estranged mother’s debts, had his case dropped by the nursing home. Valerie King Hoak, a spokesperson for the Kirkhaven nursing home, said the facility “cannot discuss private resident information or potential litigation with third parties.”</p><p>Brooks is now in the clear, too, after the county dropped its case against her. She said she thinks the signature on the admissions agreement was forged from the nursing home’s visitor log, the only thing she signed.</p><p>The experience left her shaken. She now tells anyone with a friend or relative in a nursing home not to sign anything. “It’s ridiculous,” she said. “But why would you ever think they would be coming after you?”</p><h4>About This Project</h4><p>“Diagnosis: Debt” is a reporting partnership between KHN and NPR exploring the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in America.</p><p>The series draws on the “<a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/kff-health-care-debt-survey/">KFF Health Care Debt Survey</a>,” a poll designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at KFF in collaboration with KHN journalists and editors. The survey was conducted Feb. 25 through March 20, 2022, online and via telephone, in English and Spanish, among a nationally representative sample of 2,375 U.S. adults, including 1,292 adults with current health care debt and 382 adults who had health care debt in the past five years. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and 3 percentage points for those with current debt. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.</p><p>Additional research was <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/which-county-characteristics-predict-medical-debt">conducted by the Urban Institute</a>, which analyzed credit bureau and other demographic data on poverty, race, and health status to explore where medical debt is concentrated in the U.S. and what factors are associated with high debt levels.</p><p>The JPMorgan Chase Institute <a href="https://www.jpmorganchase.com/institute/research/healthcare/spending-during-the-pandemic">analyzed records</a> from a sampling of Chase credit card holders to look at how customers’ balances may be affected by major medical expenses.</p><p>Reporters from KHN and NPR also conducted hundreds of interviews with patients across the country; spoke with physicians, health industry leaders, consumer advocates, debt lawyers, and researchers; and reviewed scores of studies and surveys about medical debt.</p><p><a href="https://khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us/">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.</p><h3>USE OUR CONTENT</h3><p>This story can be republished for free (<a href="https://khn.org/news/article/covid-drug-paxlovid-questions-answered-should-patients-take-it/view/republish/">details</a>).</p><em><a href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). 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