With August only days away, the new school year is on the horizon. Despite losing some of their own investments, grandparents still want to help their grandchildren with college expenses. According to Money Magazine, 65% of grandparents plan to do just that. It’s important to choose the best ways to give. Otherwise, it could hurt a student’s chance of financial aid.

Cutting a Check

Be careful when simply giving money by check to the grandchild. This money would be considered part of the student’s income and must be reported on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The same can be said for any checks sent directly to the school or college. A possible way to avoid this is by giving the check to the child’s parents. That way it would be considered a parental asset.

Tip: Avoid taxes by keeping yearly contributions under the gift-tax exclusion of $13,000.

529 Accounts
Grandparents have two options with a 529 college savings plan. They can add up to $13,000 yearly or a lump sum of $65,000 per child using a special five-year election. Unlike a check, 529 accounts don’t count against federal aid. Depending on the state, a possible benefit for grandparents lies in a state tax write-off.

Tip: Distributions from 529 plans are considered income, so don’t use the funds until a student’s senior year.

After College Gifts

Some grandparents offer to pay for a grandchild’s student loans after graduation. This option won’t affect aid eligibility and will hopefully encourage a student to finish college. A possible negative is if the grandparent passes away before graduation. The student will then be responsible for repaying the loans.

Tip: Remember that $13,000 limit? Try to keep the yearly payoff of loans at $13,000 or below to avoid owing the IRS.

 
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The certified college planners at Marca Life Planning can provide further advice for your college planning. Contact us at 800-489-3933. 

A positive life review process has therapeutic benefits for aging adults. Reminiscence therapy is used by professionals and non-professionals. It can be found in hospitals, senior centers, hospices, and other settings. Formal techniques are often used in hospices. With participation from loved ones and patients, the process can bring about closure through communication and the creation of a permanent historical record.

Capturing an entire life story and knowing where to start can be a challenge. You can begin by answering pre-written questions about the stages of one’s life. We provided several questions* to get you started. 

The People Who Shaped You

• How would you describe your mother to someone who had never met her?
• What is a key lesson you learned from your father? 

Your Memories

• Describe your childhood home, inside and outside.
• What did you want to be when you grew up?
• What were your most memorable experiences from high school?

The Real World

• Have you found true love? Describe what true love means to you.
• What is the hardest part of being a parent?
• What is the greatest invention that has come along in your lifetime so far? Why was this invention important to you? 

Bringing It All Together

• What does it take to succeed in life?
• What was the best time of your life? Why?
• It’s been said that, “The best things in life are free.” Is this true?

*Questions from LifeBio.com

Modern life moves fast. Families are becoming smaller and fragmented. People need to feel connected to others and the world around them. For older adults, a life review or autobiography can aid in avoiding that feeling of isolation and help fully understand their past and present. According to Telling the Stories of Life Through Guided Autobiography Groups, a life review helps those who want to leave a legacy and history, facilitate life transitions, enhance personal growth, and enjoy self-discovery.

What are the best ways to tell your story? Capturing your life story can be overwhelming, but resources exist to make the process easier and more enjoyable.

5 tips for writing a life review on your own

1)  Write down stories in notebooks or in formal recording workbooks.

2)  Create an audiotape or videotape to capture an oral history.

3)  Make use of family tree programs or software like Ancestry.

4)  LifeBio provides ways to create an online autobiography or scrapbook by using their online templates.

5)  Use Shutterfly or Flickr to compile old and current photographs using digital photo albums. These sites provide editing tools and the ability to enter short captions on your photos. Most importantly, they allow you to share your photo albums at any point along your process.

Coming up next…Capturing Your Life Story…with a Little Help

Many aging theories reinforce the benefits of life review and life storytelling. Eric Erickson’s theory used life review as a way to prepare for death and avoid despair. Atchley’s Continuity Theory explained how life review can maintain a sense of identity despite declining abilities. Once individuals realize the limited amount of time left, they examine and evaluate their lives as either a success or failure. Life review represents the final opportunity to resolve and understand conflicts when one’s life comes to a close.

By participating in life review or life storytelling, aging adults can make sense of their lives and their contribution to the world. It provides a way to share wisdom, humor, and a life’s legacy. Well-being in old age improves by linking together different experiences in a life. In the telling of a life story, sense is made of it.

The life review process can be silent or oral. If a life story is left untold and uncelebrated, it can manifest itself as a brief significant thought, as nostalgia or regret, and as anxiety, guilt, or depression. Sharing life stories is an important way for elders to link with others. By passing on the wisdom gained through life reflection, older generations can influence future generations.

Coming up next…Telling Your Story

With the arrival of May, National Arthritis Month sheds light on the more than 46 million Americans afflicted by arthritis. The term is universal for over 100 different conditions. Certain remedies exist to lessen the pain and keep it from greatly affecting your daily life.

Exercise aerobically. Daily exercise can help reduce stiffness and pain, which can preserve and improve the health of your bones and joints.
• If you’re just beginning a routine, try a 30 minute walk three times a week.
• Swimming or water aerobics are low-impact exercises that will strengthen the muscles around your spine to relieve back pain and improve mobility.
• Start slow, and be careful to not overexert yourself. Cut back if your exercises cause you pain more than 30 minutes after your workout.

Eat a well-balanced diet. Keep your weight down by eating a diet of moderation. Taking a multi-vitamin will ensure that you get daily requirements of essential minerals like calcium.

Use a capsaicin cream. Capsaicin is the active component of hot peppers. Putting capsaicin cream on your joints blocks your nerve cells from transmitting pain impulses.

Gear up with ginger. Studies show that ginger can block inflammation. Easily add to your diet by steeping a few slivers of fresh ginger in a tea ball in 1 cup of boiling water for 10 minutes. Let it cool and serve.

Straighten up. Your mother was right. Bad posture puts pressure on your joints, causing wear and tear on your bones and cartilage. It can cause extra pain for those with arthritis, so stand up straight to save your knees and hips.

Increase your fiber. Eating high-fiber foods can prevent and minimize osteoarthritis in two ways. Fiber fills you up, so you’re less likely to overeat and gain weight. Fiber picks up inflammatory toxins and hormones and carries them out. This reduces the chance of experiencing osteoarthritis pain.

Choose hot or cold. If you feel arthritis pain flaring, use ice for sudden flare-ups, chronic pain, or when joints are inflamed. Use heat when you feel sore and achy.

Use acetaminophen. A daily dose of acetaminophen can help with minor arthritis pain. While it doesn’t work for everyone, it can be a safe way to deal with pain because it will not cause stomach problems.

*Prevention Magazine, Jan. 2010