Starting small biz concierge services for senior
mangomoon
10 years ago
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emma
10 years agojakkom
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Senior Citizen Friendly Shrubs
Comments (6)Can you post a photo of the site? It's hard to make suggestions without knowing where the bay window and window wells are, the depth of the front bed, and how many stories the house has. However, here's some info to get you started. The limelight hydrangea may struggle in full sun all day, since in general hydrangeas like a lot of moisture. Do you have some sort of a watering system, such as a soaker hose for the area? Also, you might want to think about something with spring interest to distract from the lawn in early to mid spring. There are some weigelas that stay quite small ('Spilled Wine' and 'My Monet' off the top of my head.) Heaths and heathers stay small. Checkmate rhododendron stays small and I have found to need no particular care other than mulch annually. Birds' nest spruce gets wide, but not tall. You can ask on the conifer forum about other smaller sized conifers. There are a couple of kinds of deutzia that stay small ('Chardonnay Pearls' and 'Nikko'), both of which I have and give little care to beyond the regular additions of mulch and some water in really dry weather that the entire bed gets. Boxwoods can be kept small with regular pruning, I believe. I'd probably go to local nurseries in the spring and read lots of tags and make notes as to height and width, bloom time, and bloom and foliage colors. Then I'd go home and figure out what might look good. Until then, I've attached a link to the plant search at the Missouri Botanical Garden's website. You can put in requirements for plant characteristics and requirements and see what pops up. There may be other similar plant searches hosted by other botanical gardens or universities. Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden plant search...See MoreWWYD senior edition
Comments (9)I'd call the local senior social service agency and explain your concern about your mother's neighbor. They will be able to advise how best to proceed, or may initiate a check on the elderly by one of their case workers for assessment. Lots of things besides dementia could be causing his problems, so don't feel guilty by alerting someone who may be able to see that he gets the help he needs. Or if you can find out the name of the nursing home where his wife is, you could contact them and explain what is happening. They can contact the daughter. They also may be able to accommodate both in the same room if he is unable to manage living alone any longer. The other option is to ask the manager to contact the neighbor's daughter, but that may not be handled as well by the property manager so I'd probably start with the agency for advice first or the nursing home. As far as your neighbor, maybe you could just ask about her or offer to bring him a meal or something for his mom. You'll be able to gauge his reaction before calling the agency. Perhaps she died or moved without your being aware and he may clear up the confusion. If you suspect he's hiding her body to collect SS or other pension in her name, then I suggest letting the agency handle that investigation without your direct involvement with him. The plight of elders who are alone is heartbreaking, but your intervention may save lives. You need not worry about interfering as this is not being a busybody IMO, but looking out for someone who is alone out of concern and support in both cases. Senior social workers specialize in handling these types of situations and most do so with sensitivity and compassion, at least the ones I've come across in nursing homes settings or through community referral services. Good luck....See MoreMoney management for seniors
Comments (10)When I worked as a personal financial advisor, I recommended that my clients have 3 - 6 months' worth of income available as an emergency fund, available in case of need. If they could survive for a year without any income ... so much the better. But ... I didn't have that, myself, and haven't for a number of years. And as my clients became more knowledgeable about how money works, I explained to some/most of them how I operate, with my reasons. For working people, they must continually be in sufficiently good physical, mental and emotionl health to go to their workplace and carry our their required tasks there ... or they don't qualify for that essential paycheque! Plus ... hope that their employer doesn't go broke, close the business, shift work offshore, or get amalgamated with another company, merging the employee's work into the other home office, etc. Now, as a senior, in receipt of two government pensions, one of them contributory, plus a private pension, plus a tax-deferred retirement account that requires an annual withdrawal amount of about 7% up to 10% or so, increasing with age to 20% at age 90), plus I can withdraw more, if I choose (but every dollar taxable) I do not have such a requirement. All that I need do to qualify to continue to receive my pensions ... ... is stay topside the grass! So - I have darn near a guaranteed income ... till the day of my death. Quite a comfortable position in which to operate, I figure. Sometimes I have some readily-available cash, sometimes not ... but that doesn't trouble me. I carry a credit card. If I have an emergency, I'll use the card to pay for whatever I need. I have a Line of Credit, fully secured by mutual fund and stock certificates, that sits unused, most of the time. There was no set-up fee, and there is no maintenance fee if I let it lie unused. Its main purpose is to use when it suits me to purchase investments, if I lack the cash at the time. If I were to use it for funds to be be used in an emergency, most of the uses being not deductible, I would set up a separate line of credit, having certificates issued as needed, to provide the security, so that I have one fund for deductible situations, one for non-deductible emergency use. When I receive my account next month from the credit card agency for the amount owing, I draw a sufficient amount from the non-deductible line of credit to pay that amount in full, thus avoiding interest cost re the credit card. Interest on the line of credit now is 5.25% ... and I'd try to pay it off from current income as quickly as possible. And leave the line of credit that I use for purchase of investments, making the interest cost deductible, uncontaminated by a loan used for non-deductible purposes. Also, I feel comfortable, as I approach age 80, at carrying 80% of my assets in equities. As you know, the stock markets are down, now. Suppose I have an emergency develop tomorrow that requires a substantial amount of expense. Would I sell some of my equities, probably at a lower price than they usually run? Sometimes some of the market is down and other parts are operating at approximately their usual levels. If there were some parts that I might consider to be not undervalued, I might liquidate some of them. But probably I would not. I might liquidate some mutual funds, as I have grown increasingly unhappy with them over recent years. If I sell some stocks, there's the commission to sell them. Then, if there's been a capital gain, I must pay the income tax people a portion of that gain, next year. Then, when I accumulate funds to purchase more stocks, there's commission to pay once more on my purchase. When one considers those costs, often its wiser just to initiate a temporary loan to deal with the emergency. Not only that ... it has been my experience that, after a period when stock markets were undervalued, when the recovery takes place, there is substantial increase in value within a year or two or three following that low market period. I would very likely make a loan, pay it off in part over the intervening period and liquidate some assets as needed after the recovery in order to discharge that loan. If I can make 25% more on an sale of an asset over a couple or three years ... I don't mind paying 5.25% annual interest. I don't have large worry over medical and hospital costs ... if I were a U.S. resident, with higher potential medical and hospital care costs, I might evaluate the situation differently: but possibly not much differently, even so. I hope that you've found this explanation understandable ... and interesting. I am interested to hear your comments. I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful spring weekend ... my multiple-trumpet daffodils are out! ole joyful P.S. If you use this idea and it earns you, say, $300. ... you owe me 10%, right? o j...See MoreHalf of US Births and Half of US Seniors...
Comments (42)I see you need to have the last word on something you're not part of, Elmer. We are NOT with Kaiser because it's the least expensive; we stay because we like our docs and our care. I'm certainly not going to go into personal experiences here but it's not fair of you to dish an hmo you have never had any part of, and with which many, many people are very happy. I suspect you have closer to concierge care, which this is not, but Kaiser works great for hundreds of thousands of people. It is an example of how a single-payer system works, and works well. We have all heard many non-Kaiser stories of incompetent docs and very long wait times. Our wait times appear to us to be far shorter than friends on other plans, even Stanford plans. :) Chisue, I have to disagree with you on the idea that there would be more jobs if employers didn't have to help subsidize healthcare. If recent history has taught us anything, it's that big business is all about keeping as much profit as possible. (Small businesses are a different story and I'm sorry when I see news articles not make the differentiation.) I believe if large businesses thought they could get away with not helping with insurance costs, they would do it in a heartbeat. The only answer is government-sponsered health care, again, as is done in every other economically viable country. Profit must be taken out of the equation, or there will continue to be a growing chasm between those who receive healthcare, and those who do not....See Moremangomoon
10 years agosushipup1
10 years agomangomoon
10 years agosunnyca_gw
10 years agoemma
10 years agoraee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
10 years agosushipup1
10 years agojakkom
10 years ago
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