Millions of people across the country, from family caregivers to nurses to home health aides, dedicate their time and compassion to helping aging, ill and disabled individuals receive health care and support while they remain at home. November is Home Care and Hospice Month, and Americans are encouraged to honor the health care professionals and family members who provide these essential services.

Roth IRAs and 401(k)s are two of the most commonly used retirement savings accounts. For people with both a 401(k) and a Roth IRA, it is best to balance retirement savings between the two accounts in order to maximize employer contributions and tax benefits. A Roth IRA provides considerable flexibility both before and after retirement.…

Once you’ve drafted a will and advance directives and signed a health care proxy, take into consideration some of the less obvious things that may alleviate some of the burden on a loved one or family member. Here’s a quick list: Access to Information The family needs to understand and have access to the individual’s…

By Tom Breedlove, HomePay by Breedlove – The holiday season is just around the corner, which means families are starting to make plans to travel, see loved ones and use up the rest of their vacation days before 2015 begins. So with the idea of time off on many people’s minds, it’s a good time to talk about how things like vacation and sick days work if you employ an in-home caregiver. Many of us are simply told when we began our current job how many vacation days, sick days or personal days we get each year and we just accept that. But did you know there are federal and state labor laws in place that dictate paid time off?

Our guest blogger this week is Jilana Van Meter, Communications & Administration Manager,  At Home on the Sound. The term “aging in place” is being heard more frequently these days. Simply put, “aging in place” means remaining in your own home and maintaining your independence as you grow older. Some Americans hope to accomplish this…

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is a new piece of legislation that was recently passed in Congress. The law is intended to improve federal job-training programs and reauthorizes existing programs that supply federal funding for state and city job retraining programs. It also aims to eliminate overlapping programs to increase efficiency.

By Tom Breedlove, HomePay by Breedlove – Because of the complexities in hiring private duty care, it’s easy for families to misstep if they don’t have adequate help from the start. In fact, many of the more common household employment payroll and tax mistakes can be avoided by addressing a few key items at the time of hire. So if you’re about to hire in-home care, keep these three things in mind as you’re discussing the details of the employment arrangement with your new employee.

There is an unfortunate paradox in retirement planning: the best time to start saving is when people are least likely to do so: when they are young.

It is not hard to convince people in their 40s and 50s that saving for retirement is important, but saving at that point is so much more effective if one already has a head start from beginning to save in one’s 20s and 30s.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has published a best practices guide for investors that describes common investor problems and how they can be avoided. These are the most common complaints FINRA’s Investor Complaint Center receives, and recommendations for avoiding them.

1. Misrepresentation. Misrepresentation is an untrue statement or omission of material fact that a broker makes purposefully relating to an investment. This may happen with any security, but is more common with low-priced, speculative securities because they are riskier.

New York State residents who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) also receive a state supplement.  For 2014, the maximum federal SSI amount is $721 and the NYS supplement is $87 bringing the maximum SSI benefit to $808 per month.  At this time, New York State residents receive these benefits in one payment from the Social Security Administration (SSA), usually direct deposited into the recipient’s bank account.  Starting October 1, 2014, New York SSI recipients will receive their federal SSI benefit and the state supplement benefit separately.