How Men Can Help Guard Against Poverty in Their Golden Years
Insurance Industry Expert Shares 3 Tips
During Men's Health Month

June is Men's Health Month, a reminder for men to do the things that they generally don't do as well as women: getting screened for conditions that, detected early, are easily treated; seeking education about health issues, and supporting each other's well-being.

If being happier with good health isn't enough, then men should consider the extraordinarily high medical cost of poor health - especially during the retirement years, says insurance industry expert Chris Orestis.

"Just one health incident can wipe out an individual's savings, leaving little money for living expenses," says Orestis, a longtime industry insider and author of "Help on the Way," (http://ebook.lifecarefunding.com/), which explains the problem of funding long-term care and offers solutions.

"That can mean a major loss of independence, from having to move in with a son or daughter or worse. Baby Boomers, who are retiring in droves, have about 8 percent less wealth than those 10 to 15 years older than them, partly because of the recent recession."

In addition to taking care of their health, retired and soon-to-be-retired men can avoid flirting with poverty by exercising some financial options. Orestis reviews three of them.

•  Hold off on collecting Social Security until age 70. The life expectancy for men today is 76, an increase from past years, and it's expected to continue to climb. If you're worried about outliving your money, hold off on collecting Social Security benefits early (age 62), which results in up to 30 percent less benefits. People born from 1943 to 1959 are eligible for full benefits at 66, and those born in 1960 or later are eligible at 67. However, if you wait until age 70, you can receive up to 8 percent more in benefits.

•  Turn your life insurance into a long-term care fund. Instead of abandoning a life insurance policy because you can no longer afford the premiums, policy owners can convert a portion of the death benefit value into a Life Care Benefit - Long Term Care Benefit Plan (www.lifecarefunding.com). The money is deposited into a fund earmarked for paying for private duty in-homecare, assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care and hospice care. By converting a life insurance policy, a senior does not have to resort to Medicaid and the many restrictions that come with it, but will still be Medicaid-eligible when the benefit is spent down.

•  Consider investing part of your portfolio in fixed-rate indexed annuities: Having all of your retirement savings in stocks exposes retirees and pre-retirees to too much risk. As you get closer to retirement age, it's important to find alternatives that provide for growth while protecting savings. Fixed-rate indexed annuities - money loaned to an insurance company that guarantees payments over a specified length of time -- allows you to forecast the income you'll generate. Fixed-rate indexed annuities have a ceiling on interest rates, but they also have a floor. Your principal is safe and you can ride an up market without the risk.

About Chris Orestis

Chris Orestis, nationally known senior health-care advocate, expert, and author is CEO of Life Care Funding, (www.lifecarefunding.com), which created the model for converting life insurance policies into protected Long-Term Care Benefit funds. His company has been providing care benefits to policy holders since 2007. A former life insurance industry lobbyist with a background in long-term care issues, he created the model to provide an option for middle-class people who are not wealthy enough to pay for long-term care, and not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

Food Tasting To Be Held At Miss Mamie's

MOLINE, IL/ June 11, 2014 - Miss Mamie's Restaurant & Bar will be hosting a food tasting event Monday, June 23rd at 6:00pm. New delicacies will be joining the line-up of already delicious choices from the Miss Mamie's menu.

These new foods would include; the Carolina Burger, Spinach Dip, and Fried Green Tomatoes. Also, new appetizers, cocktails, and desserts will be present to unearth delicious combinations of food and drink.

At $30.00 a person, you and your family, friends, and/or colleagues can participate in this succulent food tasting event. Reservations are accepted, but we are limited to no more than 50 people for this event. All benefits and proceeds will go to a scholarship for the Scott Community College Chef Apprentice Program.

Miss Mamie's Co-owner and Chef, Mike Osborn, "These new menu items will certainly add a different element of Southern flavor to our menu. Along with a selection of appetizers, drinks, and desserts to help accentuate the taste of these selections, any combination is bound to tickle the taste buds."

Call 309-762-8336 to reserve a place for Miss Mamie's Food Tasting. Remember, reservations are limited.

This food tasting event will allow those who have already experienced the Miss Mamie's menu to try the new additions. It will also allow those who may not have tried it to taste it for the first time. Of course the goal is to better serve our customers and give you an exciting selection of entrees and appetizers for each visit you make to Miss Mamie's.

About Miss Mamie's: Miss Mamie's Restaurant and Bar is located it Moline, Illinois. We define fresh as locally sourced steaks; cut in our kitchen, the best seafood we can buy, and offer crisp salads with house-made dressings. Original entrees crafted by a culinary chef and offered at a good value in an established, locally owned Quad Cities restaurant. Our restaurant and menu embody a casual coastal flair you won't find anywhere else in the area. There's something for every food mood and flavor lover, so let us take care of your current craving, whether it's salad or steak, sandwiches or seafood.

About Mike Osborn: Miss Mamie's' Chef/Owner, Mike Osborn, is a Quad Cities native who has been in the restaurant field his entire professional career. Mike trained at the most prestigious culinary school in the U.S., the Culinary Institute of America, and he has cooked in private clubs throughout the Country and owned a bagel chain. In 1995, Mike became the head chef at Miss Mamie's. He helped open another location in Davenport, which is now Mo Brady's Steakhouse, and in 2007, he purchased Miss Mamie's Restaurant & Bar and Mo Brady's Steakhouse. Mike has always been serious about food. He takes care to select just the right ingredients, cook them properly and create excitement on the plate.

SPRINGFIELD, IL (06/11/2014)(readMedia)-- "Who I am and what I've become is due to the military," said Sgt. Maj. Eric L. Walls, a native of Jacksonville, Illinois, with Joint Force Headquarters in Springfield, Illinois, who will retire in June after 32 years of military service. "This has been my whole life. This is all I've ever done since I was 17 years old."

After heavy encouragement from his father, a retired sergeant major from the Illinois Army National Guard, Walls enlisted in June 1982 as a fire control computer specialist and a small wheel vehicle mechanic with the 3637th Maintenance Company in Springfield, Illinois.

In 1984, Walls became a temporary full-time technician that resulted in a permanent full-time position as a supply specialist at Camp Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois.

"He has always been very focused and driven," said Master Sgt. David E. Purdy of Rochester, Illinois, with Joint Force Headquarters, who has worked at Camp Lincoln with Walls since 1988. "He wanted to learn everything we could teach him."

Walls held many positions during his military career, with his last position as the support services branch supervisor for the director of information management at Camp Lincoln.

The most rewarding position was his last, he said.

"I have a great team that knows what they have to do every day and they do a great job at it," said Walls. "They make my life easy."

Walls made his way up the ranks, serving as squad leader, platoon sergeant, and first sergeant of Joint Force Headquarters and as the task force sergeant major during his deployment to Afghanistan in 2010.

He and his team co-deployed with its Polish counterparts and worked together cohesively in Afghanistan, he said. Walls considered Poland one of the best countries visited during his military service.

"Poland stands out the most," said Walls. "We had a good mission, training with the Polish Army Brigade to go to Afghanistan and got to see a lot of the country."

Looking back, Walls said he was very grateful for his father setting him in this direction.

"I got three degrees, a lot of experience, great friends, and opportunities to do many things and learn a lot," said Walls. "It has been great."

He spent a lot of time educating himself and ended up following in his father's footsteps retiring as a sergeant major, said Purdy

After his military retirement, Walls intends to pursue other career options and see where the road leads. For future Soldiers he leaves advice to be as diverse as possible and get as much experience in different positions.

Congressman: It's not enough to complain, we have to offer solutions

Washington, D.C. - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today is calling on Congressional leadership to pass his Veterans Access to Care Act in an attempt to make it easier to hire health care providers at VA hospitals and clinics around the country.

"Complaining about the problems at the VA on the sidelines isn't enough?we've got to get in there and offer solutions," Braley said. "We've seen recent reports from VA facilities in many parts of the country that it can be difficult to recruit medical providers?this bill is a commonsense solution that would help solve that problem and ensure our veterans are getting the care that they deserve."

 

In a letter to the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Braley urges the committee to take up legislation that would make veterans' care facilities eligible to hire National Health Service Corps fellows, helping attract health care providers to careers helping veterans. 

The National Health Service Corps is a national scholarship and loan repayment program operated by the US Department of Health and Human Services that pays medical school expenses for future doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, and health practitioners who agree to work in medically underserved areas. Braley's bill would simply add Veterans Administration facilities and state veterans' homes as eligible "underserved areas" in which the Corps fellows would be eligible to serve.

"Given what we've discovered in recent months, it's nonsense that some of these VA hospitals and clinics don't qualify as 'underserved areas'," Braley said.

Recent reporting by the Des Moines Register indicated that initial wait times for appointments at the Iowa City VA facility were longer than the national average. Braley believes that the passage of this legislation could help facilities like Iowa City more easily recruit medical providers and reduce wait times.

"Iowa's veterans and all American veterans shouldn't have to fight when they come home to receive the care that was promised to them," Braley's letter reads.

Braley has consistently been a strong advocate for veterans. In 2011, Braley wrote the Combat Veterans Back to Work Act to provide employers with a payroll tax break if they hired recently returned veterans, including members of the Iowa National Guard. The bill was incorporated into new tax credits signed into law in November 2011.

A link to the letter can be found HERE.

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