| Willows changes hands, name
DEMOPOLIS - The city's only assisted living complex, the Willows, has been by Rick Cagle of Mobile and will be renamed Southern Oaks Assisted Living of Demopolis.Cagle said he plans to reopen the second structure on the site to house more residents once the structure regains its license through the Alabama Department of health. He said the structure lost its license after sitting vacated for a month in accordance with the department's guidelines. “The buildings have been here for over seven years," said Cagle. “I took over management of the site on Dec. 20 and finished the paperwork to buy it Thursday."Cagle said he plans to both expand into the second building, and he hopes to eventually also build another structure to offer specialty assisted living care. He categorized the current facilities as a step between living at home and a nursing home.“We have individuals who move in and at first are reluctant to leave their homes," said Cagle.
Retirement savings should begin with 1st paycheck
As soon as you start working, goes the mantra of financial experts, with their spreadsheets showing the miracle of compounding. Save even small amounts over a very long time horizon and you are likely to have more than the people who started socking away big percentages of their incomes in their 30s and 40s.
Sounds easy enough, but a newly minted college graduate frequently has education and credit card debt, not to mention a rather paltry starting salary and a need to set up a new household and wardrobe for working life. How to balance it all?
Instead of aggressively paying down student loans, pay the minimum and sign up for your 401(k) plan at work, said Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, chief strategist for consumer education at Charles Schwab & Co.
Then cut out one excess in your daily spending--did anyone say latte?--and open a Roth individual retirement account, she said.
Students hone drawing skills
SALISBURY -- Pencil and paper have long been key tools in students' studies, but a group of eighth-graders from Wicomico Middle School put these basic tools to advanced use when they sketched portraits of local seniors. Eighth-grade art students traveled from Wicomico Middle to nearby Atria Salisbury (part of the Atria Senior Living Group) last fall to meet residents who had volunteered to spend part of their morning sitting quietly for a carefully drawn portrait. The student artists also had the opportunity to interview their subjects in order to learn more about where they were born, the work they did and their experiences in life. It was an excellent opportunity for students to hone their life drawing skills while interacting with people from another generation, said Kathy Mumford, art teacher.
If you care full-time for aging parents, you may be due a tax break
If you care for an aging parent, you're not alone. The National Alliance for Caregiving and the AARP estimate that 21 percent of all American adults care for other adults. Seven million Americans take care of someone 55 or older and live at least an hour away, a Pew Center study reports. And that number is growing - it is expected to double within 15 years.There is some tax relief for adult children who support their aging parents. You can reduce your 2006 taxable income by $3,300 if you claim a parent as your dependent.
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Charting out retirement
"Leading-edge" boomers -- who turned 60 last year -- are dreaming about retirement, but don't expect to see the Forever Young Generation on the shuffleboard courts or in the bingo halls anytime soon. The midlife transition that boomers envision looks very different from that of their parents, who picked up gold watches and headed for Florida. .
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