With Your Family in Mind

It’s the opportunity most people have been waiting for.  With the lure of tax-free distributions, the Roth IRA has become a popular retirement savings vehicle since its introduction in 1998.  But in the past, if you were a high-income taxpayer, chances are you have not been able to participate in the Roth revolution.  Well, that’s now changed.

Did you realize that an attitude of helplessness can lead to anxiety and depression?  As you might expect, people who are generally passive and “let life happen to them” are at a higher risk for feeling helpless than those that believe they have some control over their own destiny.  Seeing yourself as a “loser” or a failure can lead to an attitude of helplessness.  Given the stressors of 2010, feeling powerless may be more common than you think, but reaching out to others can really help!

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t. – Erica Jong
There is a distinction between advice intended to provide knowledge and advice intended to recommend action.  In either case, the product of advice is an opinion.  To better understand the value of advice, we might consider the needs of the seeker of advice. 

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newly proposed budget for fiscal year 2010/11 completely ignores funding for California’s domestic violence programs, directly impacting the residents of Santa Clarita.  Under the proposed budget, the Domestic Violence Center of the Santa Clarita Valley, which is the only agency providing comprehensive domestic violence services in the 200-square mile Santa Clarita Valley, will continue to experience significant losses in funding.

She went to bed early New Year’s Eve.  He fell asleep on the sofa.  He says, “She doesn’t care.”  She says, “He can’t be bothered.”  Most days, one works late and returns to find the other preoccupied in a computer game or watching television.  He says, “It doesn’t matter if I come home, she doesn’t notice.”  She says, “I expect him to ignore me, he doesn’t care whether I’m dead or alive.”

A reader of The Magazine of Santa Clarita wrote in about breaking into voiceover and I promised to lay out the skill-sets that most people in the areas of stage, film and television, singing, instructing, public speaking and on-air talent possess, and show how they apply to voice acting.  Last month I addressed public speakers.  This month, it’s on-air talent.

Institute will be first Hebrew Language Charter High School in United States
A new chapter in SCV education begins this year with the establishment of the Albert Einstein Academy for Letters, Arts and Sciences.  Opening in fall 2010 for grades seven to nine, the publicly funded charter school will eventually be adding grades kindergarten through sixth and 10 to 12.
“This is an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of our children,” said Rabbi Mark Blazer, AEA’s executive director.  “Courses will be designed with the objective of preparing every student to attend the best colleges and universities in the world.”

Nearly one third of all adults in the U.S. are unpaid family caregivers for a loved one needing assistance, and with the expanding senior population, this number only promises to grow. Additionally, two out of five Americans will need long-term care at some point in their lives. When the cost for this care falls directly on the individual needing care or on the family, which in many cases it does, these statistics prove significant.
Many people believe that Medicare will pay for long-term care, but this is not the case, often leading people to wonder how they will be able to pay for the care needed.

It can be very difficult to watch our beloved seniors lose precious memories and mental capacity, forget those they love, and even sometimes lose their own unique personalities.
How can important memories be kept alive, and these precious minds kept active?  Here are some simple ideas for everyday activities that can help with memory and recall:

The title of this article may send your mind racing back to Tina Turner’s 1984 classic hit or to the 1993 blockbuster motion picture documenting her struggle and rise to success in the music industry.  However, this question is far more than a classic music tune or memorable film. 

Inner Circle Foster Care and Adoption Services, Inc. address the growing deficit of services to troubled children and families in our community.  Our foster children are children age zero to 17, of all ethnicities, that have been removed from their birth families and placed into foster and/or fost/adopt homes.  These children remain in foster care while their parents are offered services by the County of Los Angeles, Department of Children and Family Services to help them correct problems that put their children in harms way.

Electromagnetic Therapy (EMT) has, through numerous studies, been proven an effective technique in healing soft-tissue wounds and suppressing inflammation at the cell membrane level, which helps to alleviate pain and increase range of motion.  EMT has been proven beneficial for a wide range of conditions by medical trials carried out by hospitals, rheumatologists, and physiotherapists.  EMT re-energizes damaged cells by inducing electrical changes within the cell, restoring it to its normal healthy state. 

Many people know that I practice estate planning (wills and trusts) but some don’t know that I also handle personal injury law.  I used to be a lawyer for the insurance companies.  Now I represent the victims of accidents.  My personal injury website is www.ValenciaLawyer.com .  If you’ve been involved in a car accident, here are the top five things you should do:

What is it like to be an addict, caught in the seemingly endless cycle of using, recovering, shame and failure?  The non-addict might think an addict is having fun, doing whatever they want and indulging themselves at everyone’s expense.  In the beginning stages, there is some truth to this.  But as abuse continues, it becomes a prison for the individual as well as others. 

Every once in a while I, like most people I know, enjoy listening to the talking heads.  Not David Byrne and Company, but rather the pundits, espousing upon the topic Du Jour.  This week that topic is Tiger Woods.  The pundits I have listened to have uniformly come to the conclusion that Tiger’s prenuptial agreement (premarital agreement here in California) would no longer be enforceable because of his alleged infidelity.

The holiday season is a time to raise the awareness of the need for every child in America to have a safe, loving and permanent home.  With 129,000 children currently in foster care, Children’s Bureau is seeking caring families to consider adoption.  The agency is holding a monthly information meeting for those interested in learning more on January 21 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Magic Mountain Administrative Offices located at 26101 Magic Mountain Parkway in Valencia.

No matter how safe you are behind the steering wheel, auto accidents are sometimes unavoidable.  Therefore, for your safety, and for legal and insurance reasons, there is no legitimate reason not to be prepared.
The first action you should immediately take is to place a pad and pen in your glove compartment and keep them there.  Leave a disposable camera in the compartment as well.  These will enable you to provide invaluable information and evidence.
If you are involved in an accident, do the following:

If you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to get your finances on track for 2010, you have probably also heard the question, “How do you eat an elephant?”  The answer is, “one bite at a time.”  This metaphor applies to achieving any big goal.  How do you achieve a big goal?  You accomplish it one step, one task, one measure at a time.  Here’s a monthly financial calendar of important planning and execution tasks to help you reach your goal.