THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 Page 13 New start date sought for pilot program for Broadway bus-only lane By Adam Swift How to Help Your Elderly Parent with Their Finances Dear Savvy Senior, What tips can you off er on helping an elderly parent with their fi nances? My 84-year-old father is having trouble keeping up with his bills and insurance, and I just found out that he’s been making contributions to a suspicious charity. Reluctant Daughter Dear Reluctant, Many adult children serve as fi - nancial helpers to their elderly or ill parents. They provide services like paying bills, handling deposits and investments, fi ling insurance claims, preparing taxes and more. Here are some tips and resources that can help you help your dad. Start with a Conversation Taking on the task of helping an elderly parent with their fi nances can be a sensitive and diffi cult topic. The fi rst step in helping your dad is to have a respectful talk with him expressing your concerns, as you stated in your question, and offering to help him with his fi nancial chores. If you have siblings, it can be a good idea to get them involved too. This can help you head off any possible hard feelings, plus, with others involved, your dad will know everyone is concerned. Get Organized If your dad is willing to let you help manage, monitor or take over his fi nancial aff airs your fi rst order of business is to get organized by making a list of his financial accounts and other important information. Your list should include his: • Contact list: Names and numbers of key contacts like insurance agents, fi nancial advisor, tax preparer, family attorney, etc. • Monthly bills: Phone, cable, water and trash, gas, electric, credit card accounts, etc. • Financial accounts: Including bank accounts, brokerage and mutual fund accounts, safe-deposit boxes and any other fi nancial assets he has. Also get usernames and passwords for fi nancial accounts that are set up online. • Company benefits: Any retirement plans, pensions or health benefi ts from his current or former employer. • Insurance policies: Life, home, auto, long-term care, Medicare, etc. • Taxes: Copies of your dad’s income tax returns over the past few years. Locate Important Documents This is also the ideal time to fi nd out if your dad has the following essential legal documents: A will; an advance directive that includes a living will and health-care proxy, which allows you or another family member or friend to make medical decisions on his behalf if he becomes incapacitated; and a durable power of attorney, which gives you or a designated person similar legal authority for fi nancial decisions, if needed. If he doesn’t have these important documents prepared, now is the time to do it. And if they are prepared, make sure they’re updated, and you know where they’re located. Simplify Financial Tasks The quickest way to help your dad simplify his monthly fi nancial chores is to set up automatic payments for his utilities and other routine bills and arrange for direct deposit of his income sources. If your dad has savings and investments scattered in many different accounts, you should consider consolidating them. You can also set up your dad’s bank system and investment accounts online, so you can pay bills and monitor his accounts anytime. Set Up Protections To guard against scams and risky fi nancial behaviors, consider getting your dad a True Link Visa Prepaid Card (TrueLinkFinancial.com/ card). Designed for older adults with cognitive issues this card would provide your dad access to his money but with restrictions that you set on how funds can be spent. Or check out EverSafe.com, a webbased service that will automatically monitor your dad’s accounts, track suspicious activity and alert you when a problem is detected. Seek Help If you need help or live far away, consider hiring a daily money manager (see AADMM.com) who can come in once or twice a month to pay bills, make deposits, decipher health insurance statements and balance his checkbook. Fees range between $60 and $150 per hour. Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior. org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. A pilot program for a dedicated MBTA bus-only lane on Broadway originally proposed for last fall could be a reality this summer. Revere on the Move Active Living Coordinator Julie DeMauro went before the Traffi c Commission last week requesting a change in date for the previously approved pilot program. “We got up against the weather at the end of the fall season last year, and we were not able to stripe Broadway for the bus lane,” said DeMauro. “We are asking that we change the date from Oct. 20 to Dec. 30, 2020, to now be June 1 to Dec. 31, 2021.” Since this is only a pilot program, similar to ones in Everett and Chelsea, DeMauro said the striping will not be permanent. The bus-only lane will be in operation from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the southbound side of Broadway from Revere Street to Chelsea. She said the fi rst bus usually goes through close to 5 a.m., with the last bus through around 8:45 a.m. Public Works Superintendent Paul Argenzio noted that the proposed date change calls for a six month, rather than three month pilot program as originally proposed. DeMauro said the extra time will give the MBTA more time to analyze data from the pilot program, such as ridership and ride times. The Traffic Commission moved the request for a change of dates to a public hearing. “The limited timeframe preserves on-street parking during the normal business operating hours and maintains parking on the northbound side of Broadway,” stated Mayor Brian Arrigo when the pilot program was initially proposed. “As we have observed in Everett, and in communities such as Arlington and Watertown as well, the dedicated bus lane not only reduces commuting time for passengers, it also expedites traffi c because buses no longer have to pull in and out of vehicular traffi c, a maneuver that causes consistent backups as buses pick up and drop off passengers.” The cost of the signage and barriers for the pilot program will be paid for through the MBTA, not the city. The mayor has also stated that the city will monitor the new program before making any determination whether to make it permanent in this or some revised format. RevereTV Spotlight R evereTV is continuing production of the latest special community program, “What’s Cooking, Revere?” This is a new show catered to Revere’s senior residents in partnership with the Rossetti-Cowan Senior Center, but it’s definitely a show that everyone can enjoy. “What’s Cooking, Revere?” is an instructional cooking show with the goal of featuring residents of Revere and their personal cultures through food. Community member Selene Gomez was in the kitchen studio recording an episode last week. You will be able to watch it soon on the community channel, but all episodes of this program can be viewed anytime on the RevereTV YouTube channel. Keeping on the cooking trend, community member Cesar Agudelo has produced many episodes of a Spanish-language cooking show. It is called “En la Cocina de Rafa.” Cesar is a longtime RevereTV community member and has always off ered a helping hand through volunteering at past fi eld shoots. It’s great to see community members independently produce their own programs. Check out “En la Cocina de Rafa” on the RevereTV community channel on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Tuesday at 7 p.m. There will be new episodes every week! The Revere High School basketball season has come to an end, but RevereTV will continue to replay games over the next few weeks on the community channel. These games include the girls’ varsity and boys’ junior varsity and varsity teams. To view this shortened season at your own convenience, you REVERETV | SEE Page 14 ~ LEGAL NOTICE ~ In the matter of: CITATION ON PETITION TO CHANGE NAME A of requesting that the court enter a Decree changing their name to: For Advertising with Results, call The Advocate Newspapers at 781-286-8500 or Info@advocatenews.net
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