Page 16 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2023 TRAVEL | FROM Page 11 airfares and hotels • Is highly knowledgeable about attractions and local customs at popular destinations and can provide tips that will help you choose among options and keep your trip running smoothly • Will be able to stay current on any travel restrictions or alerts that may arise and impact your travel How to fi nd a good travel agent: • When possible, deal with a local travel agent. Take advice from friends and business associates who use an agent they trust, and always check business profi les on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website (BBB.org). • Visit or call several agencies to fi nd the one that best suits your needs. • Consider everything from the offi ce’s appearance to the agent’s willingness to listen and answer questions. • Ask about a specifi c agent’s professional background. For example, what kind of training or education they have had. • Contact the American Society of Travel Agents (https:// www.asta.org/) to check if a travel agent you are considering using belongs to it. For more information: Find a travel agent near you (https:// www.bbb.org/near-me/travel-agency). Go to BBB.org/ travel to see more tips. Tips for how to avoid travel scams: https://www.bbb.org/article/ scams/16913-bbb-tip-5-topvacation-scams-to-watchwhen-making-summer-travel-plans SCAM | FROM Page 13 shopping online at https:// www.bbb.org/article/newsreleases/14040-bbb-tip-smartshopping-online. You can also find more general tips at 10 Steps to avoid scams at https:// www.bbb.org/article/tips/8767bbb-tips-10-steps-to-avoidscams If you’ve been the victim of a social media ad scam, share your experience at https://www. bbb.org/ScamTracker. Your report could help other consumers avoid falling victim to similar scams. Find more general tips on avoiding scams by visiting BBB's Scam HQ at https://www. bbb.org/all/scamtips If you spot a scam, report it at https://www.bbb.org/ScamTracker. By sharing your experience at BBB Scam Tracker, you can help frustrate scammers’ schemes. Note: eBay and Amazon are BBB Accredited Businesses. TAX BENEFITS OF IRREVOCABLE TRUSTS f you place your principal residence into an irrevocable trust to protect the equity for your children, you can sell your home and still take advantage of the $250,000 capital gains tax exclusion ($500,000 for a married couple) upon sale. For example, if you are single and you lived in your home for at least two of the fi ve years prior to the date of sale of your home, and you sold your home for $750,000, with a purchase price of $500,000, the $250,000 capital gain would not be taxable. In order to determine your actual cost basis, you would be adding to the purchase price all capital improvements since acquisition such as a new roof, new windows, new heating system, kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation, asphalt driveway, etc., plus any and all closing costs on the sale of the house such as broker’s commission, tax stamps, legal fees and recording fees. Upon your death, the fair market value of the home would become the new cost basis in the hands of the benefi ciaries of the Trust, such as your children. If they were to sell the home shortly after your death, in all probability, there would then be no capital gains tax to pay. Only if the property appreciated signifi cantly since the date of your death would there then be a capital gain to pay taxes on. Keep in mind that once the I five-year look-back period has passed, the house would not be a countable asset for MassHealth purposes and being held in the irrevocable Trust would avoid probate as well as estate recovery for MassHealth benefi ts paid. If the house were to be sold during your lifetime, the net sales proceeds would Best Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids for Older Adults Dear Savvy Senior, Can you recommend some good over-the-counter hearing aids for seniors on a budget? I’m not sure what to get or where to buy them. Hard of Hearing Dear Hard, The new FDA approved over-thecounter (OTC) hearing aids that hit the market last October have become a very attractive alternative to millions of older Americans with hearing impairment. These new hearing aids can be be placed into the irrevocable Trust to either purchase a new home to be held by the Trust or to invest the monies to generate income to be paid to you as an income benefi ciary of the Trust. This would be the case if you decided to rent and not purchase a replacement property. The sale of the home and the purchase of a replacement home does not restart the fi veyear look-back period. Since the irrevocable Trust is drafted as a grantor-type Trust, even if you place a brokerage account into such a Trust, the interest, dividend and capital gain distribution income would be reported on a Trust tax return but the Trust would generate a Grantor Letter to be issued to the Grantor of the Trust (Settlor or Trustor) in order for the Grantor to be able to report this income on his or her individual income tax return at the much lower tax rates than those of Trusts. Not all types of assets are suitable to be placed into an irrevocable Trust as part of a Medicaid plan. For example, retirement accounts and IRA’s are assets that you would not place into such a Trust as to do so would create an immediate taxable event. Joseph D. Cataldo is an Estate Planning/Elder Law Attorney, Certifi ed Public Accountant, Certifi ed Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a Master’s Degree in Taxation. REVERETV | FROM Page 5 get Hearings aired live over the past few weeks, and they are now replaying on RTV GOV every day in a rotating schedule. The Public Safety Sub-Committee meeting included a presentation about the traffi c expectations surrounding the Sumner Tunnel closure through the summer. Other meetings from the past week include the Commission on Disabilities, Traffi c Commission, Public Arts Commission and License Commission. You can still watch this month’s RHS Building Committee Meeting replaying along with the latest School Committee Meeting on TV and at any time on YouTube. RTV GOV is channel 9 for Comcast subscribers and channels 13/613 on RCN. purchased at pharmacies, consumer electronics stores or online without a hearing exam, prescription, or appointment with an audiologist. And the savings are signifi cant. The average cost of an OTC hearing aid is about $1,600 per pair, which is about $3,000 less than the average price of a prescription hearing aid. But sorting through all the diff erent options and styles can be confusing. Here are some tips along with a reliable resource that can help you choose the right aid for you. Check Your Hearing Your fi rst step to getting a hearing aid is to get your hearing tested. Be aware that OTC hearing aids are designed only for people with mild to moderate hearing loss (signs include trouble hearing speech in noisy places, in groups, and during phone calls). The best place to get your hearing tested is through a hearing care provider like an audiologist. These inperson tests are usually covered by private medical insurance, and as of this year, Medicare will pay for general hearing evaluations without a doctor’s referral. You can also assess your hearing at home with a good app-based hearing test like Mimi (mimi.health) or SonicCloud (soniccloud.com). If you fi nd through your test that you have severe hearing loss (signs include being unable to hear spoken words even in a quiet room or trouble hearing loud music or power tools) then OTC aids aren’t the right solution for you. You’ll probably need a prescription hearing aid, which you must get through an audiologist or hearing instrument specialist. Choosing an OTC Aid If you decide that an OTC hearing aid may work for you, here are a couple pointers to help you choose. First, you need to know that OTC hearing aids come in two types: selffitting and preset. Self-fitting aids typically use a smartphone app to setup and adjust the device to suit your specifi c hearing needs, which makes them better suited for seniors who are technologically inclined. While preset hearing aids are much simpler devices that come with a number of set programs for diff erent levels of hearing loss, and the controls are directly on the hearing aid. Also, because OTC hearing aids have a learning curve, it’s very important to know the level of customer support you’ll have access to. So, before you buy, fi nd out how long the company provides support after your purchase, and what sorts of experts will be providing the support. You also need to fi nd out about the company’s return policy. It can take weeks to get accustomed to wearing hearing aids and fi gure out whether they’re really working for you or not. So, make sure to choose a brand that off ers a minimum 30-day free trial period, or money back return policy. Best OTC Hearing Aids To help you cut through all the different options the National Council on Aging (NCOA), which is a national nonprofi t organization that advocates for older Americans, recently assembled a review team who collectively spent more than 5,000 hours researching, testing and interviewing customers about OTC hearing aids. They came up with a list of nine winners based on such criteria as aff ordability, style and fi t. Their best OTC hearing aids for 2023 in their nine categories include: • Best for Seniors: Jabra Enhance (jabraenhance.com) • Best Invisible Fit: Eargo (eargo. com) • Most User-Friendly: Lexie (lexiehearing.com) • Most Aff ordable: Audien (audienhearing.com) • Most Financing Options: Audicus (audicus.com) • Best Remote Customer Service: MDHearing (mdhearingaid.com) • Best Rechargeable for the Money: Go Hearing (gohearing.com) • Best Variety: Lucid (lucidhearing.com) • Best Earbud-Style: Sony (electronics.sony.com) To learn more, see NCOA.org/adviser/hearing-aids/best-otc-hearing-aids. 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.
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