By Ann BaileySpecial Features Staff Writer

Throughout the year, St.Michael’s Altar Societymembers cook up ways tomake money for theirchurch.The group of church

women hold bazaars, sup-pers and luncheons toraise funds, which they do-nate to the St. Michael’sChurch general fund. Thealtar society members alsoserve at wedding recep-tions and funeral lunches.There is a fee for the wed-ding receptions but nocharge for the funerallunches.All the women who be-

long to St. Michael’schurch are consideredmembers, said Bernie Al-tendorf, Altar Society pres-ident. Although the altarsociety’s active membersinclude a few women whoare in their 40s and 50s, themajority of them are aged60 and older.Altendorf has been analtar society member since1964 when she joined theparish.Besides raising money forthe church, altar societymembers also are respon-sible for keeping thechurch neat, Altendorfsaid. St. Michael’s Churchhas a janitor to do theheavy cleaning, but the St.Michael’s Altar Societymembers do the light, day-to-day tidying up. Themembers have a feeling ofpride for their church.“It’s one of those old tra-

ditional churches you al-ways hear people talkingabout,” Altendorf said.

FundraisersWhen it comes to raising

money for the church, oneof the altar society’s mostpopular fundraisers is theannual soup and pie sup-per held in February. Morethan 200 attended the oneheld last month, which fea-tured chicken noodle, veg-etable beef and chickendumpling soup.

The day before the sup-per the women cut up freshvegetables, including cab-

bage, carrots and potatoesfor the 10 gallons of beefbarley vegetable soup.They also make 15 gallonsof chicken noodle and 25gallons of chickendumpling.“Chicken dumpling is ourbiggest seller,” said JoAnnBrown, who was in chargeof the supper. Brown, whohas belonged to the AltarSociety for 54 years, is aveteran chef and cooked atrestaurants for many years.

Altar society membersalso donate about 45 pies,including berry, apple andvarious types of cream, forthe soup supper. When thealtar society hosts its an-nual fall dinner in October,the number of pies morethan double.“When we have our fall

supper we have over 100pies coming,” Alterndorfsaid.During the past two years

the members also havesold homemade donuts atthe supper. They make thedonuts in the church base-ment from a recipe of

Brown’s.“We made 83 dozen,”

Brown said. Besides rais-ing money and filling aparish need, the altar soci-ety fundraisers are a funsocial activity, said SharonPaschke, a 25-year St.

Michael’s Altar Societymember.“JoAnn and I enjoy com-

ing down (to the church)and the fellowship with thegirls,” Paschke said.

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Faithful service� From fundraisers to wedding receptions, St. Michael’s

Altar Society is there to lend a helping hand

Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer

�� Working in the basement of St. Michael’s church, the St. Michael’s Altar Societyladies make three kinds of soups for their annual homemade soup supper held inFebruary. Some of the Altar Society members that head up the soup supper areJoAnn Brown, left, Sharon Paschke, middle and Angie Anderson, right.

Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer

�� Sister Annella Miller, left, waits to be servedvegetable beef soup from Judy Jahnke, right, duringSt. Michael’s annual soup and pie supper. Jahnke is amember of the Altar Society, along with Posy Byers,middle, and Donna Baldock, far back.

It’s time to junkunwanted mail� Elderly and retired people

are finding themselvesdeluged with junk mail

By Ann BaileySpecial Features Staff Writer

Stop junk mail beforeit starts.That’s the advice of

Grand Forks Senior Citi-zens Association out-reach coordinator JoyceAustin. It’s easy to getoverwhelmed by junkmail because it piles upquickly, she said. Statis-tics show that on aver-age, each person in theUnited States receivesbetween 40 and 50pounds of junk mail an-nually.Some elderly people

receive much more mailthan that and Austin haswitnessed piles of it inpeople’s homes. It caninclude magazine sub-scription requests, polit-ical party polls, appealsfrom religious organiza-tion, solicitations andeven requests for dona-tions from senior organi-zations.

Much of the junkmail is the result of di-rect marketing cam-paigns, and the sendersget people’s names in avariety of ways. One ofthe most common is war-ranty cards shoppers fillout after they purchase a

new product, Austinsaid. When people fillout the cards they sharepersonal informationthat includes theirnames, income levelsand addresses.

In most cases, thesales receipt is the onlypiece of paper neededfor the product war-ranty, she said.

Besides warranties,other places junk mailsenders obtain a per-son’s name is when he orshe buy cars or housesor uses shopping cards,signs up for credit cards,subscribes to magazinesgives money to a charityor purchases an itemfrom a catalog, accord-ing to the Web site of thePrivacy Rights ClearingHouse, a private con-sumer organizationbased in California, lo-cated online at www.pri-vacyrights.org

Keeping junkmail at bay

To avoid getting onlists, people shouldwrite: “Please do notrent, sell or exchangemy name or address

Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer

�� Joyce Austin, outreach specialist for theGreater Grand Forks Senior Citizens Association,helps senior citizens find someone to sort throughtheir mail. Austin holds a couple of weeks’ worthof mail collected by a Grand Forks Countyresident.

MAIL: See Page 2

Fit feet

By Ann BaileySpecial Features Staff Writer

Sometime’s it’s a feat toconvince seniors not toneglect their lower extrem-ities.But foot care is an impor-

tant part of overall health,said Nathalie Dickson, aregistered nurse whoworks for the Greater

Grand ForksSenior Citi-zens Associa-tion.At best,

long toenailsare uncom-fortable andat worst canbecome ingrown and get

Jackie Lorentz, Special Features staff photographer

�� Peggy Kirk, a registered nurse, trims the nails of asenior citizen at Grand Forks Senior Center. Nurses atthe center will trim and file nails and provide freegeneral foot care for seniors.

� The Grand Forks SeniorAssociation offers foot care

options for seniors

Dickson

FEET: See Page 2

with anyone else,” when-ever they fill out an infor-mation form or card,Austin said.Contacting the Direct

Marketing Association andregistering with the MailPreference Service canalso help people reducethe amount of junk mailthey receive, according tothe Privacy Rights Clear-ing House Web site. Peoplecan register by mail bysending a check and a $1check or money order toMail Preference Service,Direct Marketing Associa-

tion, PO Box 643, Carmel,N.Y,. or online atwww:dmachoice.org/dma/member/regist.action. Thereis no charge for online reg-istration with the DirectMarketing AssociationMail Preference Service,the Privacy Rights Clear-ing House Web site said.

Getting rid of itBut what’s a person to

do if junk mail in theirmailboxes are overflowingand the mail is piling uparound the house?

Get rid of it, Austinsaid. If that seems too over-whelming for people to doby themselves, ask familyor friends to help. If peo-

ple request it, Austin orother outreach coordina-tors at the center also willmeet with people and sug-gest to them other peoplewho will help them disposeof the junk mail. After people get rid of

the junk mail, they shouldresolve to throw the stuffthat’s still coming in awayas soon as they receive it,she said. Austin suggestskeeping a waste basket in

the area where the mail isread and immediatelydropping the junk mailinto it as soon as they sortit from their “real” mail.“Don’t think, ‘I’ll take

care of it later,’” she said.If people do that the junkmail begins to quickly pileup, she cautioned.“When it’s overwhelm-

ing, then it’s too hard todeal with,”

By Howard I. KossoverOften heard at Social Se-

curity is the question“What is the best age tostart SSA retirement?”The answer is that there

is no one “best age” foreveryone. Ultimately, whatworks best for you, is yourchoice based on individualand family circumstances.Consider current and an-ticipated financial needs,health and familylongevity, post-retirementwork plans, other retire-ment income, desires ofyour spouse or partnerand, of course, the amountof your Social Securitybenefit.For you, is it better to

begin receiving Social Se-curity Administration re-tirement earlier with asmaller monthly amount orwait for a larger monthlypayment later that you maynot receive as long? A So-cial Security Administra-tion retirement can start asearly as age 62, but, al-though, uncommon, youcan wait to age 70 becausebenefits delayed past fullretirement age (www.so-cialsecurity.gov/retire2/agereduction.htm) increase upto age 70. The online SSAretirement planner hastools to help estimate ben-efit amounts at differentages. Use them at www.so-cialsecurity.gov/retire2.

Retirement may belonger than you think. Youcould live much longerthan “average” and womengenerally tend to livelonger than men. Aboutone out of every four 65-year-olds today will livepast age 90, and one out of10 will live past age 95. So-cial Security retirementbenefits continue as longas you live and have cost-of-living increases. Doesyour other retirement in-come?

BenefitsCurrent and future So-

cial Security benefits foryour family might be anissue. Do you have chil-dren eligible to receivemonthly SSA benefits onyour record? You might ifthey are under age 18, toage 19 if a full-time studentin high school, or if theyhave a severe disabilitythat began before age 22. For them to receive, you

must be getting benefitstoo. When you start retire-ment, will your spouse beeligible on your workrecord or just on his or her

own? Know that SSA lifeand survivor benefits arecomputed differently. Ifyou die first, your spousemay be eligible for sur-vivor benefits on yourrecord, particularly if youhad the higher lifetimeearnings. Survivor benefitsare partially based on yourage when starting retire-ment.You can keep working

while receiving SSA retire-ment. When younger thanyour full retirement age,some of your benefits dur-ing the year will be with-held if your earnings fromgross wages or net self-em-ployment exceed certaindollar amounts due to theannual earnings test(www.socialsecurity.gov/re-tire2/whileworking.htm)Earning restrictions end

at full retirement age. Ad-ditional earnings have thepotential of increasingyour monthly benefit. Esti-mate your Social Securityretirement amount andlearn more at www.so-cialsecurity.gov/retire2. Information: Call the

SSA national toll-freenumber, (800) 772-1213(TTY (800) 325-0778), orcontact your local office.When ready to start yourSSA retirement, apply on-line at www.socialsecu-rity.gov/applyonline orwith your local office.

Q: Do you become eligiblefor Medicare in 2010? A: Hospital Part A cover-

age does not have amonthly premium, butMedical Part B coveragedoes, and this year intro-duces changes in somepeople’s premiums.The government pays

about 75 percent, of thePart B premium for mostbeneficiaries, with the per-son paying the remaining25 percent. Using the stan-dard 2010 Part B monthlypremium of $110.50 forpeople newly eligible, thismeans that for every per-son paying the $110.50, thegovernment pays aboutthree times that amount. The Medicare Modern-

ization Act changed howPart B premiums are cal-culated for some higher in-come beneficiaries. Since2007, higher income bene-ficiaries have been payinga larger percentage oftheir Part B premiumbased on income as re-ported to the Internal Rev-enue Service. In 2010, higher income

beneficiaries will pay amonthly premium equal to35, 50, 65 or 80 percent ofthe total cost, dependingon what they reported tothe IRS. This affects lessthan 5 percent of Medicarebeneficiaries. Most people newly en-

rolled in Medicare will paythe standard $110.50 Part Bmonthly premium withoutan income-related adjust-ment.

Figuring the costTo determine if you will

pay a higher Part B pre-mium, the IRS sends SocialSecurity information fromyour most recent tax re-turn. A sliding scale basedon your modified adjustedgross income is used to ad-just the Part B premium. Your MAGI is a combina-

tion of your adjusted grosstaxable income and tax ex-empt interest income. Forexample, if in 2010, you fileyour taxes as “married, fil-ing jointly” and your MAGIis more than $170,000, youwill pay a higher Part Bpremium. For all other tax-payer filing statuses, ifyour MAGI is more than$85,000 in 2010, you willpay a higher Part B pre-mium. If you will be paying a

higher Part B premium, aletter is sent explainingthe determination andwhat your new premiumwill be. Appeals are possi-ble if you disagree with thedecision. Again, higherpremiums affect fewerthan 5 percent of Medicarebeneficiaries.Information: More

Medicare Medical (Part B)

premium details are avail-able on the Social SecurityAdministration website,www.socialsecurity.gov.Follow either theMedicare button or“Forms and Publications”link from the homepage.From the publicationindex, located directly atwww.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/index.html, selectMedicare to see severalpublications about Part Bpremiums. Some includingMedicare Part B Premi-ums: Important Informa-tion For People NewlyEligible For Medicare(Publication No. 05-10162,)contain a chart showingPart B premium ratesbased on different modi-fied adjusted gross income(MAGI) amounts. Go towww.medicare.gov to learnabout the coverageMedicare provides.

Howard I. Kossover isthe Social Security PublicAffairs Specialist forNorth Dakota and westernMinnesota. Based in GrandForks, he works with or-ganizations, governmentagencies and businessesconcerning all aspects ofthe Social Security pro-grams. Questions of gen-eral interest can be sent tohim athoward.kossover@ssa.gov.

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2 Grand Forks Herald/Sunday, March 7, 2010

Continued from Page 1MAIL/

infected. Meanwhile, peo-ple with diabetes may losefeeling in their feet andnot be able to feel it. Theycan end up with badly in-fected toes and possiblylose a toe, Dickson said.Taking proper care of

their feet can be difficultfor seniors because theshape of their feet havechanged, making it hardfor them to trim their toe-nails, Dickson said. Sen-iors also have vision,mobility and strengthproblems, which makestoenail trimming difficult. The Grand Forks Senior

Association offers footcare options for seniors.They can make an appoint-ment to come into the of-fice, participate in one ofthe foot care clinics of-fered at locations through-out Grand Forks County ormake an appointment for ahome visit by one of the as-sociation’s registerednurses. The home visits areavailable only to seniorswho are homebound, Dick-son noted.

Foot care Appointments at the

Grand Forks Senior Center

are available Mondaythrough Friday from 8 a.m.to 4:30 p.m. People seekingan appointment can call(701) 772-7245 and ask tospeak to one of the associa-tion’s nurses.It takes about a half an

hour to do the foot care,which includes a foot soak-ing, a cleaning around thenail and cuticle, toe nailclipping and a moisturiz-ing with lotion. Nurses alsocheck people’s feet for skinbreaks, corns and calluses.Depending on the severityof the breaks, corns andcalluses, nurses will treatthem or refer the people toa physician for treatment.All equipment used for

foot care is sanitized aftereach patient Dickson said.Foot care is available toboth men and women. Pri-vate rooms are availablefor people who are hesi-tant to have their feetcared for in front of others.Besides the Grand Forks

Senior Association, thereare clinics sponsored byother senior centers at lo-cations throughout GrandForks County.“There is no reason not

to get it done,” Dicksonsaid.

Continued from Page 1FEET/

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Special FeaturesStaff Reports

New research showspeople who regularly takeibuprofen may reducetheir risk of developingParkinson’s disease, ac-cording to a study releasedthat will be presented atthe American Academy ofNeurology’s 62nd AnnualMeeting in Toronto April10 to April 17, 2010.The research involved

136,474 people who did nothave Parkinson’s diseaseat the beginning of the re-search. Participants were

asked about their use ofnon-steroid anti-inflamma-tory drugs (NSAIDs), in-cluding aspirin, ibuprofenand acetaminophen. Aftersix years, 293 participantshad developed Parkinson’sdisease.The study found regular

users of ibuprofen were 40percent less likely to de-velop Parkinson’s diseasethan people who didn’ttake ibuprofen. Also, peo-ple who took higheramounts of ibuprofen wereless likely to developParkinson’s disease than

people who took smalleramounts of the drug. Theresults were the same re-gardless of age, smokingand caffeine intake.“Ibuprofen was the only

NSAID linked to a lowerrisk of Parkinson’s,” saidXiang Gao, MD, with Har-vard School of PublicHealth in Boston. “OtherNSAIDs and analgesics, in-cluding aspirin and aceta-minophen, did not appearto have any effect on lower-ing a person’s risk of devel-oping Parkinson’s. Moreresearch is needed as to

how and why ibuprofen ap-pears to reduce the risk ofParkinson’s disease, whichaffects up to one millionpeople in the UnitedStates.”The study was supported

by the National Institute ofNeurological Disordersand Stroke.

By Tony PughMcClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON– Asurge of early retirementsand a decline in payrolltax revenue caused by therecession have begun tocut deeply into Social Se-curity’s surplus funding.Led by aging baby

boomers and older work-ers frustrated by the toughjob market, record num-bers of eligible Americansstarted receiving SocialSecurity retirement bene-fits in 2009.According to government

figures, more than 2.7 mil-lion new beneficiarieswere added to the rolls in2009, up 20 percent from2008. The one-year in-crease was the largestsince at least 1975.“Much of that surge is

coming from the weakeconomy,” said RichardJohnson, a senior fellow atthe Urban Institute. “Thefact that many people can’tfind work is forcing themto retire and collect bene-fits early.”Annual jobless rates for

men and women age 55 andolder were higher in 2009than at any time since thegovernment started col-lecting the data in 1948,Johnson said.That forced many to

claim retirement benefitsat 62, their first year of eli-gibility, instead of waitingto collect at the full retire-

ment age of 66.Also fueling the increase

was the leading edge of thebaby boom generation,more than 3.4 millionboomers who turned 62 in2009, Johnson said. Thatwas 9 percent more than in2008 – the first year thatany baby boomers, thoseborn between 1946 and1964, were eligible for So-cial Security retirementbenefits.Because of the reces-

sion, trustees of the SocialSecurity trust fund warnedlast year that the dimin-ished 2009 surplus would“stay about constant in2010 because of the eco-nomic recession” and “riseonly briefly before declin-ing and turning to cashflow deficits beginning in2016 that grow as the babyboom generation retires.”The program’s shaky fi-

nances were one reasonthat Arlie Collins, a retiredplumbing contractor fromGreensboro, Ga., appliedfor his benefits threemonths before he turned62 in December.Collins was among 1.3

million men age 62 andolder whose retirementbenefits began in 2009, ac-cording to Urban Instituteresearch.That was up 20 percent

from 2008 and the mostnew male beneficiaries inany year since Social Secu-rity payments began backin 1940, Johnson said.

Collins didn’t mind thatSocial Security would re-duce his monthly paymentsby about 25 percent, orroughly $250, for starting tocollect at 62 instead of 66.After talking with an ac-countant, Collins deter-mined that he was betteroff getting less money nowthan he would be if hewaited for larger monthlychecks later.“I did the math, and if I

had waited for my full re-tirement (at age 66), Iwould have had to waituntil I was 82 or 83 yearsold before I made up themoney I was getting be-tween 62 and 66,” Collinssaid. “To tell the truth, Iwasn’t really sure if SocialSecurity would be aroundwhen I’m 82, or at least inthe same form.”Since Social Security al-

lows retirees to earn up to$14,100 a year before theirretiree benefits are penal-ized, Collins plans to sup-plement his SocialSecurity payments withsome plumbing jobs andthe $3,000 to $4,000 heearns each year as thechairman of the GreeneCounty Board of Educa-tion.More older workers ap-

pear to be followingCollins’ lead.In fact, about 72 percent

of boomers will likelyclaim their Social Securityretirement benefits early,“which is expected in a

down economic cycle,”said Richard Fiesta, the di-rector of government andpolitical affairs at the Al-liance for Retired Ameri-cans.Many older employees

are continuing to work,however, despite the pooreconomy. In fact, labor par-ticipation rates for menand women age 62 andolder increased last year.Jason Fichtner, the chief

economist at the Social Se-curity Administration, saidmany are hanging on to re-coup losses that their401(k) retirement accountssuffered during the eco-nomic crash.“There are some who

said, ‘I was going to retirethis year or next year, butmy 401(k) is now a 201(k), soI’m going to keep workinguntil I’m 68 or 70,’” Ficht-ner said.The accelerated pace of

early retirements and de-clining payroll tax revenuecould turn the program’sshrinking surplus into adeficit this year by causingeven more benefits to bepaid out sooner than ex-pected.Current projections

show the program has suf-ficient funds to remain sol-vent until 2037, but thetrustees have warned that“long-run program costsare not sustainable undercurrent program parame-ters.”

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4 Grand Forks Herald/Sunday, March 7, 2010

Unemployment, baby boomers cut into Social Security surplus

�� Arlie Collins, a retired plumbing contractor fromGreensboro, Ga., was one of a record number of olderAmericans who began collecting their Social Securityretirement benefits in 2009. The increase in newbeneficiaries was fueled by a tight job market forseniors and a wave of 3.4 million baby boomers whoturned 62 years old last year – Collins included.

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By Pamela YipThe Dallas Morning News

DALLAS– Rafael Flo-res has until the end of thismonth to decide whetherhe wants to retire from a26-year career with thefederal government.Retirement may have to

be put on hold if Flores, anofficer with the U.S. De-partment of Homeland Se-curity, is called to helpprocess Haitian refugeescoming to the UnitedStates.Whenever he decides to

pull the trigger, the 60-year-old Richardson,Texas, resident will be en-tering retirement with astrong financial founda-tion, certified financialplanner Tara Scottino said.Scottino, senior vice

president at Carter Advi-sory Services in Dallas,gave Flores and his wife,Marielena, 66, a MoneyMakeover sponsored byThe Dallas Morning Newsand the Dallas-Fort WorthFinancial Planning Associ-ation.She said the pair are in

good shape financially, pri-marily because “they did aphenomenal job of manag-ing their debt.”“They have no (credit

card) debt,” Scottino said.“That’s huge.”Flores has some straight-

forward advice about debt:“Avoid it like the plague.”“People get their wants

and needs crossed,” hesaid. “Do you really needthat big house? Do you re-ally need another car?”

MortgageBut a mortgage is differ-

ent. Flores borrowed$2,000 in 1972 for a downpayment on his first home.He and his wife, who worksas a teacher’s aide, stillowe $41,000 on their mort-gage.“To me, that was good

debt because I was going toget a house,” Flores said.“I knew the house wouldappreciate. I instilled thatinto my son when he gradu-ated from college and gothis first job.”Flores learned about the

value of a dollar in his

childhood, when he, his fa-ther and five siblingspainted a church’s largerecreation hall in ex-change for a tuition-freeyear at the church’s schoolin Detroit.He saw his dad struggle

financially, but “somehowhe managed to put usthrough private schoolingfor quite a few years,” Flo-res said.When he was young, he

would walk the alleywaysand collect soft drink bot-tles to cash in. He col-lected enough to pay for amovie, which cost a quar-ter then.All of that has taught

him to be frugal. Now, it’stime for him to enjoy thefruits of his financial pru-dence.“I’ve been eligible to re-

tire, but it comes down to,can you afford to retire?”Flores said. “How do wemake the money last withwhat I’ll be getting?”

Scottino delivered thegood news.“You have enough money

coming in so you don’thave to liquidate invest-ments,” she said. “That’svery rare.”If the Floreses continue

to manage their expensesas well as they have, theywill be able to live off theirSocial Security benefitsand pensions, Scottinosaid.It helps that Flores has

benefits from the FederalEmployees RetirementSystem, which includes apension, Social Securityand the Thrift SavingsPlan, a defined-contribu-tion plan like a 401(k) forworkers in private indus-try.Some advantages he has

as a longtime federal em-ployee:� The Thrift Savings

Plan, which matches em-ployee contributions dol-lar-for-dollar on the first 3

percent of contributionsand then 50 cents for eachdollar on the next 2 per-cent. Flores has con-tributed the maximum tothe Thrift Savings Plan andsings the praises of doingso to younger colleagues.“I say, ‘This is how much Ihave. You have more possi-bilities than I ever had,and you can have a lotmore, but you have to putin the maximum amount,’”he said.�A federal pension,

which many perceive asmore secure than a privatecorporation’s pension.“The assumption is thatthey (the government) willnever default on a pensionobligation, so the risk is es-sentially zero,” saidThomas Murphy, certifiedfinancial planner atTEMAA Financial in Dal-las.But that’s not the only

perk about a federal pen-sion.

“Government pensionsare inflation-indexed,”Murphy said. “Private pen-sions are not, with veryrare exceptions.”The effect is that a fed-

eral pension is “far morevaluable than many realizesince, living on a fixed in-come in an inflationaryworld is often living inquiet desperation,” Mur-phy said.In either a government

or private pension, en-rollees have the option ofselecting a higher pensionbenefit for themselves or areduced benefit to providesurvivor benefits for theirspouse.Flores selected the re-

duced benefit.But a federal pension

has what is called a“restoration of benefits”feature, which helps theretiree. In the event thatthe federal retiree’sspouse dies first, the pen-sion benefit reverts back tothe higher amount.“In a private plan, it

does not revert back to thehigher amount,” Murphysaid.The Floreses are

healthy, which is good, be-cause “the one thing thatcan blow up the (retire-ment) plan is medical ex-penses,” Scottino said.Flores can continue to

receive health insuranceunder the government’splan when he retires, buthe’ll have to foot themonthly premiums.To save Flores money,

Scottino advised Marie-lena to come off his healthplan, go on Medicare andbuy a private Medigap pol-icy to supplementMedicare’s coverage.

“This will allow Rafaelto continue paying premi-ums for self-only coverageuntil he attains age 65,”and becomes eligible forMedicare, Scottino said.He also should purchase

a Medigap policy when heturns 65, and the coupleshould look at purchasinglong-term care insuranceas soon as possible, as thecost rises with age, shesaid.Despite what they have

going for them, the Floresneed to take some addi-tional steps, Scottino said.

Emergency fundWhile they have a net

worth of $472,356 and in-vestments of about$336,000, they have only$15,000 in cash that theycan tap for emergencies.“They don’t have a good

emergency fund,” Scottinosaid.The Floreses are selling

their current home to buya smaller one, and Scottinosaid they should use partof the proceeds to boosttheir emergency fund.“There will also be a re-

duction in real-estate taxesand homeowner’s insur-ance premiums with thismove that will also helpfree up additional cashflow in the future,” shesaid.The lessons to be

learned from the Floresesare to live within yourmeans and pay yourselffirst.And, Scottino said:

“Save, save, save.”“Going into retirement

with very little debt, or nodebt, is critical.”

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Grand Forks Herald/Sunday, March 7, 2010 5

Couple has solid footing for retirement

McClatchy Tribune

�� Marielena and Rafael Flores had planned on retiring this year and have plannedon traveling. Now they are taking a look at their investment plans to see if theyhave enough to retire.

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LOS ANGELES– Atfirst glance, the photo-copied documents simplylooked like governmentforms and applications.But when Susanne Mori

read more closely, shefound the story of hergrandfather’s life as hemade his way in Americamore than five decadesago.Those 23 pages of facts

and dates revealed how ayoung man, Jinbei Mori,left Japan and arrived inSan Francisco the monthafter the 1906 earthquake,how he spent decadesworking for the Union Pa-cific Railroad, how hishome was searched by theFBI during World War II.Mori said seeing her

grandfather’s photographsand reading his wordsbrought his immigrant ex-perience to life.“We are all descendants

from immigrants, and atsome point our families de-cided to leave the placethey called home for what-ever reason and come tosomeplace new and startover,” said Mori, 52, ofSanta Barbara, Calif. “See-ing in print the name of aship and where (my grand-father) was born somehowmakes it more real.”The documents came

from U.S. Citizenship andImmigration Services,which runs a little-knowngenealogy service for rela-tives wanting to learn moreabout their family history.The records include nat-

uralization files, visa ap-plications and citizenshiptests, and may reveal fam-ily secrets and mysteries,said Marian Smith, theagency’s historian.“The details of the story

have been told over time,and the edges kind of wearoff,” Smith said. With thedocuments, “there are a lotof ah-ha moments.”In the past, genealogy re-

searchers had to file docu-ment requests under theFreedom of InformationAct and sometimes waitedyears for a response.Under the genealogy

program, which started in2008, requests are usuallycompleted within 90 days.For $20, the governmentwill run a search of thename, as long as the per-son is deceased. If thereare records available, thegovernment charges addi-tional fees for the files.In fiscal year 2009, more

than 5,300 requests weremade, fewer than ex-pected. In addition to rela-tives, historians orresearchers can also re-quest files.Alan Latteri, 34, had a

very practical reason forthe document search. TheBrentwood, Calif., manwanted dual citizenshipwith Italy and needed toknow exactly when hisgrandfather was natural-ized to complete the com-plex application. Afterrequesting the documents,

Latteri learned that he wasnot eligible. But he didlearn more about hisgrandfather.“Reading about him is

really interesting,” Latterisaid. “I don’t really have aconnection to him otherthan seeing a few photosand hearing a few storiesfrom my dad.”Mori was just a toddler

when her grandfatherdied, and she wanted tofind out more about hislife. She heard about theimmigration documentsduring a genealogy classand submitted a requestearly last year.Even though she knew

some information, the doc-uments completed the pic-ture in her grandfather’swords.According to the immi-

gration files, Jinbei Moriwas born in Okugaita,Japan, on May 25, 1888, andcame to the U.S. in May1906 on the steamshipKorea from Hawaii. Soonafter, he started workingfor Union Pacific and be-came a section foreman.He married and had foursons and a daughter. Thefamily lived in severalstates, including Wyoming,Idaho and Utah.During World War II,

Mori completed an appli-cation listing his height as5 feet, 3 1/2 inches and hiscomplexion as “yellow.” Aphoto shows a stern manwith a tall forehead who iswearing a dark suit.In April 1942, the FBI

searched his home inBrigham City, Utah, look-ing for anything prohibitedfor “enemy aliens ofJapanese, German andItalian nationalities.” Theagents interviewed hiswife, who said her husbandhad turned in a Spartanshortwave radio to thesheriff’s office.In 1953, Mori applied for

naturalization and took thecitizenship test just beforeChristmas. Though his an-

swers were in Japanese, anotation about the testsaid, “Apparently OK.” OnMarch 9, 1954, he became aU.S. citizen.Susanne Mori said the

documents confirmed a lotof family stories. She re-membered her father talk-ing about making thatradio from a kit and howannoyed he was that his fa-ther turned it over to au-thorities. The papers alsocleared up some confusionabout dates. “What weknow about our relatives iswhat they choose to tell us,and they don’t always tellyou the truth,” she said.The files also gave herleads for future research.“It will be a treasure

chest for genealogists,”said Southern CaliforniaGenealogical Society Pres-ident Pam Wiedenbeck.“Oftentimes these files willhave information on broth-ers, sisters, aunts and un-cles that will help connectthe dots.”For experienced geneal-

ogists, the files may openthe doors to even more re-search, perhaps leadingpeople to exact hometownsin their ancestors’ nativecountries. And for thosenew to genealogy, they maybe just the beginning. “Forevery question you answeryou come up with two orthree more,” Wiedenbecksaid.

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6 Grand Forks Herald/Sunday, March 7, 2010

A government genealogy servicelets family history leap off the page

McClatchy Tribune

�� Susanne Mori found documents about her grandfather who was born in Japan,Jinbei Mori, through a new program at the U.S. Citizenship and ImmigrationServices.

Special FeaturesStaff Reports

Confusing new taxrules, and an incorrectlyadministered tax credit,will cause majorheadaches for seniorswho worked in 2009, whogot a pension, or both,says The Senior CitizensLeague, one of the na-tion’s largest nonpartisanseniors groups. “An esti-mated 7 million seniorswho received a littlemore money in their payand/or pension checksdue to the new ‘MakingWork Pay’ tax credit mayreceive a smaller-than-expected refund, or evenwind up owing somethingat tax time,” states TSCLChairman, Daniel O’Con-nell. For some, the taxsurprise could be steep.The Making Work Pay

tax credit is normallyworth up to $400 for indi-viduals and $800 for mar-ried couples who workand have earned income,meaning wages, salaries,tips and other employeecompensation. The taxcredit was incorrectlyapplied to pensions,which do not qualify forthe credit. Seniors whohave pensions may needto repay the extra moneythey received in 2009 attax time. Complicating this

year’s tax season evenfurther, recipients of So-cial Security, Supple-mental Security Income,Railroad Retirement orVeterans benefits werealso issued a one-time$250 Economic RecoveryPayment in 2009. “Butpeople can’t get both,”O’Connell notes. If a re-cipient of the $250 pay-ment also worked, theMaking Work Pay tax

credit is reduced by the$250 payment, leavingsenior taxpayers with alot less than they thoughtthey were getting,” he ob-serves. “The situationcould be difficult for sen-iors who already spenttheir extra money tryingto keep up with rapidlyrising costs,” O’Connellsays.“There are already in-

dications that seniorsand beneficiaries areconfused about their taxfiling requirements,”O’Connell says. “Basedon the mail TSCL has re-ceived, some seniors ei-ther do not know or don’tremember if they havereceived the $250 Eco-nomic Recovery Pay-ment,” he says. “It camein the form of an extrabenefit payment, andthey may not have real-ized what it was for,”O’Connell explains.Even though most

workers already re-ceived the Making WorkPay tax credit in the formof higher paychecks, alltaxpayers, seniors andyounger workers, willneed to file a new Sched-ule M in order to claimthe credit. “Some seniorsmay not be aware of thisrequirement if their in-comes are so low theyaren’t normally requiredto file a return,” O’Con-nell notes. The IRS saysthat early tax filingtrends indicate thatsome working senior tax-payers who received theone-time $250 paymentare slowing down theirtax refunds by not prop-erly reporting the pay-ment on their taxreturns. Call (800) 906-9887 for

more information.

Seniors may needto repay tax credit