"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." That is the premise behind Kiva.org. Perhaps you've heard of microfinancing and the great impact this revolutionary concept is making on developing countries. Kiva is a nonprofit website which enables each of us to be a micro lender to the working poor in developing countries.

While Kiva doesn't literally "teach a man to fish," they do make it possible for the fisherman to buy his boat or the farmer to buy her seeds. People in developing countries have their skills and expertise too, but living in a developing country means money is hard to come by. What would amount to pocket change to some of us can make a big difference to others. This is where we can help.

Micro-financing is great because we can enable the dreams of other people. It is a father of 4 in Azerbaijan pleading for a loan to purchase a milk cow for his farm or a single mother in Cambodia seeking funds to purchase silk so she can weave at home. Loans to Kiva goes to these people through local partners.

Notice I said "loans" and not "donations." The money is loaned to the people in need, and they are expected to repay these loans in the agreed-upon time period. This is good because people will be responsible for the money they receive and less likely to waste resources. It also gives them more incentive to make the most out of it and be successful so that they can repay the loan. Ultimately, Kiva wants people in poverty to work for themselves and be self-sustaining. In addition, micro-financing not only helps the individual recipient, it helps the community as well by growing the local economy.

A question I had with regard to Kiva is the validity and legitimacy of it. With so many charity scams these days, it's wise to be suspicious of anything too good to be true. Well, when you have a former U.S. president speaking for your group, that's all the proof I need. Here's a YouTube video of Bill Clinton discussing Kiva on Fox News. As if that isn't enough, many respectable media networks have featured Kiva in one way or another. These aren't just your local newspapers either; even Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and BBC have talked about Kiva. Kiva's reputation is certainly very impressive to say the least.

We lamented about the commercialization of Christmas last week. It just so happens that Kiva offers gift certificates. Your recipient can go online and select an entrepreneur to support. When the loan is repaid, they can withdraw the fund or re-loan it to start the process again. Now that's a Christmas gift idea that I'm eager to write about!

The Toronto Star last week reported yet another advance-fee payment scam victim. The irony, though, is that the victim, Dwayne Heppner, 47, is a securities dealer and owner of a local financial services company targeting "wealthy, sophisticated investors." To top it off, Mr. Heppner also boasts a degree in law.

You would have thought someone like him would have more sense in matters such as scams. He claimed to have been defrauded of $34,000 of his own and his friend Edwin Kroeker's money. His case came to light when he tried to claim his loses for tax purposes. Canada Revenue Agency denied it (the government is not always stupid). Being the "smart" businessman that he is, Heppner filed for an appeal. Of course, the judge from the Tax Court of Canada showed no sympathy to his ridiculous claim. In the ruling, Judge Woods wrote that "Mr. Heppner and Mr. Kroeker appear to be sophisticated businessmen, and it is difficult to understand how they could be duped."  click here to continue reading »

Age-based discrimination is a harsh reality, a reality that's most prominent when you are looking for a job after retirement. So what can you do about it? Simply knowing about it will not help you get an interview or a job offer. However, understanding the problem is the first step in finding a solution for yourself.

One of the prejudices against seniors is that they lack up-to-date skills, particularly in technology. While you may or may not feel comfortable with technology, it is imperative for job-seeking elders to demonstrate familiarity with and acceptance of new technology. You don't have to be an expert with computers and the internet, but having a technically savvy image can go a long way in your job search after retirement. Here are some simple ideas to convey this message.  click here to continue reading »

Most people will stay in a long-term care setting at some point in their lives. I'm not saying that everyone will end up in a nursing home, though. Long-term care includes assisted living in a community or home care services, too. As grim as it might seem, we all have a time when we need some form of assistance to help us with activities of daily living. What's different among individuals is the level of assistance necessary. One person may just need someone to perform basic duties like housekeeping and labor-intensive tasks. Another may need around-the-clock support because of physical or mental difficulties.

We've had a few discussions on long-term care here at The Elders Tribune. One of the primary concerns everyone has regarding long-term care is, will you be able to afford it? The average annual cost of long term care in the States is typically listed as $50,000 to $70,000 depending on where you look. Aside from the scarily high figures, that information doesn't really say much.

As with any cost of living figures, the cost of long term care is largely dependent on your location. If you want to find the cost in your state, Genworth Financial has an up-to-date cost survey at their website. It provides a much better ballpark figure for the annual cost of nursing home, assisted living facility, and home care in each state. It is a very useful tool.

It's not a matter of if you need long term care, but when? Of course there are other options, such as relying on care by a relative or moving to India. This is a very personal choice. Ironically, hardly anyone ever "plans" to stay in a long-term care facility. Most people are "forced" to because of unforseen life changes in themselves or others around them.

For a decision that has such profound effects on our lives, it's essential that we at least give it some thought while we are not under pressure in an emergency. The particular question which I'd like to address in this article is: How will you pay for your long term care when the time comes?

Some ways to pay for long term care include:

1. Personal savings. If you have considerable savings, then you may be able to pay yourself.
2. Family. Family members may be able to help you financially.
3. Medicaid. Government welfare may provide some assistance.
4. Long Term Care Insurance. You can buy an insurance policy to cover your long term care costs. Of course this must be purchased much ahead of time.

Although Medicare can act as a financial backup to cover your long term care costs, there are many caveats. Medicare support is limited, so you can't rely on it for a long period. For example, they only pay for the first 90 days in hospital or 100 days in a nursing home. In addition, it's widely known that the specified nursing homes in which Medicare will cover the costs aren't necessarily good, either. Thus I wouldn't count on Medicare as a solution for your long term care.

Lastly, there's long term care insurance. While there are many superfluous insurance policies out there, Long Term Care Insurance is something worth considering.

Every year, our cost of living increases because of something called inflation. Just as newspapers used to cost only a few cents, everything becomes more expensive because of the expansion of our economy. Governments publish their country's Consumer Price Index (CPI) on a regular basis as a means to provide an estimate of the average rise in cost of living.

One way to use inflation data is to estimate how much money you would need, say, ten years from now to keep up with your existing living standard. For many retired individuals, this is vital and useful information. Yet the inflation rate or CPI is calculated based on a typical household's spending, so just like any average number, one size does not fit all. In fact, according to Statistics Canada, the real inflation rate for seniors is actually higher for many reasons.  click here to continue reading »