Do It For Yourself with Stephen A. Taylor, JD, CFP®

One of the most misunderstood areas in the law are the rules and role of government benefits in the long term care puzzle. Will I lose my home if I accept Medicaid? Is the only place to get care in a nursing home or is there other options? Is it Medicare or Medicaid the benefit that I need?

In this episode, Steve sits down with Andy Bellinson to discuss the role of government benefits and help dispel some of the myths. As a former Florida Bar Board Certified Attorney in Elder Law, Steve reflects on a lot of his experience and knowledge to really make the conversation as pointed and useful for those trying to negotiation this very difficult time.

Steve Taylor is the founder and lead advisor at Merited Wealth, which is a Registered Investment Advisory firm. Steve has over 2 decades of experience advising clients on the legal and financial intricacies of their business and personal lives. Merited Wealth is focused on providing Financial Planning and Investment Management services for a limited amount of businesses and families. Our related business Merited Benefits focuses on providing Group Insurance Benefits and Retirement Plans for small, closely held businesses.

As always, please let us know what you think and never hesitate to email us at [email protected].

So you've spent years Saving for College and you've navigated the College Application and acceptance process only to reach the next step of, How do I pay for this? If you've saved enough to pay for the college of your child's choice without taking any loans, awesome! Unfortunately that is often not the case for families. Navigating the decisions on obtaining needs based financial aid, merit based aid, appealing merit aid awards and navigating the student/parent loan arena can be daunting for most families.

In this our final part of our 3 part series, we are joined by Peg Keough who is the director of education at College Aid Pro. College Aid Pro is changing the way America shops for college. Their cutting-edge software, support, and education platform is built on the founders’ 100+ combined years of experience helping families navigate the cost of college. The MyCAP platform gives families their actual projected costs of every school in the country and expert 1-on-1 advice to plan for, and save on, the cost of college. Set up your free account HERE.

We hope our series has taken out a bit of the mystery in the process so that you can approach it with more certainty and confidence as to what is a truly great part of any young adult's life!

The life of an entrepreneur often comes fast and furious. With so many things flying at us, we try to focus on one thing, revenue! Unfortunately when we do that for too long we miss the point of all of this, are we making any money?!!? That's where the concept of "Profit First" comes into play. It's a simple concept which can be very, very difficult to implement.

Please join Steve as he sits down with Abby Winteregg Johnson , a Profit First coach, to talk about what is Profit First and what kind of difference it can make on your business!

The education system has always struggled with getting the funds to those for which the funding is intended. The need to accountability has often bogged down the process with administrative hurdles and additional costs that almost defeat the purpose of the funding. Many years ago, Jaime Rosenberg identified this problem and made it his goal to fix it!

So often in our lives the most difficult conversations to have are the most important ones. The conversation on our mortality and need for care in the future may be the most difficult. As we all age, it's a hard process to accept what we were once able to do or achieve has changed. It's the realizations that come with the aging process are the ones where we lie to ourselves the most!

In this episode, we sit down with Lily Vittarakskul, the founder of Waterlily, to discuss her personal experiences dealing with the care of an aging loved one which led her to start Waterlily which is focused on increasing the conversations and education surrounding long term care. Be sure to listen in to learn the family challenges Lily went through in caring for an aging loved one and what she learned from that experience and is trying to help other families avoid the same challenges she went through.

This is the first in our series on talking about long term care with our next episode to try to dispel some of the myths of planning for long term care with government benefits.

Please be sure to let us know what you think in comments below or in [email protected]

College! When I hear the word the first thing that pops to mind is John Belushi's sweater in Animal House. While many of us have had some of the best times of our lives in college, the planning for college is one of the highest priority items for all parents. With that high priority come high emotions around the admissions process and the deciding of which school to attend. A "Dream School" can quickly turn into a decades long nightmare if the family and the student don't sit down and make an informed decision on how much has been saved, the outlook for the student's chosen career path and the financing of the education if loans are taken.

As always, if there is any topic you wish to hear us discuss or have any other questions, you can contact us at [email protected].

South Florida has for decades been known as the Melting Pot of immigrants from Central and South America. What has changed over the past few decades is the level of new immigrations from all over the world! What's the big attraction? For many Americans the allure is taxes and the weather. What about everyone else? If we had to guess, we'd say it's the culture. The special thing about the culture is South Florida is home to so many different cultures that most immigrants can find a community not too different from the one they left.

In this episode, we speak with Ernie Diaz, a CPA specializing in tax planning for those entering the U.S., to discuss some of the dos and don'ts for those either looking to come to the U.S. or are already here. How you structure the purchase of real estate is very different depending on your legal status in the U.S. In addition, how long you are actually physically present in the U.S. is a major factor to avoid some very unexpected and unwelcome tax consequences. So whether you are new to the U.S., are thinking about spending more time here or are just curious how this all works (just for a friend, we get it ;) Please listen in.

For more information on the substantial presence test we mention in the show, click here

If you like this topic, let us know! Email us at [email protected]. For more information about Steve, or Merited Wealth just click! We are always looking for feedback and ideas for new topics or guests

Most people who have ever gone through it would likely agree that their divorce was the most difficult time of their lives. Whether both spouses agree it is for the best or the decision is primarily one sided, the emotions of going through a divorce are just brutal. Once the decision is made that the marriage is "irretrievably broken", does the process have to be so difficult? We sat down with Karen Lungarelli to talk about the process and what can be done, if anything, to make the process less difficult. Her advice, "focus on the finances." Many states, including Florida, are considered "No fault" states and no matter the reasons for the divorce, the rules surrounding the division of assets and paying of alimony are pretty well settled. A bit more of this, a bit less of that, it's all about coming to a fair and equitable resolution of the marriage. For many spouses, this fear of discussing or understanding the finances led to constant fear, uncertainty and anxiety which was a major part of the difficult decision to divorce. Well unfortunately, the decision to get divorced does not make this issue go away, it brings it to the front! If you or someone you love is having a challenging time with their spouse or partner and can't stop arguing about the money when it's never about the money, this episode is for you. It's time to take your head out of the ground and do the hard work to review and understand your finances because getting divorced won't make those items go away, it will make them worse. It is NOT ok to say, "Well I don't understand finances" or "I just let them take care of it and hope it goes well" as the fear and anxiety that led to this final separation will only get worse as you are left to fend for yourself. Who knows, if you take your head out of the sand early enough and put in the work to understand your financial situation, even at it's most basic level, you may find that the issues of your relationship that previously seemed irretrievably broken are repairable, sometimes stronger than they were before!

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To learn more about Karen, please click here to visit her site or here for her LinkedIn Profile.