Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Liz Weston

How to protect parents from financial scams

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When a scam artist called Cameron Huddleston’s mom to tell her to wire money in order to claim a prize, Huddleston had to intercept the calls. Her mom, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, was convinced she had to wire the money as soon as possible.

“That was a wake-up call for me. If you have any cognitive decline, you don’t see those red flags anymore,” says Huddleston, who lives in Kentucky and is the director of education at Carefull, a service built to protect aging adults’ daily finances. She also wrote the book “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk,” on how to have important conversations about money with your parents.

Scam artists often target older adults, partly because they have amassed greater wealth. In Kimberly Palmer’s latest for the Associated Press, learn how to protect parents from financial scams.

Q&A: When Social Security isn’t enough

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Dear Liz: I am 87, divorced for 45 years, never remarried. I applied for my 93-year-old former husband’s Social Security support and qualified. I was refused by the local Social Security office. I really don’t understand why. I am a COVID long-hauler and I get confused. I was a stay-at-home mom until my kids were in college, and my husband divorced me. My Social Security is not enough to support me, and I am seriously in debt. I am set up with Social Security to receive my share of my former husband’s Social Security at the time of his death. What am I doing wrong?

Answer: If your former husband is still alive, it’s possible that your current Social Security retirement benefit is larger than any benefit you would have gotten from his work record. Spousal and divorced spousal benefits are limited to 50% of the primary worker’s benefit at full retirement age.

Should he die, you could be eligible for a divorced survivor benefit, which is up to 100% of the amount he was receiving.

Rather than wait, though, you should consider talking to a bankruptcy attorney about your debt. Consider asking one of your kids or a financially savvy friend to come with you and take notes so you understand your options.

Q&A: Finding free tax help

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Dear Liz: You recently mentioned the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide Program as a resource for getting help with tax returns. I just want to point out that there are other, IRS-sponsored programs that provide free income tax assistance to the elderly and low-income taxpayers. These programs are Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Consulting for the Elderly (TCE). The site where I’ve volunteered for many years does approximately 2,000 tax returns each year. A mention in your column would be a great way to spread the word about this valuable service.

Answer: Consider it done. The IRS has a tool to find VITA and TCE resources using your ZIP Code.

Q&A: Should extra cash go to retirement or emergency savings?

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Dear Liz: I have an excessive amount of money in my bank checking and savings account (about $20,000 in each) and need to know where to invest it. My financial planner advised putting it in my 401(k), but I can’t transfer a chunk of money, I can only increase the percentage I contribute (which is currently at 10% of my salary). I have IRAs, but I can only deposit a certain amount there as well. Where would be the best place for this extra money to go that will pay interest?

Answer: You may not be able to put the money directly into your 401(k), but you could boost your contribution rate at work and tap the “excess” money in your accounts to make up the difference in your paychecks.

First, though, make sure you have an adequate emergency fund. Most financial planners recommend keeping a reserve equal to three to six months’ worth of expenses. This money should be kept in a safe, liquid account, such as an FDIC-insured bank account. You don’t need to settle for the tiny amount of interest many banks pay, however. Some online high-yield savings accounts are now paying over 4%.

Q&A: Caught in the IRS backlog

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Dear Liz: In 2021, we helped two of our children buy a condo. One of them confessed she hadn’t filed taxes for several years. We worked on the returns together, and it turned out that nothing was owed. Meanwhile, the IRS has never acknowledged the delayed tax filings or refunded the (small) overpayments. Shouldn’t the IRS have completed these filings by now?

Answer: The IRS says it has processed all paper and electronic individual returns for tax year 2021 or earlier if those returns had no errors or did not require further review. Returns that were filed late, however, may still be part of the agency’s backlog.

Your child can try using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on the IRS site or create an online account to check for possible updates. Keep in mind that there’s a three-year limit to claim a refund; after that point, the U.S. Treasury gets to keep the money.

Visiting Troyes, or “You had me at half-timbered.”

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In a previous post, I discussed one of the best ways to stretch your travel dollars in Europe: visiting “second” cities, the somewhat less-traveled metropolises that allow you to experience a country’s culture and sights without the huge crowds and high prices of its capital cities. 

Here’s one to consider adding to your list: Troyes (pronounced “twah,” like the French number three) in the Champagne region of France.

If you’ve never heard of Troyes, don’t feel bad: neither had I until a recent road trip out of Paris. Even our Parisian friends looked puzzled when I mentioned Troyes, perhaps because this small city is best known today for its outlet stores.

But Troyes is well worth a visit, particularly if you like medieval old towns with narrow cobblestone streets and half-timbered buildings, or fascinating one-of-a-kind museums, plus a rather excessive number of Gothic churches. (One source says there are 11, another six, but I only visited three before I’d had my fill of stained glass, sad-eyed statuary and worn-away ledgerstones, those tomb coverings set in the floors of old churches.)

Troyes used to be an important trade center in the Middle Ages and standardized the unit of measure known as the troy ounce. It was also a big-enough deal in the art world that there is a “School of Troyes” style of painting and sculpture (featured in one of those museums I just mentioned).

But unlike other French cities, which grew and eventually knocked down most of their half-timbered construction, Troyes entered a long economic slump. As a result, its old town still has hundreds of these old buildings to see and explore. 

One of the prettiest – with a huge inner courtyard and a turret – is the Hôtel de Mauroy, which houses one of the coolest museums I’ve ever seen: Maison de l’Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière. Translated, that’s the “house of tools and workers’ thought.”

Who cares about tools? I don’t, much, but I spent a couple of fascinating hours looking at thousands of hand-made tools from the 17th and 18th centuries collected by a 20th Century Jesuit priest. The museum offers a handy printed guide as well as an audio guide which I’m sure are chock-full of great info about the workers and trades who used these tools. I was content just to look at the beautifully lit, artistically arranged display cases – including one with dozens of hand trowels arranged like schools of fish. 

Other must-sees include a stained glass museum and a small-but-mighty apothecary museum. Turns out the pharmacists of old relied on stuff like ground-up mummies and the skulls of men who died violently to cure the ailments of the living. Also, check out Ruelle des Chats or “cat alley,” a lane where the half-timbered buildings nearly touch, making it easy for cats to hop from one rooftop to the next.

Troyes is about two hours south of Paris by car or train. I stayed in the central, historic Best Western Premier Hotel de la Poste and Spa, which I highly recommend. 

Do you have another “second city” to recommend? Please do so in the comments below. Thanks!