Healthy Aging

An HSA allows individuals to pay for qualified health expenses and save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis. (A high-deductible health-insurance plan is one with $1,350+ deductibles for individuals or $2,700+ for families.) For the current 2018 tax year, individuals can contribute $3,450, and families can contribute $6,900 tax-free into their health savings accounts—used to pay for qualified medical expenses at any time without federal tax liability. While navigating the waters of forms and calculations this tax season – a health savings account can be a welcome life raft to protect income that would normally be used on qualified health care expenses or investment savings.

While man grapples with the fear of the unknown such as stronger hurricanes and rising seas that they worry will eventually turn inland cities such as Orlando and Philadelphia into beachfront property, a Florida company has found a solution for the very wealthy: the houseboat of the future. Able to run completely off grid via 2,300 square feet of rooftop solar panels, the boat has four spuds that can lift it above the water on its automated hydraulic pilings. Measuring 75 feet in length with a 32-foot beam, the Arkup has 4,350 square feet of indoor and outdoor living space divided between the main and upper decks. Cutting-edge contemporary design with open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling glass walls bring in unobstructed ocean, bay, lake or river views and extend out to five terraces with glass railings.

Tax fraud fears hit millennials the hardest with 43 percent saying they are worried they could become a victim of tax fraud or tax identity theft, compared baby boomers (34 percent) and Gen Zs (33 percent). The majority of taxpayers (54 percent) think tax documents (e.g. W-2, 1099 forms, etc.) are the most susceptible document to information fraud or identity theft, compared to auto loan documents (15 percent) and mortgage documents (6 percent). Baby boomers (44 percent) are the least likely to think tax documents are the most susceptible to information fraud or identity theft, compared to millennials (64 percent) and Gen Zs (55 percent). While the majority of taxpayers (42 percent) keep tax documents for 7+ years before disposing of them, 26 percent keep them for 4-7 years, 22 percent keep them for 1-3 years, and 5 percent keep them for less than one year.

A large long-term study of U. S. men and women shows the more sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) people consumed, the greater their risk of premature death—particularly death from cardiovascular disease, and to a lesser extent from cancer. The study, led by Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and published in the journal Circulation, also found that drinking one artificially sweetened beverage (ASB) per day instead of a sugary one lowered the risk of premature death. Compared with drinking SSBs less than once per month, drinking one to four sugary drinks per month was linked with a 1% increased risk; two to six per week with a 6% increase; one to two per day with a 14% increase; and two or more per day with a 21% increase. These findings are consistent with the known adverse effects of high sugar intake on metabolic risk factors and the strong evidence that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, itself a major risk factor for premature death.