The Best Health Systems to Take Care of Seniors- Sixtyplus

The healthcare industry for seniors is in a constant state of change. Thankfully, the healthcare systems are showing a steep rise in the graph.  So what are the improvements do we see and what are can we expect from the present health care system for the seniors.  

 The Senior Citizen Health Problems

The elderly are living longer but the health problems, instead of being downsized are increasing by leaps and bounds.  The elderly are suffering from health issues such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer disease, cancer and so on. The elderly are combating these health problems and they require our immediate focus so that they have the right arsenal to fight the diseases. 

Policies like The National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) which has been adopted by the Government of India in 1999.  The Section 20 of the program is specifically suited for the “The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.” This helps take care of Senior Citizen. It also provides a number of facilities for the elderly. 

The program caters to the needs of the elderly, programs such as curative, preventive, program and rehabilitative services for the elderly in a number of Government health facilities. This also helps provide the elderly with a safe and a comfortable haven, who are suffering from a lot of health issues which are a part and parcel of old age. The preventive services in the program include solutions to the geriatric medical problems such as rehabilitative services, day care services, and home-based care according to the needs of the elderly.  

If you are someone who has an elderly person in the family or in the neighborhood, you can extend your help to someone who needs it most. Here are some health tips for olderadults.

 

·         Home delivery of essential goods – While home deliveries have made things easy for us, we are more conversant with things such as apps but the older generation probably isn’t. Teach them how they can get things delivered at their homes at the click of a button. 

·         Make the house safe for the elderly – Some people may have a tough time going from one place to another. So how can you make things more comfortable for them? Get a handrail installed all around, so that that they can get easy access to all corners of the home. Make sure their homes have anti-skid floors, especially their bathrooms. Also, you can get more lights installed, so they can move around their homes with ease. 

• For emergency purposes – If you have an elderly at home, you need to ensure that they have access to things like GPS capability, which helps search for the elderly parent or relative at the time of emergencies such as an accident. You can have other facilities such as two-way phone communication and fall detection services helping the aging people live an independent life, that is they don’t have to depend on someone for their smallest needs and they won’t feel helpless at the time of emergencies. 
• Health insurance plans – Get the best health insurance plans for the senior citizens so that they have the money when they need it most. If they have the means it would give them the strength to combat the deadliest diseases.

Technology has indeed made life easier for us and also for the elderly. It is time they knew of the facilities available and how can they best use them.

Try these Retirement Funds to Avoid Tax Erosion

When it comes to financial planning after retirement starting early is the wisest thing to do. Where and how should you invest is going to impact your life in the most crucial phase. This is when you need your money to speak the most, the time when your salary ceases to be credited to your account. With varied investment plans fighting for your attention, planning ahead for your retirement portfolio not only helps you generate a monthly income but in some cases helps you meet up your long-nurtured financial goals.

Best Retirement Plans – How to Keep your Future Secure and Free from Financial Problems

Follow the below-mentioned tips and tricks to make your retirement plan work. 

·         Early Start is An Apt Start

What does starting early mean? It means starting the financial journey in the first or second month of the financial year. Informed and calculated investments equal good investments. Once you have ample time on your hands to make the necessary changes. Investments that fail to meet up with your expectations can be substituted with investments that match your financial goals and frankly this can be only possible once you start early. 

·         Making the Right Investments

The next thing to take note of is to explore and understand the tax-saving options. Any individual taxpayer can think of saving as much as Rs.1.5 lakh per annum according to the Income-tax Act, 1961 falling under the purview of section 80C. This involves a number of things such as paying off the home loan payment, insurance premium, and school tuition fees for two children and so on.

Check out the below-mentioned retirement plans. There is a host of retirementplans, but the most popular ones are the following:

•ELSS funds: The equity-linked mutual funds are what everyone is investing in for higher returns and ELSS scheme is particularly lucrative because it has the lowest lock-in period, only 3 years. These are the best options for you to try as it helps beat inflation and ensures long-term high returns, as they invest in stock markets. Another lucrative feature of ELSS funds is that they become tax-free after you hold them for more than a year.

•Public Provident Fund (PPF): One of the most popular tax-saving investment. There are more pros to this scheme than cons as it offers guaranteed returns, it becomes tax-free once it matures and it protects your capital too. The only con of the PPF is its long lock-in period, as long as 15 years.

•National Pension System (NPS): It is an equity-based scheme and the maximum exposure to equity can be 50%. The cons of the NPS are that you can withdraw the money only after retirement and another being it is fully taxable. You also have to use a major portion of your corpus, read 40% to buy annuity post your retirement. 

•Tax-saving fixed deposits:  These works for most retired persons as they have a reasonable lock-in period of five years and offer pretty impressive returns besides ensuring capital protection as well.

Besides the above-mentioned retirement planning schemes, there are also Senior Citizens’ Savings Scheme, unit-linked insurance plans, and National Level Certificate. So amongst a host of retirement plans, which one should you choose? You will think that you are having way your fingers in too many varied pies, read investments but that is the best way to protect your retirement capital and guarantee a substantial income every month. In other words, diversification is the key.

 Diversify More

Keep your portfolio diversified by building one that includes a mixture of both equity as well as debt. In most cases, young people should invest 50-70% of their tax-saving investment portfolio in ELSS funds. Invest the rest of your money in PPF and FDs. 

Track your Funds

Evaluate your ELSS funds periodically since your performance is linked to the volatile stock markets trends. Ensure you check your ELSS funds quarterly. Funds which keep faring poorly can be replaced by another fund to ensure your portfolio funds stay secure.

Staying invested in ELSS funds is the order of the day now as they help in tax saving and also enables wealth generation. So, invest right and build the right retirement portfolio to help you tide over your retirement years with ease. As they say, life begins at 60, and if you have finances aided by the right retirement plans you will be able to explore the finer nuances of life even after retirement.

Health Systems to Take Care of Seniors

Today, the healthcare industry has undergone a massive transformation and since people are living for longer, the need for the healthcare services have also risen up significantly. So, is the current health care system able to meet up with the rising demand? Let's find out here.

 The Aging Population

  The Population Census made in 2011 found out that there are actually 104 million elderly persons who are sexagenarians and above in India and of them, about 53 million are females and 51 million are males.

So, we need to find out about the current health scenario of elderly people and also some of the health tips for seniors.

 The Senior Citizens Health Problems

Now people are living for longer but when it comes to health care there has not been much improvement, as diseases are on the rise and more and older people are suffering from diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and so on.

 The Government of India has adopted a program known as the National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) in 1999 and especially the Section 20 of the “The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007” emphasizes upon the provisions for medical care of Senior Citizen. This program promises a lot of facilities for the elderly.

So what are the services that the program offers? It provides curative, preventive, program and rehabilitative services for the senior citizens in a number of health facilities run by the Government. This is especially helpful for the older citizens who have a tough time coping with a number of ailments. 

Here are a few ways that can help the elderly sort out things and help cope with their day to day difficulties a little better.  Check out some of the health tips for seniors. 

• Delivery at the doorstep - It is difficult for older people to go out to markets to get their everyday essential things. But with the internet, things have become as easy as getting things done by the press of a button. It is imperative that they are taught various methods to shop online and use apps that will help them get things delivered right at their doorstep.  
• Make the house safe - If you are someone who is connected closely to an elderly, you can take steps to make things more comfortable for them and also more accessible. The hacks are simple to have more hand supports around the house so they can move around without any difficulty. Add more lights so, that the passage area is more lighted and there is no possibility of them slipping and falling over, have anti-skid floors installed to help them walk more easily.
• For emergency purposes – Teach the elderly in your family or around your neighborhood or the latest gadgets or technology such as the GPS capability, which can help locate a lost elderly easily.

Technology can come to the aid of the elderly if used in the right way. It is important that the younger people living around them make them aware of such technology so that they can use it at the time of emergencies.

Travel Tips for Seniors - Explore the World

Travelling is always fun and especially for senior travelers who want to make the best of their leisure time. With time on their hands, they want to do all those things that they weren’t able to do when they were working. But you can enjoy traveling when you plan your trip properly. Organized planning is the stepping stone to a successful tour. Senior citizens, in particular, should be mindful of the upcoming risks they might encounter on the trip and plan in advance to minimize the occurrences of such risks. That’s the only way you can enjoy the budget travel by throwing caution to the wind! After all traveling and incessant worrying do not really go together. That’s why we have put together a list of traveling do’s and don’ts to make travel for seniors, a memorable affair!

Travel Tips for Senior Citizens – Tips that Actually Help you in planning in Advance

Have you zeroed on the destination and booked hotels and everything? But apparently, that’s not all we really have to plan everything right down to the nitty –gritty to ensure all goes well with the trip. Here are a few senior traveltips on budget travel to aid you in your journey. 

·         Get a check-up done – Your health may be in great shape but you still may need to check with your doctor whether you are fit for travel. Since you will be traveling to a new place and your regular diet and habits will go for a toss, you will have to find out whether your health will be up for the sudden changes in your daily routine. 

·         Remember to bring your medications – Always carry your essentials along with you, especially medications which you need to take daily. Stock a little extra so that you do not run out of supplies. This is one of the imperative travel tips for seniors which they must adhere to. 

·         Travel insurance is a must for seniors – Planning ahead and getting your travel insurance on point is an essentiality which you simply cannot ignore. It prepares you for any untoward mishaps in the offing. 

·         Traveling in a group – While solo traveling sounds enticing to many people, traveling in a group is relatively safer because if you face any trouble in your journey, there will be people who will certainly come to your aid. Traveling in groups also helps you save money as you get to avail of discounts and other perks. 

·         Travel smart with all important documents in tow – Pack all your travel documents in advance such ID’s, tickets et al and keep them handy. Ensure a smooth trip and leave all your worries behind.

·         Seek help when you require it – While traveling light should be on the radar, seek help from airport personnel and other people, when you are unable to carry your luggage alone. You can certainly request assistance from help desks and they will try their best to assist you with your problem. 

·         Plan out your diet – While most senior citizens love to enjoy a new place and embrace everything new right from the culture to the cuisine, they should address caution in determining the kind of food they have. They may go a little overboard and as a result, their health can suffer. It is always wise to eat light and nutritious meals and skip heavy and overly spicy meals which can make their travel plans go haywire. Eating smart and light should be the mantra of senior citizens. 

·         Stay active – While going on a leisure trip is certainly enjoyable however it is important to keep yourself energetic and fit by including different physical activities. This will you’re your blood circulation going and avoid problems such as deep-vein thrombosis.

·         Stay hydrated – Travelling exerts you and so it is important to keep yourself hydrated with plenty of water. Carry clean and hygienic water with you, wherever you go. It will keep dehydration and other health issues at bay. 

·         Take it easy – Plan an itinerary which does not overtire you out. While traveling to new places can be exciting and invigorating, it makes sense to concentrate on quality over quantity. Plan plenty of stops in the middle so you can rest and recuperate and pursue the journey with renewed vigor. 

·         Pack the right garments – Wherever you are traveling ensure that you check on the local weather and pack accordingly, pack in a few extra clothes a few sweaters or wrap-ups if the weather turns chilly or if you are traveling to cold regions do pack extra warm clothes to beat the chill. 

Senior citizen trips always pack in a lot of exuberance and zest to mundane life. So, plan ahead for the next big trip and make sure you bring on board healthy dozes of fun, vigor and a little bit of caution. The perfect recipe for a great trip!