Do you know what a durable power of attorney agreement is? Well you should! Watch to learn more about protecting nest egg from exploitation. Make the most of your empty home by turning it into the space you’ve always dreamed about. If you’re ready to reclaim your space, read to learn more! Five Fact Friday is every other week. Subscribe so you never miss one!
Reading: https://bit.ly/3zACmBb
Watching: https://bit.ly/3SpzFLo
Tech: https://cnet.co/3OQsvfX
Legal: https://bit.ly/3TdnCB5
Retirement: https://bit.ly/3BCFr6m
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Check that out. Isn’t that cool? Turns out I actually have a coat of arms based on my last name. And I was able to discover that on my trip to Portugal and Spain from a couple of weeks ago where I got to take my family and learn all about my background and even figure out that I may have descended from the Sephardic Jews that were somehow in the north of Spain and came into Portugal. I got odd information plus five exciting links ’cause I’m Victor Medina and this is “Five Fact Friday.”
Hey everybody. Welcome back to “Five Fact Friday.” The only video newsletter hosted by the Medina Retirement Planning News channel on YouTube. I don’t even know what to call this thing anymore. But it is hosted through Medina Law Group and Palante Wealth Advisors, a one-stop shop for retirement planning. As I hinted at the top of the video, I actually got a chance to take my family to Portugal and Spain for two weeks. We were in Lisbon. We took day trips by train up to north to Porto and went to go figure out their University of Oxford Coimbra area then went over to Savage. And we’re down in the south of Spain. It was a trip for the ages and we absolutely had a blast. Turns out one of those days I went to Granada and Granada is actually the home of the Alhambra which is the most perfectly preserved Moorish palace that’s still in existence. You need time tickets to go in there. Great stories that came from that. But going to visit, actually walked to a store that was called Medina. And I walked in and I looked around and they actually had some key chains. One of which was the one that I showed you which had my last name and a coat of arms that I didn’t even know that we had for our last name. Turns out the name Medina is actually an Arabic word that means “city center.” And for those of the are in the Muslim faith, you know about the journey from Mecca to Medina. Well, when the Moors were in Spain and in Portugal, they left the word, the last name, and of course, after they got thrown out, the Spanish used it. They brought it over to Puerto Rico and I’ve got my name. Really excited to figure out I’ve got a coat of arms. Now I gotta figure out whether or not I can put this in any of my logos going forward. Anyway, if you want any tips or tricks about what to do when you go to visit Portugal and Spain, let me know. We had a blast and I published a bunch of photos in there. Really did a good job with planning, if I do say so myself. So much so, that when I came home, my mom said she was talking with her cousin. They want to go to Spain. They just wanna bring me along as their tour guide. I said, “If I fit in the suitcase, I’m happy to go with you.” Let’s go to the links for this week. I have missed you on “Five Fact Friday.”
We’re gonna go with our very first link, What I’m Reading. And you know, while I was gone, turns out there was a big, old lottery that was held, over $1 billion. And it always gives me an opportunity to sort of highlight what people will then learn about what it takes to actually get that money. Most of the time, the number that you see at the top is not a lump sum. That’s the annuitization. So the lottery commission will give you a check for the rest of your life or for 20 years or whatever else to get to that number. But if you wanna lump sum, it’s less than that. And if you’re gonna have to pay taxes, turns out that on lottery winnings, those are all sort of like income taxes that come in. You’ll lose almost 50% of that money. So the link that, I’ll gotta actually tell you, how much is left over after taxes. And I know it’s probably sad that you might only have $300 million to live off of. We’re gonna figure out a way to make that work. If you just come on over to Palante Wealth Advisors.
The next link is What I Am Watching. And actually, it’s linked to a little homegrown piece of interest, which is the announcement of the movie “Oppenheimer.” Actually stars Cillian Murphy and it was filmed in the Institute for Advanced Study as well as Princeton university. That happens to be a movie that focuses on Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the Manhattan Project. The trailer looks fantastic. So if you’re all interested in the Manhattan Project and you’re all interested in seeing maybe a little bit of local, lower local scenes in the movie, maybe you want to check that one out. Follow the link and see more.
The next link is What’s New in Tech. And I get an opportunity to talk about my favorite company Apple and its toys. Well, they’ve got a new rumor set of watches that are gonna be coming out, perhaps even a pro version of their Apple Watch. You know, their Apple Watch is actually getting better and better. And it does give me an opportunity to talk a little bit about the value for people that are getting older. Because Apple is starting to introduce a number of features that are really good for folks that are looking to manage their health. So for example, they put in fall detection. And then after that, they talked a little bit about arrhythmia and so they had a heart, a pulse monitor that would be able to diagnose when you’re in arrhythmia. Well, they’ve got new set of updates that are gonna be part of their watch and iOS system would allow you to do medication management and even have a private way of putting all of your medical records together. I think this is particularly helpful not only for the older people that may need it, but they’re family members as well. You’re actually able to share this information and that would actually be helpful. So if you’re interested in finding a new, techy, cool way to be managing your health as you get older and you’re not intimidated by technology, maybe you wanna pick up a new Apple Watch and install their new operating software because it’ll help you as you get older.
The next link is What’s New in Legal, and this is a bit of a cautionary tale. The link is actually gonna lead you to an MSN article, picked up from newjersey.com, about a service that installed themselves as power of attorney for an older woman and basically cleaned her out of money. Now here’s the backup for that so that you know what to look for going forward. A lot of time when older individuals end up going into a nursing home or assisted living facility, one of the things that they have to do is manage the spend down of their assets so that they can qualify for Medicaid services. Now being able to protect assets is actually something that we do at Medina Law Group fairly routinely for our families. It’s just a way of making sure that they don’t pay anything more than they need to to the facility. And that we are working on their behalf to secure their assets not just for them, but for also the next generation. Well, turns out that this other company that’s highlighted in the link is not bound by any standard whatsoever. They actually work for the facility. Their goal is to deplete your assets because they get paid by the facility to do those services. And so it’s really important that you never name somebody to power of attorney that you don’t absolutely trust. And it’s also important that if you’re ever in a situation where you’re looking to manage your long-term care, perhaps even qualify for benefits and protect assets, that you work with a qualified elder law attorney who’s working on your side versus on the facility’s side. Now if you know of anybody that needs those services, have them reach out to us because all we do on Medina Law Group, day in and day out, is help people organize their affairs including making sure that they can protect assets for elder care or long-term cost situation and we would love the opportunity to talk to them. Regardless, really, beyond the lookout for anyone that’s looking to assert themselves in your life as a power attorney, never want to give anybody that power.
Our last link is What’s New in Retirement. And unfortunately, it hits close to home because it’s a link all about what it’s like to be an empty nester, the opportunity for you to be able to reclaim a little bit of your life. And it’s with sad heartstrings that I offer this link because it turns out that in a couple of weeks, I’ll be sending my first child off to college which is the beginning of the empty nest process. He’s off to Loyola at Maryland. He’s gonna do great. I’m excited for him. But it will be a sad time in the house when we have one fewer voice, little less joy in the house. And I know that his brothers are gonna be missing him as well. But if you are in retirement and wanna learn more about the opportunities that present themselves when you’re an empty nester, check out that link. All right, let’s go ahead and recap the links for this week.
The first link is What I Am Reading. And it’s a little bit about how much is left over in taxes if you happen to win the lottery. Remember that for Palante Wealth Advisors, one of their main focuses for retirement planning is on taxes. And if you’re not working with an advisor that is really focused on how to make sure you keep the majority of your money, even if you’re not a lottery winner, maybe you wanna reach out to us and see a little bit about the way that we work. The next link is What I Am Watching. And so link to the trailer for the new “Oppenheimer” movie about the Manhattan Project starring Cillian Murphy, but also with locations in and around Princeton if you’d like to check out more. The next link is What is New in Tech. And that is about Apple’s upcoming new watch series which you may want to think about if you’re growing older with all of their features. What’s New in Legal is a cautionary tale about a service that helps you qualify for Medicaid that isn’t working on your behalf. Remember if you’re in this situation or if you know somebody is, you want to work with a qualified, certified elder law attorney like us at Medina Law Group, we can help you with that. And finally, What’s New in Retirement is what we’re looking at for empty nesters. And again, just beginning that process with us at home as Aiden goes off to Loyola University in Maryland. Hey, listen. We’re happy to be back for “Five Fact Friday.” I’m happy to figure out that I’ve got a crest and I’m gonna do a little bit more research and see if I can’t qualify for some form of citizenship over in Portugal or in Spain. I may want a second passport as I now travel through Europe with my family. We’ve got that and many, many more links coming up. Glad to be back and we’ll catch you on the next video newsletter. Buh-bye.