Your June/July GCCOA newsletter is here

Honoring Our Seniors!

The Council’s Senior Recognition Luncheon was held April 25th, with over 150 coming together for a wonderful meal from McCoy’s Catering, inspiration for our continued efforts of mentoring and connecting with others from featured speaker Mark Weinstein of Cedarville University, and presentation of the Leadership and Outstanding Senior awards to an impressive group of seniors.

 Ten seniors were honored this year, a tiny fraction of those sharing their time and talents in so many ways. Our honorees, although from different parts of the County and with varying skills, interests and responsibilities, shared two striking qualities. All possess tremendous humility and a preference to be in the background, working hard to get things done to ensure the success of whatever they were working on. The other, a more visible and obvious quality, is a kind and caring smile. The kind of smile that draws you in and provides reassurance that you are with someone who cares.

This year’s celebration included an additional twist which required some extra planning. Tony McIlvaine, who has been our Master of Ceremonies for the last 25 years, was presented with the Outstanding Senior Award. With the help of some very special people, we were able to surprise Tony with this well deserved award and brief moment of being speechless!

Our congratulations to this year’s award winners who are pictured below, back row/front row: Greg Shrader of Clifton, Outstanding Senior Tony McIlvaine of Xenia, Tim Holly of Xenia, Tom Kingsbury of Beavercreek, Vickie Bell of Jamestown, Maria Beach of Fairborn, Jane Martin of Spring Valley, Susan Freeman of Yellow Springs, and LuAnn Ragle of Cedarville. The Bellbrook award was presented posthumously to Carolee Buccalo.

 Special Thanks to our Table Sponsors:

 Added Touch Cleaning
Brookdale Senior Living
Elmcroft of Xenia & Fairborn
Harmony & Hospitality Centers for
Rehabilitation & Healing
Legacy Village
Patriot Ridge
Senior Helpers

It's Your Money: At Least Until the Tax Man Comes to Take Some of it Back

Now that April 15 is in the rear view mirror, I thought I’d get an early start on next year’s tax planning. The period from age 59 ½ to 70 ½ is a somewhat ‘golden time’ for senior citizens from a tax perspective. Rules in the tax law change during this period, and if you plan well you can maximize your benefits and/or avoid any surprises. Taxes aren't something retirees should deal with just once a year. They are something you need to plan for all year, every year. Here's an overview to help get you started.

 When you turn 59 ½ you are allowed to withdraw funds from your tax-deferred retirement accounts (401(k), 403(b), TSP, IRA) without incurring a 10% penalty for an early withdrawal. You still have to pay taxes on the withdrawals, but there won’t be a penalty. Do everything you can to avoid making a withdrawal prior to 59 ½, or you will have to pay a significant penalty.

If you have tax-deferred money in a retirement account and you are under age 70 ½, the clock is ticking on your requirement to start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from those accounts once you reach age 70 ½. Under normal circumstances you will have to pay income taxes on all money you collect in these RMDs. If you normally donate to charities during the year, check with your tax advisor about doing a ‘qualified charitable distribution’, where all or a portion of your normal RMD is transferred directly to a charity instead of to you. You get the donation write-off, your charity gets the donation, and you avoid the RMD tax event.

 If you have money in a traditional IRA, you will have to pay tax on all of your withdrawals, but you have an option to do a ‘conversion’ from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. This maneuver is basically a ‘pay tax now or pay it later’ ploy, but there can be significant advantages to converting some or all of your retirement savings to a Roth. Since the conversion is considered a taxable event, the taxes are paid at the time of conversion. If you want to potentially avoid a giant tax bill today, you can convert in small amounts over an extended period of years, instead of a lump sum in one year. One advantage of doing a Roth conversion is that you’ll no longer have to take RMDs at age 70 ½.

If you think a Roth conversion might make sense, talk to a financial advisor about your overall income stream. As stated above, when you do a conversion it will result in a higher current/taxable income for that tax year when you make the conversion. You might want to try to delay taking Social Security or a company pension until you’re done converting tax-deferred money into a Roth account. If you have stock in an investment account, work with your investment advisor to keep your taxable stock sales at a minimum in years when you will be claiming conversion income. Or better yet, if you have any duds in your investment portfolio, work with your advisor to report a loss on the sale of those duds to lower your taxable income.

 When it comes to spending your retirement dollars, it pays to think about which account you draw funds from. When you have a big expense, don’t just blindly withdraw all of the money from your traditional IRA, because you will have to pay income tax on all of the funds withdrawn, whereas funds withdrawn from your Roth would be tax-free. Maybe you can take just enough from the traditional IRA account to stay in a lower tax bracket, and pay the rest with your Roth account.

 When you’re planning your retirement future, talk to a financial adviser who specializes in retirement income planning. He or she can provide you with a comprehensive plan that includes tax-efficient strategies to help you hold on to the money you’ve worked so hard to save.

It's All About Fun!

Thank you to those who joined the fun at the 2018 SeniorPalooza. We were pleased to bring back the 5K and we had a beautiful day for walking. We found some painted rocks along the path which created an entertaining ‘story’ spelled when we came back together.

We made bookends & book page sachets. We found words inside of words, used colorful alphabet magnets to answer questions, held a Scrabble challenge, and learned about each other during our beach ball toss and story stones. Our brains were challenged with MadLibs and our fitness guru helped us with fitness stories after nourishing our bodies with a tasty lunch provided by Soin Medical Center and Greene Memorial Hospital.

 We closed with Whirly Words, our version of Wheel of Fortune which stretched our brains, made us laugh, and affirmed what a wonderful senior community we have in Greene County. We invite you to check out the photos on our Facebook page.

GCCOA Yard Sale

Thursday, May 31st & Friday, June 1st
9am to 3pm, rain or shine
GCCOA Office
1195 W. Second Street, Xenia

Featuring household items, small appliances, clothing, books, crafts, holiday and other decor, gardening/lawn items, games and puzzles, and more.

We will also have a selection of homemade treats available for purchase.

Proceeds benefit the GCCOA Grab Bar Installation Program.

Advance Care Directives Clinic

We are pleased to be partnering with Legal Aid of Western Ohio to offer an Advance Care Directives information class and clinic for seniors on Friday, June 22nd at the Xenia Community Center next to the Council’s office. There will be two sessions from which to choose, the first at 10:30am and the second at 1pm.

The class portion will be presented by an attorney and will include reviewing the Living Will and the Power of Attorney for Health Care, followed by the opportunity to meet with an attorney or paralegal to ask questions and complete your directives.

Plans to regularly offer the class and clinic at other Greene County sites are underway. The flyer is available at the senior centers, Council offices and on the Council’s website. Registration is required and can be made by contacting the Council by June 15th (info@gccoa.org/376-5486).

Express Your Creativity

Summer Creativity Expo
Thursday, June 21st
10:00am to 2:00pm
Xenia Community Center
1265 West Second Street, Xenia
(next to Council office)

 Greene County adults are invited to join us for the Summer Creativity Expo where you will choose two of four creative sessions to enjoy with your fellow participants. Our patient session leaders will be ready to assist you with whatever help you may need. Supplies for all of the projects are provided, along with a grab n’ go lunch, for the $5 registration.

Our projects include glass wind chimes, a fairy house, rock painting and paper poppies. Registration is required by June 11th. Brochures are available at the senior centers, the Council offices and on the Council’s website. You can also request a brochure by calling or e-mailing the Council at 937-376-5486 or info@gccoa.org.

Aging & Technology Expo

Wednesday, July 18th
11:00am to 6:00pm
Greene County Fairgrounds

Please join us in the Assembly Building for a day of exploring the effects and opportunities that technology is bringing to our lives. The day will include informational vendor booths related to security/safety, finances, healthcare, dementia care, mobility, and more. We will have a tech and app lab for hands on help with smart phones and tablets, presentations on cybersecurity and Universal Design, and printed resources related to available technology, costs, and cautions. Expo partners include Brentwood Builders, the Attorney General’s Office, Rehab at Home and Cedarville University School of Pharmacy.

Homemade Treats & Jam Fest

Wednesday, August 16th
4:00 to 6:30pm
Xenia Community Center

Please join us for our annual fundraiser, which includes music by The Hoppers, refreshments, homemade baked goods and other creations to buy in our Country Store, the Cloud Racing Tournament with Announcer Paul Newman Jr., and the unforgettable Homemade Treats & Jam Auction with Lee Duteil, auctioneer extraordinaire and trusty sidekick Ed Marrinan. Tickets are $10 and all proceeds are used for senior and caregiver programs and services. We will also have a pre-sale of select cookies/jams the first two weeks of August for those unable to attend. For more info, please check out our website.

We Are In this Together!

Upcoming Programs & Meetings

GCCOA Yard Sale & Baked Goods Sale
Thursday & Friday, May 31st & June 1st ~ 9am to 3pm
GCCOA Office, 1195 W. Second St, Xenia

GCCOA Annual Luncheon Meeting
Tuesday, June 19th ~ 12:30pm
Xenia Nazarene Church

Medicare 101
Wednesday, June 13th ~ 3:30pm to 5pm
Council’s Beavercreek Space, Beaver View Health Center/3095 Dayton-Xenia Rd

Memory Loss, Dementia & Alzheimer’s Disease
Thursday, July 12th ~ 6:00pm—8:00pm
GCCOA Office, 1195 W. Second St, Xenia

 Summer Creativity Expo
Thursday, June 21st ~ 10:00am to 2:00pm
Xenia Community Center (next to GCCOA Office) 1265 W. Second St, Xenia

Advance Care Directives Clinic
Friday, June 22nd ~ 10:30am — 2:30pm
Xenia Community Center (next to GCCOA Office), 1265 W. Second St, Xenia

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Our mission: To promote independence and quality of life for Greene County senior citizens and caregivers by facilitating and supporting the development, implementation and continual improvement of a comprehensive and coordinated system of contact and care.