Which cities have the most outdoorsy, fit, healthy residents?  NerdWallet sifted through the fifty largest metro areas to find the ones with the best indicators of health, including health scores for the residents, health insurance coverage and a high prevalence of doctors and clean air.  NerdWallet assessed the health score according to the following factors:

1. How fit are the residents?  We assessed fitness of residents through the American Fitness Index, a composite index that includes the CDC’s Selected Metropolitan/Micropolitan Area Risk Trends Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, environmental factors from the Trust for Public Lands, rates of disease and other government data.
2. Is healthcare accessible?  We incorporated the percentage of residents who have health insurance as well as the number of physicians per 100,000 residents.
3. Is the air quality good?  Research shows that cleaner air adds an average of 4 months to a resident’s life expectancy.  We included the number of high particle pollution days per year for each metro area.

Healthiest metro areas

1.    Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is a city of runners, with the Boston Marathon bringing 20,000 registered participants and 50,000 spectators to Beantown each year.  Health insurance coverage in the city is excellent, largely due to Romneycare, which requires that each resident obtain health insurance and provides free health insurance to low-income individuals.  There are a whopping 591 physicians per 100,000 residents in the city, and programs like the federally-funded Boston Healthy Start Initiative and Northeastern University’s Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures program, which supports health-promoting environments for young children to prevent early childhood obesity, show the city’s commitment to health.

2.    Seattle, Washington

With a high fitness index, comprehensive health insurance coverage and very clean air, it’s clear why The Emerald City made it on our list.  Health-conscious residents can participate in the plethora of outdoor activities the area offers, doing everything from kayaking to biking to hiking.  In addition, the city has shown a commitment to public health and fitness.  The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department has started a Healthy Parks, Healthy You initiative to promote physical activity.

3.    Portland, Oregon

Portland is known for its outdoor activities health-conscious residents.  With extinct volcanoes, over 5,000 acres of land in Forest Park and Tryon Creek State Natural Area, Portland has an abundance of outdoor activities.  The city has clean air (it’s often rated one of the greenest cities in the United States), fit residents and a high level of health insurance coverage.  In fact, the state of Oregon has instituted Healthy Kids, a health coverage program for all uninsured Oregon children.

4.    Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis has a very high fitness index as well as high health insurance coverage.  Additionally, the one-of-a-kind Rainbow Health Initiative is working toward health equity for Minnesota’s LGBTQ community.

5.    Hartford, Connecticut

The Hartford metro area is well-insured and contains plenty of physicians.  Hartford residents tend to be fit and healthy, and the Connecticut Department of Public Health has launched their Healthy Homes Initiative, which aims to promote safe and healthy home environments.

6.    San Francisco, California

San Francisco has tons of physicians per capita, fairly clean air and high health insurance coverage.  It’s no wonder the residents tend to be fit, what with Muir Woods, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park and Big Sur all within driving distance.  San Francisco is paradise for health-conscious, outdoorsy people, and the weather’s always good enough to go for a run outside.

7.    Washington, DC

DC residents have access to plenty of physicians, including those at Georgetown’s Hoya Clinic, which provides free healthcare to homeless, underserved and uninsured people.  The city also has some incredible healthy initiatives, including the Healthy Corner Store Program, which runs a wholesale delivery service of fresh local produce to local corner stores.

8.    Denver, Colorado

Denver has particularly clean air, and the city’s proximity to mountains for hiking and skiing attracts health-conscious residents while making it easy to plan an outdoorsy weekend getaway.  Denver’s Healthy People initiative creates partnerships and works with area health organizations to promote holistic health.

9.    San Jose, California

San Jose has physicians aplenty, relatively clean air and fit residents.  Santa Clara County’s Children’s Health Initiative focuses on helping children and their families access healthcare.

10. Providence, Rhode Island

Providence residents benefit from the city’s clean air and widespread health insurance coverage.  The state’s Healthy Communities Initiative has improved Rhode Island’s health systems, helping them give high-quality care.

11. Sacramento, California

Sacramento residents can enjoy clean air and access to doctors and health insurance.  Additionally, health organizations abound in the city.  Sacramento Covered works with local health systems to enroll uninsured families in health insurance and public benefits programs.

12. Baltimore, Maryland

Residents have access to the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Medical Center as well as 511 physicians per 100,000 residents.  The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute has forged partnerships between the university and the community, and has collaborated with neighborhood educators and community leaders.

13. Virginia Beach, Virginia

Virginia Beach residents benefit from the city’s clean air and easy access to healthcare.  In addition, organizations like the Virginia Business Coalition on Health encourage businesses to prioritize the health of their workers, thereby helping the overall health of the community.

14. Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City provides easy access to nature, and outdoorsy residents can explore nearby ski resorts, hiking trails and fishing spots.  Residents tend to be insured and fit, and the clean air makes being outdoors enjoyable.

15. Buffalo, New York

Buffalo has very high insurance coverage—more than 92% of residents are insured.  Plus, Buffalo’s Green and Healthy Homes Initiative is working to repair old homes, thereby reducing lead poisoning and mold exposure for Buffalo residents.

Healthiest metro areas

Least healthy metro areas

Methodology:

The overall health score for each city was obtained from the following factors:

1. Fitness index from the American Fitness Index
2. Health insurance coverage from the U.S. Census
3. Physicians per 100,000 residents from the U.S. Census
4. Number of high particle pollution days per year from the American Lung Association’s 2013 State of the Air report

The fifty largest U.S. metropolitan areas were included in this analysis.

When’s the last time you checked your credit-card statements? Not just a quick glance to see how the total got so high, but scrutinizing even the small charges to see if any of them sound suspicious? Those small entries are where the danger lurks, you know. Like zombie memberships that you canceled once, but mysteriously come back to life, patiently extracting an unnoticeable amount from your credit card every few months. Or trivial costs that creep up slowly from $5.99 to $6.99 to $7.99 and so on, taking advantage of the long time between billing cycles, knowing that your attention is likely to wander.

Those are called “grey charges.” Not fraudulent, but certainly unwanted. And expensive in the long run. If you read the fine print for each online transaction you engage in, you’s probably be aware of these – but who reads all that fine print?

What To Watch Out For

Seniors are particularly vulnerable to these kinds of scams. Sure, we probably have more time than we used to for scanning paragraphs of rules and columns of tiny figures, but many of us aren’t that comfortable doing it. Besides, if someone’s getting a bit absentminded they may honestly not be sure if they really signed up for some service – or already paid a particular bill. And catching recurring charges often requires comparing several billing cycles, to see if an item reappears.

Here are a few other quasi-legal “grey charges”you should be watching out for:

• Unwanted subscriptions appended to an otherwise valid transaction.
• Duplicate charges (which could be honest mistakes) where you’re charged twice for the same thing.
• Unexpected auto-renewals that you didn’t cancel before some cutoff date.
• “Negative-option marketing,” where you must actively opt out to escape an unwanted extra product.
• Phantom charges for something you never received, like an extra day added by a car-rental agency.
• “Free trials” that silently turn into bona-fide subscriptions.

One way to protect yourself from these schemes is to do an online search for the phrase “grey charges” every so often, note what people have been complaining about lately, and see if any of the scams match entries on your bank statement. You may even find a solution to one of your problems on the web: one woman recently complained about a mysterious recurring charge labeled “MSFT” that neither the police or her bank could help her with. A few hours later a kid from the University of Toledo logged on to inform her that the charge was very likely related to an Xbox that someone in the family was using, and the perpetrator was Microsoft.

What You Should Do

When you find some little zombie nibbling at your bank account, don’t keep it a secret. Call the bank that issued your card and let them know that you didn’t authorize the charge. And if you’re used to chatting online through social media such as Twitter or Facebook, make a point of describing what happened to you and how you spotted the scam. There are people just like you who may be able to use the information.

There’s even a free online start-up, BillGuard, that compiles complaints from banks and consumers, scans your credit-card statements for you, and lets you know when something suspicious pops up. Then you decide for yourself whether the charge is valid.

So you’ve got no excuse not to fight back against grey charges. Start taking a better look at your bank statements, poke around online to see what the latest scams are, and when you run across one of them, tell the world. Together we can beat these online pickpockets.

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Credit card bill image via Shutterstock

It’s not easy deciding which nursing home (or assisted-care facility) would best suit an aging loved one. Unfortunately, often times the person in question is no help at all. Many of us have been forced to undergo this difficult transition, however, and are willing to share their insights about weathering the process. Also, for those who find choosing a nursing home too daunting, there are professional services that can help, such as Aidin, Assisted Transition, SilverLiving, and HealthAdvocate.

Here, then, are eight things you should consider when taking on this daunting experience – from people who’ve been there, and come out the other side.

Understand your needs

Geriatric Care Manager Angil Tarach-Ritchey, RN, says a basic understanding of what you need can drastically reduce the number of places to consider: “For example, does your loved one have memory loss? If so you’ll want to decrease your choices to only those with memory-loss units and programs. Do they like to socialize and take part in activities? If they like such things, you’ll want to find a place with appropriate programs.”

Talk with your community

Ritchey advises to ask around for referrals. “Ask the staff at your loved one’s doctor’s office,” she said. “Ask social workers at your local hospital or home-care agency where they would choose for their parents. Ask friends, co-workers, people at church or other organization you belong to. Attend a local caregiver support group and ask the family members to recommend a place.”

RN Lucy Boyd suggests that when you visit a facility, “Privately ask a few of the patients, ‘Would my aunt like to live here?’ Their responses may be very enlightening.”

Check with the regulators

Martin Rosen, co-founder of Health Advocate, suggests inquiring about the agency that oversees eldercare in your state: “Different states assign different agencies to oversee assisted living, typically Licenses and Inspections or the Department of Health. Check with the appropriate agency for information on the facility. When was the agency’s last survey? Can you see a copy?”

Ask about costs

Rosen asks, “ Will your state’s public programs cover the bill – does your loved one qualify? Find out what’s included in your monthly fee: they can add up quickly, especially if services are a la carte. For example, make sure the basic fee covers essentials like three meals a day.”

Ask probing questions

Peter Mangiola, RN, MSN, suggests a few productive questions to ask about the key medical and safety issues that nursing homes are responsible for. These may be depressing to think about, but your elderly loved one has fragile health already, and needs to be in a protected and sanitary environment:

• How does the facility rank for their patients’ falling rate?
• Where do they rank with nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections?
• What does the institution do to prevent the spread of staph infections?
• What’s their policy toward preventing patient-to-patient infections?
• What’s their record of maintaining patients’ ideal weight?

What about when staffing’s tight?

Denise M. Brown. founder of CareGiving, asks, “How does the facility handle staffing shortages? Some facilities will use an agency. I’m not a big fan of this because the agency staff will be unfamiliar with resident needs. Some facilities will have administrative staff (those who are nurses) take a shift. Be sure to understand how shortages are handled – they will occur.”

Do your homework before the legwork

Ritchey counsels, “You should have no more than 3-5 facilities to check out after considering your needs, as well as costs, ratings and referrals. If you hear a facility is great from more than one person, put it at the top of your list.”

Make a surprise visit

Rosen suggests, “Visit the facility unannounced: The best way to make a decision is to see the it for yourself. Are they receptive to unannounced visits? If they welcome you, ask for a tour, take notes, and meet the staff.” Keep visiting once you’ve made your choice. Wendy Harris of Assisted Transition says, “Nothing is as important as continued advocacy from a loved one. Drop-in visits at varying times of day and night, and active questions about care plans, let the staff know that you care.”

There’s no point in feeling overwhelmed: you only have to take this one step at a time. And now you know some of the important steps.

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Nursing Home image via Shutterstock

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, is more than just a financial watchdog. The regulator also provides plenty of accessible, easy-to-use resources for individuals. I spoke to Gerri Walsh, president of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and Senior Vice President of Investor Education of FINRA Investor Education, about the tools FINRA gives individual investors, as well as new initiatives on the horizon.

Q: How should people seeking a financial advisor use FINRA’s online resources and tools?

Gerri Walsh: We tell individuals that, before they start the process of hiring an investment professional, they should take a step back and ask themselves tough questions about who they are as an investor and what they’re looking for. A financial professional who worked for someone in your family or one of your friends might have been the right person for them, but not for you. There are a wide variety of investment professionals out there, so the first step towards hiring the right professional is knowing yourself as an investor, and knowing what you are looking for.

FINRA has a section of our site devoted to how you should go about hiring a financial advisor. One of our resources is Broker-Check, a free online service to look up investment professionals. You can see if the professional is registered, and if so, with whom—FINRA or the SEC—and if they have a history of fraud.

Q: What new resources and tools are on the horizon from FINRA and other groups that will help people find a financial advisor?

GW: Recently we added the ability to use Broker-Check to find a professional in your area, by adding a zip code search. There are also user-interface changes coming up in the next year or so.

Big changes are coming to our Designation resource. We have heard that consumers are confused by the alphabet soup on advisors’ business card and don’t know what the various professional designations really mean. Our designation database aims to demystify that alphabet soup.

Soon you will be able to can look up a credential and see to what extent it’s a demanding designation, meaning how rigorous the course of study is to obtain it, whether there are continuing education requirements to maintain it, etc. In coming weeks you will be able to compare designations side-by-side. You’ll also be able to see if the issuing organization has been accredited.

We are working to make these resources more user-friendly and more robust, so that consumers can make more informed decisions.

Q: What are some examples of red flags an individual might come across in researching a financial advisor which mean that they should avoid working that advisor?

GW: A major red flag is a lack of registration. If the investment professional is not registered with FINRA, with the SEC as an Investment Advisor Representative, or with state regulators, that is a huge red flag, and it means you should walk away. Most fraud happens when unlicensed professionals tout unlicensed securities. Scams often involve promissory notes and other investments that can be legitimate but often aren’t sold to retail investors.

Our main message to consumers on avoiding fraud is to always ‘ask and check.’ That means investors should both check the registration status of the investment professional, and should check and research the investments. Con men will take something legitimate and use it as a ruse to defraud investors. For instance, a penny stock: it’s not listed in a national exchange like the NASDAQ, so a person touting the investment can make fraudulent statements. A trend we’re seeing is that con men often take stories in the news and use them to make fraudulent investment schemes sound legitimate—for instance, with fracking in the news, we’re hearing about investment schemes centering around exploration of oil and natural gas.

A second red flag is if you find the investment professional is licensed but has a history of customer complaints, especially if they were charged with fraud. While unresolved claims that have not been mediated may well be “his word against her word”, when it’s a regulator filing complaints, that is very serious.

–

Interested in learning more? Visit NerdWallet’s Ask an Advisor to research financial advisors and learn more about how to locate the right professional for you.

Related articles:

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Everyday, people struggle to make financial decisions that will impact their lives. For instance, imagine you received a 401k statement from a job you left two years ago. You know you should do something, but what? Should you leave the account as is? Should you consolidate with your current 401k? Or should you roll over into an IRA?

There’s advice all over the internet, but it can be difficult to determine who is qualified and certified to offer financial guidance. That’s why we at NerdWallet launched Ask an Advisor, your best source for professional financial advice.

Not sure if you need financial advice, or if professional financial advisory is right for you? Take our quiz to see if you really need a financial advisor.

Get advice from a qualified professional

The Ask an Advisor platform is a free online tool that enables people to easily find answers to common personal finance questions and confidently connect with advisors when they need personalized guidance. Some personal finance questions have simple answers – but for the more complicated situations, the Ask an Advisor platform enables people to connect directly with professionals for guidance. The platform includes videos, enabling you to see what working with a specific advisor might be like.

If you’re thinking about hiring an advisor, it can be hard to figure out how to pick an advisor you would work well with. We can streamline your search for an appropriate advisor, by allowing you to:

• Easily verify the credentials and areas of focus of potential advisors in one place.
• “Meet” and evaluate advisors through videos of each discussing key topics.
• Quickly request free consultations from advisors on your short-list.

Hire the right advisor for you

At NerdWallet, we want to help you make the best financial decisions. Our VP of Personal Financial Management, Shiyan Koh, sees consumers as having access to a multitude of information covering the financial advisory landscape, but says that existing solutions fail to provide the right info in a single location in an easily digestible format. “We want to help people get the basic financial information they need, and ultimately get over the hump of selecting an advisor they trust,” she added. “The NerdWallet Ask an Advisor platform supplements the advisor search process with a Q&A section where advisors can demonstrate their expertise on client-specific needs as well as videos that enable consumers to ‘meet’ advisors from the comfort of their homes.”

Check out our Ask an Advisor platform today.

There is no better time to be a sports fan than the month of May. The NBA and NHL playoffs are under way, and baseball season is moving into full swing. Jerseys are drenched with sweat, beers are cracked by the dozen and friendships dissolve as hidden loyalties become apparent.  Every city has their share of fair weather fans, but we’ve taken a hard look at the data to find out which are truly the best cities for sports fans. Grab your peanuts and crackerjacks as we dive right into NerdWallet’s list of the best cities for sports fans.

We analyzed the data to bring you a list of the twelve best cities for sports fans according to the following four questions:

1. Does the city have all four major sports?  Only cities with all four major sports (MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA) in the city’s combined statistical area (as defined by the Census) were included in the top cities.

2. Do fans attend the games?  We included attendance at home games as a percentage of stadium capacity in the calculation.

3. Can fans afford to attend the games? We included the average cost of NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA tickets.

4. Does the city have a sports culture?  We assessed the sports culture by the number of sports bars in the city.

For more information, check out our Cost of Living Calculator and our City Life tool.

Best cities for sports fans

1.    Dallas, TX

Cowboys fans have seen football at its best (most of the Aikman era) and at its worst (Romo), but they fill the stadium past capacity every game.  The Mavericks, Rangers and Stars have their share of sell-out games as well, with each team filling out over 78% of the stadium on average.  Though ticket prices are steep, there are plenty of sports bars in Dallas where you can watch the game for the price of a beer.

2.    Chicago, IL

Chicago is always with da Bears, and every Bulls fan is waiting for the moment when Rose flies like Jordan did.  Chicago has 1/3 the population of New York, but has almost the same number of sports bars.  Chicago’s rich sports culture is obvious—Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks all have sold out home games all season.

3.    Detroit, MI

Detroit isn’t called Hockeytown for nothing.  The Red Wings sell out almost every game they play in Detroit.  Fans of America’s pastime are in luck as well—Tigers games average over 80% attendance, and the tickets are reasonably priced, making attending games affordable.

4.    New York, NY

From the Garden to the (Strong) Island, New York fans do not forget their teams. The Five Boroughs may not be united in their allegiance, but no one can match their passion.  New York has the most sports bars of any other city, and the Knicks, Giants and Rangers all average almost 100% attendance rates. Oh, and the Yankees have been the kings of baseball for the last century.

5.    San Francisco, CA

The golden era of SF sports has not gone unnoticed by fans. Long lines are here to stay as the 49ers, Giants and Sharks remain regular championship contenders.  San Francisco averages almost 100% attendance at games for all four major sports.  While there aren’t a ton of sports bars in the city, attending the games is affordable for sports fans—tickets for Giants and Warriors games run about $30 each.

6.    Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis sports fans can afford to attend games, thanks to the reasonably priced tickets for Twins and Timberwolves games. Enthusiasm for the Vikings and Wild remains high, as both teams have made recent playoff appearances. Vikings fans show their dedication with 95% attendance, especially for games against archrival Green Bay Packers – thousands brave the bitter cold to tailgate before these games in mid-winter.  Plus, don’t forget that Minnesota is nicknamed the State of Hockey, which locals make clear with attendance at Wild games over 100% this season.  Minneapolis will also be home to the 2014 MLB All-Star game, too, as the Midsummer Classic visits Target Field, one of the newest ballparks in the majors.

7.    Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix fans brave the summer heat to show their support. Chase Field, the home of the Diamondbacks, has a pool in right field for fans to cool off in, and the park also boasts low beer prices and low ticket prices.   Although the Cardinals and Suns are priming to rebuild, attendance has still been relatively high at both team’s venues, indicating a high level of fan engagement.

8.    Denver, CO

The Broncos and Nuggets bring full stadiums to Denver, and while the Rockies aren’t quite as popular, at least their tickets are cheap. The Nuggets are perpetually in the playoffs, and the Broncos have emerged as serious contenders of late. While the Rockies haven’t made the postseason in a few seasons, they’ve become famous around baseball for thrilling fans with late September surges.

9.    Miami, FL

The party capital of the USA is also a major basketball capital, with LeBron James’ high-flying antics leading the Heat to their first title since Shaq traded in his shorts for a suit. And their other teams aren’t bad either.  The Heat and the Panthers consistently pack stadiums completely. The Marlins, however, have a new stadium but few fans to fill it with.

10. Philadelphia, PA

The City that Loves You Back, and the city of terrible nicknames (Bobby “Clarkie” Clarke; Mike “Schmitty” Schmidt; etc.) is also a city full of invincible sports fans. From the Flyers to the Eagles, Philly never lets their fans down.  The Eagles and Flyers regularly fill stadiums past capacity.

11. Boston, MA

With completely full stadiums for three out of four major sports, it’s clear that Boston residents are sports-lovers.  Although the tickets are very pricey, Bostonians can hunker down at one of the sports bars on every block to watch the game. Boston has some of the most iconic franchises in sports and one of the most hallowed ballparks in Fenway Park.

12. Washington, DC

The nation’s capital is great for sports fans, with affordable tickets to basketball and baseball games. Recent enthusiasm for the rebuilt franchises of the Redskins and Nationals is running high, as both teams have electrified their fan bases with recent successes. Together with the Capitals, all three teams have a few of the most dynamic players in their respective sports.

Methodology

The overall score for each city was derived from the following measures:

1. Average ticket price from the Team Marketing Report
2. Attendance rate from the ESPN Attendance Report
3. Number of sports bars from the Yellow Pages
4. Presence of all 4 major sports teams

The attendance rate and ticket price data displayed is for the first team listed, not the team in parenthesis.  The attendance rate for some teams is above 100% because some stadiums have standing-room-only seating, allowing the stadiums to us to fit extra fans into the stadium.

All U.S. cities were included in this analysis.

Thinking about all the costs of a child can be overwhelming – education, medical bills, vacations and more. But what about the costs of legally claiming one’s own child? For most straight couples, this is hardly on the mind, but for lesbian couples, it’s routine.

For this upcoming Mother’s Day, we decided to take a look at these questions. Without even calculating the cost of actually producing the child, how much does it cost just to legally be called mommy?

According to a NerdWallet study, lesbian couples must spend an estimated $5,000 more than straight couples just to legally have both partners granted full parenthood. What’s worse, after all those costs, lesbian couples’ rights can be turned down anyways.

Without any added documentation, one may be involved with and help raise her partner’s biological or adoptive child, but in the case of an emergency, she won’t have the power to make decisions on behalf of the child. Second parent adoption, or the process of adopting a partner’s adoptive or biological child, is by far the best way to secure one’s rights as a parent. This process is both costly and very limited, however, for lesbian couples in the United States.

LGBT Adoption Statewide Laws

All 50 states allow an LGBT individual to petition for adoption, but only a few grant rights to couples. Here are the states that allow joint and/or second parent adoption.

Estimated Costs of a Second Parent Adoption

There are quite a few expenses to consider when petitioning for a second parent adoption. These requirements vary by state and by county, but at the very least, expenses generally include:

• Legal Fees: $1000 – $2500
• Home Study: $850 – $2000
• Court Fees: $100 – $600
• Total Estimated Cost: $2500 – $5000

In addition to legal and court fees, a home study may be required of anyone petitioning to adopt a child. A home study is a process in which an adoptive family and its living situation are evaluated to ensure a child’s needs will be met. A social worker inspects where a child will sleep and ensures the house or apartment meets safety requirements. The prospective parents will also be interviewed, asking how disputes are resolved and how a child will be raised.

Because state laws vary considerably, second parent adoption costs are difficult to determine. Furthermore, going through this process and paying one’s dues still doesn’t ensure one’s rights. When the time comes, hospitals can still deny an individual the right to make decisions on behalf of her child.

Extra Precautions, Extra Protection

In order to further protect a lesbian parent’s rights, one should complete a HIPAA release and Authorization to Consent to the Medical Treatment of a Minor Child. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted in 1996, and it ensures the right to privacy to people 12 – 18 years old. In short, HIPAA restricts access to an individual’s medical files, making it difficult for those not legally recognized as parents to see their children’s medical records. The biological or adoptive parent can authorize her spouse to view necessary medical records and information if second parent adoption isn’t available or just isn’t enough.

In addition, the Authorization to Consent to the Medical Treatment of a Minor Child ensures the second parent can make medical decisions on behalf of the child in the adoptive or biological parent’s absence or if she becomes incapacitated for any reason. These forms should work in conjunction with specific directions regarding guardianship in an individual’s will.

HIPAA Facts and Tips:

• To ensure one can view all medical records at all times, make sure to include the phrases “entire medical record” and “complete patient file” in the authorization. Requesting to view “protected health information” is insufficient in most cases.
• One must include an expiration date on the authorization
• It does not need to be notarized or witnessed
• A HIPAA authorization can be faxed from one doctor to another and be treated as a valid document
• Supplement the HIPAA with a cover letter to include even more specifics not listed on the authorization form
• File a HIPAA authorization with your child’s general physician, your local hospital and your healthcare provider

These forms alone do not come with extra fees, but consulting a lawyer to ensure full coverage and protection is recommended. At the end of the day, hospitals and officials can deny anyone the right to make decisions for or to even visit their child, so necessary documentation is imperative.

In sum, lesbian mothers face significant additional costs in securing the legal rights to their children. These costs can add up to an estimated $5,000 or more, and the return on this investment isn’t inviolate – lesbian mothers’ rights can be turned down regardless.

While we did focus on lesbian couples in light of the upcoming Mother’s Day holiday, it is important to note that many of the above costs affect all LGBT couples as well.

Sources:

http://www.familyequality.org/get_informed/equality_maps/second-parent_adoption_laws/

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/faq/index.html

http://itsconceivablenow.com/2012/01/02/adoption-home-study-lgbt-couples/

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/25/pf/taxes/same-sex-adoption/index.html

http://www.examiner.com/article/philadelphia-attorney-tiffany-palmer-answers-questions-about-same-sex-second-parent-adoption

http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/second_parent_adoption_laws

http://www.adopt.org/assembled/glossary_s_z.html

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc607.html

http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/2PA_state_%E2%80%8Clist.pdf?docID=3201

If DOMA is repealed and same-sex marriages are federally recognized, personal financial advisors see the following changes on the horizon:

• Federal tax law will recognize LGBT marriages, allowing same-sex couples to reap the full benefits of itemizing deductions and have expanded ability to claim children as dependents.
• Estate planning structures put in place by same-sex couples (wills and trusts) may have to be reconsidered and potentially unwound to maximize on the default protections received through marriage.
• An end to DOMA would raise myriad legal questions about LGBT couples’ ability to seek legal remedy to regain assets they may have been deprived of in some way because of their marriage’s previous lack of legal standing.
• Advisors say LGBT couples should not be waiting on DOMA–they need to be taking proactive steps to protect themselves and their loved ones in advance of any potential legislative changes.

Marriage equality is important on a personal and societal level—but also on a financial one. Today, a host of provisions and special legal standings are conferred upon straight married couples that are withheld from LGBT couples.

In June, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which establishes a federal definition of marriage as only between a man and a woman. The Court’s decision on DOMA could mark the end of the struggle for equal financial standing for LGBT people in the U.S.

With that in mind, NerdWallet asked financial advisors: what could the Supreme Court’s ruling mean to the marital finances of LGBT couples?

An end to double tax returns

Since federal law doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage thanks to DOMA, same-sex couples have to prepare a federal return “as if” they were married, for the purposes of preparation for filing a state return in states that recognize their union.  “This is extra work that is costly and time consuming,” commented Shawn Koch, a Portland, Ore.-based advisor. If the Supreme Court rules to strike down DOMA and recognize same-sex marriage on a federal level, that would mean an end to these tax complications.

Advisor Frank Paré explained that the same lack of recognition at the federal level means same-sex couples are in many ways limited or penalized when it comes to their filing status, number of dependents, as well as how they treat their itemized deductions. If the partners must both file as single, rather than jointly, only one can often benefit from itemizing deductions, and only in certain circumstances can both LGBT spouses claim the children they are raising together as dependents. “Ideally, if the Supreme Court broadens the federal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples and rules that same-sex marriages are therefore recognized by federal law.” Paré added. “If that were to happen, then I would expect to see same-sex marriages treated in the same manner as heterosexual marriages when it comes to federal taxes.”

Inheriting without tax pain

DOMA-related tax problems aren’t limited to income tax returns. Berkeley, CA.-based advisor David Flowers added that estate tax comes into play as well. “Today, if LGBT married couples own property together, the surviving spouse could be left with a large inheritance tax or be subject to lawsuits from family members challenging will or trust provisions intended to leave assets to the survivor,” Flowers said. “Some of these legal arrangements will need to be unwound [if DOMA is repealed] to take advantage of the default protections you receive through marriage.  If irrevocable gifts have been made, however, couples may not be able to do this and will probably end up paying more in estate taxes than they would have otherwise.”

Karl Schwartz, a consultant at Hewins Financial Advisors, said the impact on estate taxes is very significant for wealthier LGBT couples. “Right now if a wealthy LGBT couple is together and spouse A has an estate of $7 million and dies and leaves everything to spouse B, there would be an estate tax amount due because they are not able to take advantage of the marital deduction or portability of the estate tax exemption like heterosexual couples can,” Schwartz said.

San Francisco-based advisor James Dowd said that a potential end to DOMA raises many questions about the abilities of LGBT married couples to regain the assets they might have “lost” due to their marriage’s previous lack of federal legal recognition. “For instance, a gay couple was married in 2010, and in 2012 moved to a state where gay marriage is illegal,” Dowd commented. “One of the spouses died at the beginning of 2013 without a will, and the biological family of the deceased spouse inherited all of the assets. If DOMA is struck down, will the surviving spouse be able to sue, as a surviving spouse, to recover the inheritance?  If estate tax was paid because the estate was larger than $5 million, can the surviving spouse recover the estate tax?” He added these hypotheticals would take years to work their way through the courts.

Social Security extended to spouses and children of LGBT marriages

Today, many widows, widowers and orphaned children have seen Social Security benefits from their deceased family members make a huge difference in their lives – in some cases, keeping them out of poverty. But without federal recognition of same-sex marriage, family members with a deceased LGBT spouse or parent are denied that federal assistance.

“In the typical married couple setting if spouse A receives more social security benefits than spouse B and spouse A dies before B, spouse B gets an increase in social security benefits to match what spouse A was receiving,” said Karl Schwartz. “This could also come into account if a couple has been married for many years and spouse A has an earnings history and spouse B does not for whatever reason.  When spouse A starts claiming social security, spouse B is able to receive marital benefits, up to 50% of what spouse A is receiving.  In both of these situations were heterosexual married couples can take advantage of these benefits, LGBT couples cannot.” Should DOMA be repealed, it’s expected LGBT spouses would become eligible for Social Security spousal benefits.

Awareness of financial issues is key

Hilary Martin, an advisor with the Family Wealth Consulting Group, said her same-sex married clients tend to focus on end-of-life rights, because they’re read the horror stories about long-time partners being ignored by doctors in their partner’s final hours. “For my LGBT clients, their concerns are far more about being legitimized in the eyes of their larger community and having the freedom to enter into a marriage that will be respected,” Martin added. “The financial issues are definitely second tier.”

Frank Paré, who specializes in advising LBGT couples, said he tells clients not to wait on DOMA before they plan for potential estate issues, health concerns, or parenting concerns in the event something were to happen to their spouse. “Bottom line; I’m not a fan of waiting for potential legislative changes that might mitigate potential family tragedies that might occur at any given time,” Paré said. “Therefore, I suggest that all couples seek out financial and legal professionals to assist in helping them plan now irrespective of any potential legislative change (state and federal) that might benefit them in an uncertain future.”

Same-sex marriage image via Shutterstock

You’re over 50—and you know you don’t have enough saved. Every time you hear a piece of advice about socking money away from retirement, it gives you chills. You try to ignore it, but it’s getting harder and harder every day.  Let’s face it: you’re screwed!

But you’re in good company. The Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 36% of workers do not think they are doing a good job of savings for retirement—and 22% said they now are going to retire later than they planned.

Learn how to calculate if you’re saving enough, and if you’re not, read on to learn what professional financial advisors say you should do if you’re screwed.

Move quickly

You’ve had your head in the sand for decades. Once you wake up, start taking responsibility. Lyman Howard, a San Francisco-based financial advisor, said people in their 50s and 60s must hurry and take advantage of the time they have left before retirement. “Our advice to them is that they must make the best use of the next five to ten years to make changes which will allow them to accumulate higher savings and reduce debt,” Howard said about Baby Boomer clients without a healthy savings profile. “So that if they lose the ability to work they are not locked into a substandard lifestyle for the rest of their lives based on those insufficient savings.”

Saving is important—more important than keeping the lights on

When you were younger, 401(k) contributions might have seemed like an optional expense. As you enter middle age, there simply are no more excuses not to save. Even if you plan to work into old age, you will be facing health care costs that will ramp up quickly. Financial advisor Alexey Bulankov said that he talks to clients about how putting money aside takes priority over all over expenses, including the electric bill: “We talk to Baby Boomers about planning for ‘certain things first,’” Bulankov said. “Retirement, healthcare costs, taxes and estate planning are the issues which will almost invariably come up for most of our clients, whereas there is a great degree of uncertainty associated other obligations. For example, their kids may opt to pay for their own wedding, work through college, or get the scholarship; their parents may opt to sell their house to pay for their own retirement and so on. ‘Paying yourself first’ means putting money aside for retirement goals before meeting all other obligations—including monthly bills.”

Remember to narrow the gap

Look around at what you do have, even if it isn’t much. Mystic, Conn.-based advisor Robert Henderson said Boomers should remember that retirement income comes from more sources than just a 401(k). “Confirm all income sources in retirement. Sometimes Boomers overlook certain things – pensions, accrued stock options or restricted stock awards, social security (especially the spousal benefit), retiree medical benefits, etc. And instead they just focus on their nest egg,” Henderson explained. “We need to make sure we look at all sources of income, and ways to possibly maximize those (delaying social security, lump sums vs. annuity on pensions, etc.). Sometimes we can narrow the gap a bit by maximizing each of these.”

Prepare for a “cliff retirement”

But if it’s really bad—if looking around for a pension or figuring out the right time to take Social Security isn’t going to cut it—you need to mentally prepare yourself for a diminished standard of living in retirement. It’s something Bonnie Sewell, a CFP based in Leesburg, Va., sees all too often. “I am seeing clients who are experiencing ‘cliff retirements,’” Sewell commented. “These are good people who started to save more or spend less too late in life.  The effect is that friends and family knew them to be living one way—in one case on $400,000 per year—but in retirement, these folks will experience going off a cliff in terms of lifestyle.  So someone previously living at $400,000 will now live on $80,000, because that will be all the income we can pull from available sources.” What does that kind of drastic reduction translate to? “This can mean an unexpected or unwanted move and not being able to keep up with an old crowd,” Sewell warned.

Knowledge is power

Preventing a cliff retirement from happening to you can be difficult, but ignoring the problem will only make it worse. “Changing behavior is hard, but if a person has a plan or target of where they need to get to, then they can put together a series of small incremental, yet achievable, steps to reach the end goal,” said Andy Tilp, of Trillium Valley Financial Planning. “Studies have found that focusing on a small, achievable goal is much more likely to be successful than being overwhelmed by one huge bodacious goal. The small steps could include things like increasing the 401(k) contribution by 1% and then doing it again in a few months, and again and again. That gives time to adjust to the slight decrease in income. Use the detailed cash flow analysis to identify areas where expenses can be cut.”

Don’t panic

“Neither panicking nor putting off the matter will solve it,” advised Jason Gerlach, managing director of Sunrise Capital. “Boomers should stop what they’re currently doing, take a breath, and then get organized with a full inventory of what they have, and sit down with someone who can help them objectively assess their situation. If there is indeed a shortfall in retirement savings, there are many immediate steps that can and should be taken, starting with a reduction in spending and an increase in saving.  It’s often psychologically challenging but it’s the single easiest way to get one’s retirement savings back in the right direction and almost everyone can review their expenses and find things that they don’t need to be spending money on.”

Jason’s advice is key: the time to be illogical is over. If you don’t have enough saved, you need to begin acting rationally and taking a cold hard look at the numbers, without letting your emotions take over. Remind yourself: at the end of the day, it’s going to be okay. “Look, we can almost always improve someone’s situation, and not trying seems truly crazy,” added Bonnie Sewell. “Besides, the majority of folks are in the same spot.  Why not get creative, try to improve it, and start pulling back the curtain on the great and powerful Oz that is personal finance so we don’t have a second generation unprepared?”

Nest egg image via Shutterstock

While services like TurboTax and H&R Block will help you make calculations for your tax return, GoodApril – offered free of charge – helps you anticipate those numbers and, if you play your cards right, shirk off some of the burden.

GoodApril asks only that you upload last year’s 1040, and, in return, it predicts your tax liability for the current year. Included in its projections is a neat layout of new tax policy; it breaks these new policy changes into easily navigable sections: those likely to affect you and those that aren’t. In terms of readability, then, GoodApril is fantastic. What could’ve been an extremely dry overview of the tax code is colored and coded to be more readily understood.

This is one of GoodApril’s first iterations, so not all the kinks have been worked out, nor do they yet have the capability for the most comprehensive view of your individual tax needs. Among the omissions: as GoodApril acknowledges upfront, in a page of Major Assumptions, they assume that your income is constant from year to year.

For some, this isn’t a problem.  For me, who was in school for most of 2012 before returning to work, my income last year was abnormally low – and substantially lower than I expect it will be in 2013.

This blindspot shows throughout the product, too; for instance, among GoodApril’s recommendations: I should contribute $1,000 more to charity to benefit from a deduction.  Considering that, according to their projections, I’ll make that same $8,000 in 2013, the suggestion of a $1,000 donation is a bit too much to ask.  Not only would such a donation be crippling to my own finances, but I also probably wouldn’t itemize my deductions anyway, with just $8,000 in annual income.

Again, this assumption about charitable donations is one that GoodApril acknowledges, so you can’t knock these guys for lack of trying; but it’s still a gap worth noting, because GoodApril’s goal is to personalize taxes: to parse out what’s relevant to you in the tax code and what’s not.

On this same token, I imagine GoodApril’s audience wouldn’t have the same issues with the service that I do. I imagine their core would make enough dough so that a $1,000 donation to charity is, in fact, sound advice.  And I imagine so because the people who stand to gain the most from learning the ins-and-outs of the tax code are those who are taxed heavily: the relatively well-off. The higher up you are on the food chain, the more I think you could use GoodApril.

Report card: B

GoodApril is a good base for learning about your tax liability and tax concepts more generally. Compared to those on the IRS website, these concepts are much more accessible: they’re written more concisely, and graphics help the information move from the page to your brain.

Part of the reason for that concision is omission: the tax code is so hopelessly nuanced and complex – it’s 90,000 pages long – that it’s nearly impossible to go from concrete numbers on the IRS page to an abstract idea about taxes – one that’s readily understandable – without omitting some of the nitty-gritty.

This isn’t a knock, though. Whatever details are missing from GoodApril’s personalized profiles isn’t from a gap in knowledge – they benefit from the insights of a former editor in chief of a major tax journal – it’s simply the consequence of an overly complex tax code. With all that in mind, GoodApril’s attempt to steer us through the tax code is a solid stab at a difficult topic.