Family Health History

Can a heart attack actually be inherited? I just turned 55 and am trying to make some healthy changes. I would like to know if tracing my family's health history is worth the effort.

Just as you can inherit your father's height or your mother's hair color, you can also inherit their genetic risk for diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. Here is what you should know.

Health History

Even with all the high-tech tests, medicines and procedures that are available today, an accurate family health history remains one of the most important tools in keeping yourself healthy. Since most diseases have both environmental and genetic components, your family's health history can provide you and your doctor a genetic roadmap to your strengths and weaknesses. This information may help you recognize, and even fend off, inheritable illnesses in their early stages.

Tracking your History

To collect your family's medical history, you will need some basic medical facts about your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and even first cousins. Talk with them and get the specific ages when family members developed health problems like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, asthma, blindness, deafness, depression, alcoholism and more. Also, if family members are deceased, find out when and how they passed away. Some relatives may not want to share their medical histories or they may not know their family history, but whatever information you discover will be helpful. A good resource to help you find an ancestor's unknown medical history is their death certificate, which you can acquire from the state health department. Your relative's death certificate will list the cause of death and your relative's age at death.

Collecting Information

The upcoming holidays, when many families come together, are a perfect time to collect your family's health history. A great resource to help you get started is the free web-based tool called "My Family Health Portrait," which is available at familyhistory.hhs.gov. Using this tool, you can organize your family tree, identify genetic risks and even share the information with your family members and doctors. If you do not like using the online software, you can print out a hardcopy version to fill out by hand.

Tip: If you're adopted, the National Foster Care & Adoption Directory (www.childwelfare.gov/nfcad or 800-394-3366) may help you locate your birth parents to get their medical history.

Increased Risks

Having a parent or sibling with a particular genetic disease does not mean you will get the disease too, but this risk factor nearly doubles the odds that you could develop the same disease. If two or more cases occur in the same immediate family, the odds can increase by fourfold or more. Some additional factors that can increase your risks are:

If a family member was diagnosed with a disease 10 to 20 years before the average age of diagnosis (e.g., a family member was diagnosed with heart disease at age 35).
A disease that does not usually affect a certain gender (e.g., breast cancer in men).
A family member diagnosed with certain combinations of diseases (e.g., breast and ovarian cancer, or heart disease and diabetes).

Handling Your History

If you discover that a serious health problem runs in your family, do not despair. While you cannot change your genes, you can change your habits to increase your chances of a healthy future. By eating a healthy diet, exercising and not smoking, you can offset and sometimes even neutralize your genetic vulnerabilities. This is especially true for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis. A family medical history can also alert you to get early and frequent screening tests, which can help detect other problems (high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cancers like breast, ovarian, prostate and colon cancer) in their early stages when they are most treatable.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living” book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization’s official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.

Published November 16, 2018

When You Need Help Caring for a Parent

Where can I turn for caregiving help? I help take care of my 78-year-old mother and work too, and it's wearing me to a frazzle.

Taking care of an aging parent over a period of time — especially when juggling work and other family obligations — can be physically and mentally exhausting. Nevertheless, there are helpful resources available.

To help you determine and prioritize the type of help you need, a good first step is to make a list of everything you do as a caregiver, big and small. Note the amount of time each task takes every day, week or month. Identify the times when you need help the most and which tasks others might be able to do for you, like making lunch for your mother when you are at work.

Next, list the types of care needed, such as simple companionship or doing active chores, such as grocery shopping. Here are some tips and places you may consider for help once you determine the type of care required.

Caregiving Help

If you have siblings or other loved ones close by, schedule a family meeting, either in person or by phone, to discuss specific tasks with which they could assist. See if friends, neighbors or faith group members could help too.

You should also investigate resources in your mom's town. Many communities offer a range of free or subsidized services that help seniors and caregivers with basic needs such as home meal delivery, transportation, senior companion services and respite services, offering short-term care so you can take an occasional break. Call your Area Agency on Aging (call 800-677-1116 for contact information) for referrals to services available in your community. For respite services, contact the ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center.

If you can afford it, you may want to hire someone part-time to help with things like preparing meals, housekeeping or even personal care. Costs may run anywhere from $12 to $25 per hour. To find someone, ask for referrals through your mom's doctor or area hospital discharge planners.

Financial Aids

If you are handling your mom's finances, make things easier by arranging for direct deposit for her income sources and set up automatic payments for her utilities and other routine bills. You may also want to set up your mom's online banking service so you can pay bills and monitor her account anytime. If you need help, hire a daily money manager to do it for you. They typically charge between $25 and $100 per hour.

Technology Assistance

To help you keep tabs on your mom when you are away at work or if she lives alone, there are affordable technologies that can help.

For example, there are medical alert systems (like Bay Alarm Medical) which provide a wearable "help button" that would allow your mom to call for help anytime she needed it.

You could install a video-monitoring camera that lets you check in on her anytime via your smartphone or computer. Many of these cameras have built-in motion and sound detection that will let you know when something is detected, as well as two-way audio that will let you talk and listen to her.

There are even websites (like LotsaHelpingHands.com) that can help you more easily coordinate care with other family members.

Insurance Questions?

If you have questions about Medicare, Medicaid or long-term care, your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) offers free counseling and advice on these issues. Call 877-839-2675 or visit ShiptaCenter.org to locate a nearby counselor. You can also get help through the Medicare Rights Center, which staffs a help-line at 800-333-4114.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living” book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization’s official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.

Published November 9, 2018

How to Capture Your Loved Ones' Story

I am interested in making a video of my 82-year-old parents' life story. With the holidays approaching, I thought this could be a neat gift to my older siblings, but I could use some help. What can you tell me?

A personal recording of your parents' life story could be a wonderful holiday gift and something you and your family could cherish the rest of your lives. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

What You Will Need

Your first step is to find out if your parents are willing to make a legacy video, which would entail you asking them a number of thoughtful questions about their lives in an interview format in front of a video recording device. If they are willing, all you will need is a smartphone or camcorder and a list of questions or prompts to get them talking.

Recording Equipment

If you have a smartphone, making a video of your parents' story is simple and free. However, you may want to invest in a "smartphone tripod" to hold the phone while you conduct the interview, and a "smartphone external microphone" to improve the audio quality. You can find these types of products online for under $20.

Most smartphones today can record quality video and give you the ability to edit out the parts you do not want. You can also download a free video-editing app like Magisto or Adobe Premiere Clip to help you customize your video.

If you want a higher quality video, consider purchasing an HD camcorder. Sony, Panasonic and Canon are the top-rated brands, according to Consumer Reports. These can run anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to $1,000 or more.

Questions and Prompts

To help you prepare your list of questions for your parents' video interview, go to the "Have the Talk of a Lifetime" website at TalkofaLifetime.org. This resource, created by the Funeral and Memorial Information Council, offers a free workbook that lists dozens of questions in different categories. Some of these include: earliest memories and childhood; significant people; proudest accomplishments; and most cherished objects. This will help you put together a wide variety of meaningful, open-ended questions.

Old photos of your parents, their family members and friends are also great to have on hand to jog your parents' memories and stimulate conversation.

After you select your questions and photos, be sure to share them with your parents ahead of time so they have some time to think about their answers. This will make the interview go much smoother.

Interview Tips

Arrange an interview time when your parents are rested and relaxed. Choose a quiet, comfortable place where you will not be interrupted. You may need several sessions to cover everything you want.

When you get started, ask your parents to introduce themselves and ask a warm-up question like "When and where were you born?" Then ease into your selected questions, but use them as a guide, not a script. If your parents go off topic, go with it. You can redirect them to your original question later. Think of it as a conversation; there is no right or wrong thing to talk about as long as it is meaningful to you and your parents.

Also, be prepared to ask follow-up questions or diverge from your question list if you are curious about something. If you would like to hear more, ask, "And then what happened?" or "How did that make you feel?" or "What were you thinking in that moment?"

Consider concluding your interview with some reflective questions, such as, "What legacy would you like to leave?" or "How do you want to be remembered?"

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living" book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization's official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.

Published November 2, 2018

What You Will Pay for Medicare in 2019

I know there will be a 2.8% cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits next year but what about Medicare? What will our Medicare Part B monthly premiums and other Medicare costs be in 2019?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced their cost adjustments for 2019. You will be happy to know that, starting in January, the standard Medicare Part B monthly premium for most beneficiaries will be $135.50, a modest increase of $1.50 per month over 2018's standard premium.

There are, however, a small group of Medicare beneficiaries (about 2 million people) who will actually pay less than $135.50 because the 2.8% cost-of-living increase in their Social Security checks will not be large enough to cover the full premium increase. Thanks to the Social Security Act's "hold harmless" provision, Medicare cannot pass along premium increases greater than the dollar increase in Social Security checks.

In addition, a small group of high-income beneficiaries (about 3 million people) will pay higher Part B premiums because their income is above $85,000 for single filers or $170,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Medicare uses your modified adjusted gross income from your tax return filed two years ago to determine your premiums. This means that 2019 Part B premiums are determined by your 2017 income.

So, if your income was between $85,001 and $107,000 (or $170,001 to $214,000 if filing jointly), your monthly premium will increase from $187.50 to $189.60. Monthly premiums for single filers with income of $107,001 to $133,500 or joint filers with income of $214,001 to $267,000 will rise from $267.90 to $270.90. Premiums for single filers earning from $133,501 to $160,000 or $267,001 to $320,000 for joint filers will increase from $348.30 to $352.20.

If your income exceeded these thresholds, your monthly premium for 2018 was $428.60. In 2019, there will be an extra surcharge tier for people at the highest income level.

If your income is between $160,001 and $499,999 ($320,001 to $749,999 for joint filers), you will pay $433.40 per month. Single filers with income of $500,000 or more ($750,000 or more for joint filers) will pay $460.50 per month.

You can contest the surcharge if you fall into any of these high-income categories and you have experienced certain life-changing events that have reduced your income since 2017, such as retirement, divorce or the death of a spouse. For more information about contesting or reducing the high-income surcharge, see "Medicare Premiums: Rules for Higher-Income Beneficiaries" at SSA.gov/pubs/EN-05-10536.pdf.

In addition to the Part B premium increases, the annual deductible for Medicare Part B, which covers physician services and other outpatient services, will see a mild bump from $183 to $185 in 2019. The deductible for Medicare Part A, which covers hospital services, will increase from $1,340 in 2018 to $1,364 in 2019.

For more information on all the Medicare costs for 2019 visit Medicare.gov and click on "Find out how much Medicare costs in 2019," or call 800-633-4227.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living" book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization's official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.

Published October 26, 2018

Free Basketball Tickets for Students of Salem Community Schools

Due to the generosity of Stanley Colglazier and his daughter, Sara Colglazier, to the Washington County Community Foundation, students of Salem Community Schools will receive free tickets to the January 5, 2019 JV and Varsity basketball games versus the Wolfpack of Crawford County. Students may enter through any door accessible to the gymnasium and will need to sign-in for entrance to the game. Salem students are strongly encouraged to wear Salem or black and gold attire. The tickets are available for students attending Salem Community Schools in grades K-12; however, students in elementary school are required to be accompanied by an adult. Be sure to take advantage of these free tickets as the Lions face off against the Crawford County. For questions regarding tickets, please call the Washington County Community Foundation at 883-7334 or SHS athletic director, Hank Weedin at 883-3904.

Washington County Community Foundation is a nonprofit public charity established in 1993 to serve donors, award grants, and provide leadership to improve Washington County forever

End

Free Resources That Can Help with Your Medicare Decisions

I am considering making changes to my Medicare coverage during the open-enrollment period. Can you recommend some free resources that can help me decide what changes I should make?

There are a number of helpful resources you can turn to that can help you choose Medicare coverage that better suits your needs. As you may already know, each year during Medicare's open enrollment period (Oct. 15 through Dec. 7) all Medicare beneficiaries can change their coverage without penalty. Given that insurers are constantly tweaking their plans and offerings, making a change could help lower your premiums and give you access to better care. Any changes you make to your coverage will take effect January 1, 2019.

Important Tools

To get help with your Medicare decisions, a good starting point is to re-familiarize yourself with the different parts of Medicare — traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, supplemental (Medigap) policies and prescription-drug coverage. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services publishes an excellent guide called "Medicare & You," which you can access at Medicare.gov/medicare-and-you.

If you are already enrolled in Medicare Advantage or a Medicare Part D prescription-drug plan, it is very important that you read and understand your "Annual Notice of Changes" and "Evidence of Coverage." This information should have arrived in the mail in September. These documents explain how your existing coverage will change in 2019 and how much you will pay for your coverage.

Your next step is to go to Medicare's online "Plan Finder" tool at Medicare.gov/find-a-plan. After you enter some basic information — your Medicare number and prescription drugs (name and dosage) — this search tool will produce a list of possible health-care plans in your area, the costs involved, drug coverage and customer-satisfaction ratings. If you do not have internet access, or do not feel confident working through the information on your own, you can also call the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at 800-633-4227 and a customer service representative will help you over the phone.

Free Advice

If you want personalized help with a Medicare specialist, contact the Medicare Rights Center or your State Health Insurance Assistance Program. The Medicare Rights Center offers a national helpline (800-333-4114). Staff members answer questions about Medicare and can help you choose coverage at no charge.

Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), which may go by a different name in your state, provides free one-on-one counseling in-person or over the phone to beneficiaries, family members and caregivers. SHIPs are federally funded programs that are not connected to any insurance company or health plan. To find a SHIP counselor in your area, see ShiptaCenter.org or call the Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116.

If you are interested in choosing a new Medicare Advantage plan, another resource to check out is the HealthMetrix Research Cost Share Report at MedicareNewsWatch.com. This free website lists the best Advantage plans by area based on your health status.

Agent Assistance

Another way to get free assistance with your Medicare Advantage, prescription drug or Medigap plan is to use an agent or broker who specializes in Medicare-related insurance in your state. These agents and brokers get paid a commission to sell you a policy from the insurance providers they represent.

There are federal rules and state laws governing agents and brokers who sell Medicare plans, which include things like barring them from showing up uninvited at your house to pitch a plan or trying to lure you with a cash offer. They also cannot legally charge you a fee to process your enrollment.

It is important to understand that commission-based agents and brokers will present only the Medicare plans they represent, rather than all the plans in your market. Therefore, you may miss out on some plans that could benefit you.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living” book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization’s official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.

Published October 19, 2018

WCCF Announces Mahuron Education Fund and Elliott Family Fund Grant Recipients

The Mahuron Education Fund was established at the Washington County Community Foundation to encourage educators and staff to teach in innovative ways. This year, the fund has awarded several teachers in the county school corporations over $4400.00.

Bobbie Rutherford’s 3^rd grade class at West Washington Elementary School will be receiving new, flexible seating. The wobble cushions to be purchased with the grant will help students stay focused and simulate student learning.

Three Bradie Shrum Elementary School 2^nd grade teachers, Angela Snelling, Beverly Lanham, and Ava Kinney, will be utilizing new portable speaker and microphone systems in their classrooms. The speakers and microphone implore students to read out loud through Reader Theatre. They will also be used to teach about authors and sharing corners among other things.

Pam Barry’s Bradie Shrum Elementary School Kindergarten class will see some new additions to their Kinder “Garden”. The grant will be used to purchase giant board games and games to teach social skills, verbal communication, sharing, taking turns, and fostering the ability to focus while using sight words, letter, and numbers.

Students in Jennifer Stahl’s 12^th grade West Washington Jr/Sr High School class will be creating kites as a follow-up activity to “The Kite Runner”.

Brooke Ingram’s Bradie Shrum Elementary School Kindergarten class will be discovering STEM activities with STEM bins and challenges as well as Bringing Sight Words to Life through snapwords and cards that assist student capture the whole word as a picture.

Yoga and tumbling will be one focus of Leah Starrett’s East Washington Elementary School Physical Education class. Students will work on tumbling skills, yoga, balance, and more.

Tammy Clemons’ East Washington Elementary School music classes will me utilizing a musical activity rug to help students understand the workings of the music staff through movement utilizing age-appropriate music, games, and activities.

Students in Tara Kennedy’s 5^th grade East Washington Elementary School classroom will be learning about owls and what foods they like to eat as they dissect real owl pellets.

Kindergarteners in Jenisa Collier’s Bradie Shrum Elementary School class will be able to match capital and lower case letters, identify consonants and vowels, build words, and develop hand-eye coordination through a Toss and Learn program.

JD Wade-Swift’s new Interactive Media class at Salem High School will be able to conduct more professional interviews and videoing with new lapel mics, better tripod, and heads and professional grade headphones.

Students at Bradie Shrum Elementary School will now have Calm Down Boxes in their classrooms thanks to a grant awarded to Rachel Robinson and Kevin Albertson. The boxes contain items that students can utilize as they need them in order be more academically and emotionally successful.

The Elliott Family Fund, a donor advised fund within the Foundation, has also issued grants for innovative classroom ideas.

Sherri Hoar’s first grade students at West Washington Elementary School will be using hands on STEM learning to enhance student STEM skills with creativity and imagination.

Savannah Hartsfield, Salem Middle School counselor, has been awarded a grant to help purchase school logo shirts to be placed in the Clothing Closet.

Students at Eastern High School will notice a change in their hallways thanks to a grant awarded to art teacher, Laura Temple. Temple and her advanced art students and art club members will create murals to beautify and brighten the hallways of EHS using a variety of art genres and movements.

Bill Spencer-Pierce and Brent Minton have collaborated for a literature and theatre experience for 5^th grade and SHS students through the book and play, “Sarah, Plain and Tall”. Every 5^th grade student will read the book and participate in class discussion and then experience the play performed by the Salem High School Theatre class.

Washington County Community Foundation is a nonprofit public charity established in 1993 to serve donors, award grants, and provide leadership to improve Washington County forever

End

Donors Help Washington County Community Foundation Award Over $26K in Grants

Thanks to our generous donors and the Foundation’s Touch Tomorrow Funds, Washington County nonprofits will be receiving over $26,000 in grants.

Outside the Walls received a grant in the amount of $1575.00 to assist with building three wheelchair ramps to provide a safe way for individuals to enter their homes.

A grant in the amount of $6600.00 was awarded to Dare to Care for the Backpack Buddy Program. The program provides low-income children proper nutrition to get through the weekend.

Focus on financial education and literacy is the focus of Junior Achievement. They received a grant in the amount of $2500.00

The Washington County Food Bank is the recipient of a $3500.00 grant. The grant will be used to purchase supplemental food for the Food Bank in order to serve the many clients the receive on a monthly basis.

Get ready for “Cinderella” to hit the stage in Washington County soon. A $7870.00 grant has been awarded to Pied Piper Productions for four performances of the play.

The Humane Society of Washington County will be showcasing cats in style with a new bank of cat cages. They were awarded a grant for $2229.54.

The Salem-Washington Township Senior Citizens Center has been awarded a grant for $706.00 to purchase a new computer for the center.

The Women’s Fund of the Washington County Community Foundation has awarded a grant of $1500.00 to Salem Community Schools for the Salem Middle School Sister Circle. The program provides a safe space for open discussion, guest speakers, and service projects to assist middle school girls to become strong, empowered women of society.

Washington County Community Foundation is a nonprofit public charity established in 1993 to serve donors, award grants, and provide leadership to improve Washington County forever

End

How to Manage Restless Leg Syndrome

What can you tell me about restless leg syndrome? I'm 58 years old and frequently have jerky, uncontrollable urges to move my legs, accompanied by a tingling sensation. This keeps me awake at night.

If an irresistible urge to move your legs has you kicking in your sleep, then chances are pretty good you have restless leg syndrome (RLS), a condition that affects 7% to 10% of Americans. Here is what you should know.

RLS, also known as Willis-Ekbom Disease, is a nervous system problem that causes uncomfortable sensations (often described as a creepy-crawly feeling, tingling, itching, throbbing, pulling or aching) and an irresistible urge to move one or both legs while you are sitting or lying down. The symptoms usually get worse with age. It typically occurs in the evenings or at night while resting. Moving around often eases the unpleasant feeling temporarily.

While RLS is not a life-threatening condition, the main problem, other than it being uncomfortable and annoying, is that it disrupts sleep. This can lead to daytime drowsiness, difficulty concentrating and even depression.

The exact cause of RLS is not known, but researchers suspect it could be linked to several things, including iron deficiency, an imbalance of the brain chemical dopamine and genetics — about 60% of people with RLS have a family member with the condition.

Treatment Options

While there is no cure for RLS, there are things you can do to alleviate the symptoms. Depending on the severity of your case, some people turn to RLS medications like gabapentin enacarbil (Horizant), anticonvulsants or dopamine agonists, like ropinirole (Requip), rotigotine (Neupro) or pramipexole (Mirapex). Be aware, however, that these drugs can have side effects, including nausea, lightheadedness, fatigue and insomnia. Also be aware that, while these medications can provide short-term relief, they can also make symptoms worse for many people who use them long term.

So before turning to medication, you may want to consider some of the following natural RLS treatments first, which can be very effective for many people.

Check your iron levels. Iron deficiency is believed to be one of the major contributors to RLS, so make an appointment with your doctor and get a blood test to check for this. If you test positive for iron deficiency, your doctor may recommend iron supplements.

Exercise: Getting moderate, regular exercise — like walking, cycling, water aerobics and yoga — can relieve symptoms. Be aware, however, that overdoing it or exercising late in the day may intensify symptoms. Daily leg stretches — including calf, hamstring, quadriceps and hip flexor stretches — are also helpful.

Check your medications: Certain drugs, including antinausea drugs, antipsychotic drugs, some antidepressants and cold and allergy medications containing sedating antihistamines, can make RLS worse. If you take any of these, talk to your doctor to see if something else should be prescribed.

Avoid triggers: Alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and refined sugar can all make RLS symptoms worse.

Try these tips: Soaking in a hot bathtub and massaging your legs can relieve symptoms, as can applying a hot pad and/or ice pack to your legs. Pressure can also help, so consider wearing compression socks or stockings. There's also a new non-drug FDA approved vibrating pad on the market called Relaxis that interrupts RLS episodes and may provide relief.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living” book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization’s official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.

Published October 5, 2018

The Tax Credit That Lets You Double-Dip on Retirement Savings

What can you tell me about the retirement saver's tax credit? At age 60, I am looking for ways to boost my retirement savings beyond my 401(k) plan and have heard this may be a smart way to do it. How can I find out if I am eligible for this credit?

If your income is low to moderate and you participate in your employer-sponsored retirement plan or an IRA, the "Saver's Credit" (also known as the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit) is a frequently overlooked tool that can help boost your retirement savings even more. Here is how it works.

If you contribute to a retirement-savings account like a traditional or Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), 457, federal employees' Thrift Savings Plan, Simplified Employee Pension or SIMPLE plan, the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit will allow you to claim 10%, 20% or 50% of your contribution up to $2,000 per year (or $4,000 for married couples). This valuable tax credit can be claimed in addition to the tax deduction you receive for contributing to your traditional retirement accounts.

To qualify, you must be at least 18 years old and cannot be a full-time student or claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return. In addition, your adjusted gross income (AGI) in 2018 must have been $63,000 or less if you are a married couple filing jointly, $47,250 or less if filing as a head of household or $31,500 or less if you are a single filer. These income limits are adjusted annually to keep pace with inflation.

To be eligible for the 50% credit, your income must be below $19,000 if filing as a single taxpayer, $28,500 if filing as head of household or $38,000 if filing as a couple in 2018.

The 20% credit applies to single taxpayers with adjusted gross income between $19,001 and $20,500, head of household filers with income between $28,501 and $30,750 and for couples with earnings of $38,001 to $41,000.

The 10% credit applies to single taxpayers with adjusted gross income between $20,501 and $31,500, for head of household filers with income of $30,751 to $47,250 and for couples with earnings between $41,001 and $63,000.

Here is an example of how this works. Assume that you file your taxes as head of household and your AGI for 2018 is $30,000. Over the course of the year, you contribute $2,000 to your employer's 401(k) plan. Since your AGI puts you in the 20% credit bracket, and you have contributed the $2,000 maximum that can be considered for the credit, you are entitled to a $400 Saver's Credit on your 2018 tax return.

It is also worth mentioning that the Saver's Credit is in addition to any other tax benefits you receive for your retirement contributions. So, in the previous example, not only would you be entitled to a $400 credit, but you would also be able to exclude the $2,000 401(k) contribution from your taxable income. So, if you are in the 15% tax bracket, this translates to an additional $300 in savings, for a total tax savings of $700.

How to Claim

To claim the Saver's Credit, you will need to fill out Form 8880 (see IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8880.pdf) and attach it to your 1040, 1040A or 1040NR when you file your tax return. Do not use the 1040EZ Form.

If you think that you would have qualified for the credit in previous years but did not claim it, you can file an amended return as far back as 2015 and still receive the credits. A 2015 amended return is due by April 15, 2019. See IRS Form 1040X (IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040x.pdf) for instructions on how to file an amended return.

For more information on the Saver's Credit, see IRS Publication 590-A "Contributions to Individual Retirement Arrangements" ( IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p590a.pdf). You can also have these forms and publication mailed to you by calling 800-829-3676.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living" book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization's official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.

Health History

Tracking your History

Collecting Information

Increased Risks

Handling Your History

Caregiving Help

Financial Aids

Technology Assistance

Insurance Questions?

What You Will Need

Recording Equipment

Questions and Prompts

Interview Tips

I know there will be a 2.8% cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits next year but what about Medicare? What will our Medicare Part B monthly premiums and other Medicare costs be in 2019?

I am considering making changes to my Medicare coverage during the open-enrollment period. Can you recommend some free resources that can help me decide what changes I should make?

Important Tools

Free Advice

Agent Assistance

Treatment Options

How to Claim

More Articles ...