I sometimes wonder about the need to name a “day” to draw attention to a cause. However, in this case, the cause is one that needs attention: protecting older Americans from abuse. June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, launched in 2006 by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization, according to the University of Southern California’s Center for Elder Justice (tinyurl.com/3k6y3phy).

There is no question that scammers prey on older people. The FBI reports that every year, “millions of elderly Americans fall victim to some type of financial fraud or confidence scheme, including romance, lottery, and sweepstakes scams, to name a few.” (See the link to “Scams and Safety: Elder Fraud” at the end of this column).

Here is an example of a scam that can attract the attention of an innocent senior as it relates to Social Security. Someone poses as a Social Security employee and contacts the target with a story that implies that the senior’s Social Security number is linked to a crime.

There are many other scams, some dealing with COVID. For example, scammers call seniors to sell them vaccines, even though COVID vaccines are free. Then there is the “grandparent scam,” which entails criminals posing as a relative -- usually a child or grandchild -- claiming to be in immediate financial need. The “charity scam” involves scammers pretending to be legitimate charities that are seeking “donations.” Investment scams can be anything from pressure to buy quickly to promising high returns at little risk.

If you have elderly relatives, watch for any of these signs of potential fraud:

* A sudden reluctance to discuss financial matters

* Changes in spending habits, or in a will, trust or beneficiary designation

* Checks made out to “cash”

* Unexplained loans

* Signatures on checks that don’t look like the senior’s

* A new friend who is “overly protective”

* A sudden change of feelings about somebody

Keep in mind that seniors may be embarrassed or reluctant to talk about these topics.

And keep in mind that one technique fraudsters use is to isolate their victims from their families and friends. Consider also the added impact of social isolating we have been experiencing during the pandemic.

This may be a good time to engage your older relatives in a talk about scams.

Share some examples and some signs of untoward behavior. Ask them how they would react if contacted by phone, email, mail or in person by someone they don’t know for a request for money or information. Also share some resources, such as these:

• FINRA Foundation report, “Exposed to Scams: What Separates Victims From Non-Victims?” (tinyurl.com/kw6f8u8).

• “What fraud and scams should I know about,” on the Social Security website at ssa.gov/coronavirus.

• “Scams and Safety: Elder Fraud” from the FBI at tinyurl.com/ny8wnv2p.

• “Social Isolation and the Risk of Investment Fraud” (tinyurl.com/yfwpshp6), which is a combined effort by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy to raise awareness.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day serves as an important reminder about protecting older people. Everyone needs to stay up-to-date about the many scams that are out there, and if you have elderly friends and relatives, make sure that they know you are there to help them if something like this happens to them.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

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Last week, we talked about 529 plans. Now, let’s go through additional resources that can be helpful when planning for -- and paying for -- college.

Financial Aid: If parents or teenagers are looking for financial aid for college, one important place to visit is the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid website (studentaid.gov). It offers categories such as “Understand Financial Aid” (tinyurl.com/597reubt), which includes details on grants and work-study jobs, and “Apply for Financial Aid” (tinyurl.com/yj4yuyd6), which provides information about, and links to, FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), a key component of the financial aid process.

Borrowing: If you are looking to borrow money for college, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a U.S. government agency, announced last year that it had added a new section, “Managing Your Student Loans,” to its Financial inTuition podcast section (tinyurl.com/vdcb92w5). The topics in the series include “Managing Student Loans and Money while in College” and “Postgraduate Degree Repayment Options.” The new category joins other CFPB podcasts, including sections on “Understanding Your Financial Aid Offer” and “Managing Your Money.”

Saving: Saving for College (tinyurl.com/3cf2d5fx), an independent firm, offers a host of resources, including a College Savings Calculator and an interactive map that details what 529 college savings plans are available in each state, along with what tax benefits (if any) the plans have. Among the articles found on the website is “How to Go to College for Free” (tinyurl.com/vb5ybys), a resource worth reading.

High school students: For high school students seeking more information about SAT testing and AP courses, there is the College Board (tinyurl.com/464sp4eu), a not-for-profit organization focused on helping students prepare for the transition to college.

Employers: When the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act became law in March 2020, one of its provisions allowed employers to make contributions of up to $5,250 per year toward eligible education expenses like tuition and student loan assistance, with the contribution not counting toward an employee’s gross taxable income. That benefit was extended to 2025 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.

Loans: The U.S. Department of Education website also provides information on managing federal student loans (tinyurl.com/yks36vmr) for those who are paying them back. Through an additional extension of a relief policy in the CARES Act, principal and interest payments on federally held student loans have been suspended through at least Sept. 30, 2021, along with collections on defaulted loans. However, if you are in a financial position to pay back the loans, it’s a good idea to do so. After all, who wants to start a career with a lot of debt? As reported in 401(k) Specialist magazine (tinyurl.com/3zzs7se4) by Gregory Poulin, the CEO of Goodly, a provider of student loan and college savings employee benefits, 70% of college students who graduate each year begin their career with roughly $40,000 in education debt, which will take 22 years to pay off. That kind of debt can interfere with many other financial goals, including saving for retirement.

Taxes: The IRS provides important details related to the American Opportunity Tax Credit (tinyurl.com/593xabt9) and the Lifetime Learning Credit (tinyurl.com/478d4x52). Note that both higher education tax credits can affect the use of college-related plans like 529s, as you’ll need to avoid “double-dipping.” Saving for College provides insight (tinyurl.com/y29tk7rp and tinyurl.com/395ua35b), but you’ll also want to discuss this with your tax adviser.

The above list offers just some of the many resources available when it comes to paying for college. It’s worth doing some homework.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Are you a parent who is thinking about how to pay for your children’s college? Should you consider a 529 plan? Named after Internal Revenue Code Section 529, a 529 plan provides an opportunity to save for college in a tax-advantaged way. But caution needs to be exercised, since tax advantages disappear if the savings aren’t used to pay qualified education expenses (QEEs).

The best resource is IRS Publication 970 (tinyurl.com/u5f34pdc), which gives extensive details about qualified tuition programs, aka 529 plans. It describes QEEs as “expenses required for the enrollment or attendance of the designated beneficiary at an eligible educational institution.” A subset of QEEs, qualified higher education expenses (QHEEs), are “related to enrollment or attendance at an eligible postsecondary school.”

A perhaps friendlier resource is a Fidelity article, “How to spend from a 529 college plan,” at tinyurl.com/n2rbx7s. Fidelity, one of the world’s largest asset managers, is the program manager of the Connecticut 529 program called CHET (Connecticut Higher Education Trust).

I wish this could be easier, but spending can be a bit complicated. The key is knowing how to avoid a tax or a penalty, and keeping receipts.

According to Fidelity, the following expenses would qualify, but there are limits: tuition and related fees; books and supplies; computers and related equipment; room and board; and repayment of student loans. The limits on room and board, for example, have to do with whether the child is enrolled half the time or more, whether the amount is “included in the school’s cost of attendance for federal financial aid calculations” and what is “the actual amount charged if the student is living in housing operated by the educational institution.”

If your child is planning to live off campus, you need to go a little further. If the housing is “not owned or operated by the college, you can't claim expenses in excess of the school's estimates for room and board for attendance there,” according to Fidelity. That means that some homework is involved: Parents will need to find out the cost of room and board from the college’s financial aid office in advance.

As to books, only those that are required reading for the courses count. As to computers, as you might guess, “Computer software for sports, games or hobbies would be excluded unless the software is predominantly educational in nature,” according to Fidelity.

Bottom line: Keep track of QHEEs separately from other expenses. Keep a copy of published costs for room and board, etc., if your children are living off campus. Keep any documentation that will justify the expenditure as a QHEE.

When it comes to tax reporting, Rita Assaf, vice president of Retirement and College Leadership at Fidelity, explained that 529 account owners “receive a yearly 1099-Q form when they’ve taken a distribution from their account and must report that spending to the IRS in their annual taxes.”

She emphasized the necessity of keeping records and receipts to document that the money was spent on qualified educational expenses for the beneficiary.

The purpose of holding on to the receipts is to justify expenses if challenged by the IRS. As the Fidelity article points out, “If your withdrawals are higher than your QHEE, then taxes, and potentially a penalty, will be due on earnings that exceed your qualified expenses.”

The timing of your withdrawals is also important as they relate to a particular tax year. As Fidelity notes, “It’s important that the withdrawals you take from your 529 savings account match the payment of qualifying expenses in the same tax year.” Although that seems like a simple concept, delays resulting from issues like processing payments out of a 529 account or by the school, or payments being delayed in the mail, could cause issues. One solution for avoiding delays: Make the payments electronically (something colleges often prefer) from a bank or brokerage account, then reimburse yourself from the 529 account.

Next week, let’s talk about additional college resources.

Julie Jason, JD, LLM, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant Investment Advisers Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/comments (readers@juliejason.com). Please visit www.juliejason.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION