Ideas for Thanking Your Family

• Invest in your children's future. If you have young children – or even grandchildren – one of the greatest gifts you can give them is the gift of education. You may want to consider contributing to a higher education funding vehicle.
• Be generous. Do you have older children, just starting out in life? If so, they could well use a financial gift to help pay off student loans, buy a car or even make a down payment on a home. You can give up to $15,000 per year, per recipient, without incurring gift taxes. Of course, you don't have to give cash – you might want to consider presenting your children with shares of stock in companies they like.
• Review your insurance coverage. If you weren't around, it would leave some gaping holes – financial and otherwise – in the lives of your family members. That's why it's essential you maintain adequate life insurance. Your employer might offer a group plan, but it may not be sufficient to meet your needs. There's no magic formula for determining the right amount of coverage, so you'll have to consider a variety of factors: your age, spouse's income, number of children and so on. Also, you may want to consider disability insurance – if you were unable to work for a while, it could cause a real problem for your family's finances.
• Preserve your financial independence. When your children are young, you take care of them. But you certainly don't want them to have to do the same for you – so it's essential you maintain your financial independence throughout your life. You can do this in at least a couple of ways. First, consider investing regularly in your 401(k), IRA and other retirement accounts. The greater your resources during your retirement years, the less you may ever need to count on your family. And second, you may want to protect yourself from the devastating costs of long-term care, such as an extended nursing home stay. A financial professional can suggest a strategy to help you cope with these expenses.
• Create an estate plan. To leave a legacy to your family, you don't have to be wealthy – but you do need a comprehensive estate plan. You'll have to think through a lot of questions, such as: Have I named beneficiaries for all my assets? How much do I want to leave to each person? Do I need to go beyond a simple will to establish an arrangement such as a living trust? For help in answering all these issues, you'll want to work with an attorney.

Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
06:15PM / Thursday, April 25, 2024

Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.

 

More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing  Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.

 

Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.

 

One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly. 

 

"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."

 

Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.

 

Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC.