Category: Articles

  • Palliative Care Enhances Quality of Life

    After a heart attack, 69-year-old Kumu Hula Tutu Malia developed heart failure, resulting in four trips to the ER and several hospital stays within three months.

    When a friend informed Tutu Malia about palliative care, she asked her doctor about it and he referred her to a new, home-based palliative care program. The program includes a nurse and a social worker who come to her home and provide nursing care and social support for her and her family. And there is no cost to her — it is covered by her insurance.

    Palliative care offers extra support in your home from a caring team who helps you:

    • Enjoy more days at home with family and have fewer visits to the hospital
    • Experience less stress and burden on caregivers
    • Receive 24/7 phone support if there’s a health concern
    • Receive management of symptoms of your illness, such as pain, shortness of breath and nausea
    • Understand explanations about care and treatment options
    • Receive referrals to other resources

    Since she started participating in the palliative care program, Tutu Malia hasn’t gone back to the hospital. Instead, she spends much more time enjoying visits with her ‘ohana and friends.

    KŌKUA MAU (nonprofit)
    PO Box 62155, Honolulu, HI 96839
    808-585-9977 | info@kokuamau.org
    kokuamau.org/palliative-care-for-patients-and-families

    After a heart attack, 69-year-old Kumu Hula Tutu Malia developed heart failure, resulting in four trips to the ER and several hospital stays within three months. When a friend informed Tutu Malia about palliative care, she asked her doctor about it and he referred her to a new, home-based palliative care program. The program includes…

  • It’s Never Too Early to Plan Ahead

    A smart person is one who plans for the future. I truly believe that being prepared NOW can never be too late, unless time passes you by.

    Here are a couple personal examples that I would like to share with you… one being that my husband and I installed a walk-in shower when we were only 67 years old because we wanted to upgrade our 36-year-old tub. Why wait until we need one, right?

    I know that thinking ahead about a funeral plan will make it less stressful for your family. This “thinking ahead” has helped my family twice and will be helpful to my cousin and my children in the future. The idea of a funeral plan started when I began caregiving for my oldest cousin who never married and had no children.

    With my help, she got a plan she wanted and I wrote down all her important information in the funeral guidebook.

    That same year, my husband and I purchased our own funeral plans.

    A couple years later, my parents decided to get their funeral plans when I said, “Valley of the Temples can live-stream a funeral” as we drove past it from their house.

    In 2022 and 2023, I found out how having a funeral plan made the mourning for my mother, then father, bearable and allowed us to just focus entirely on their memory.

    If you have a story you’d like to share or know of someone celebrating their centenarian year, contact Sherry Goya at 808-722-8487 or email sgoyallc@aol.com.

    A smart person is one who plans for the future. I truly believe that being prepared NOW can never be too late, unless time passes you by. Here are a couple personal examples that I would like to share with you… one being that my husband and I installed a walk-in shower when we were…

  • Real Property Tax Relief for Honolulu

    The City and County of Honolulu announces its 2025–26 Real Property Tax Credit program will open for applications starting July 1.

    From July 1 until Sept. 30, 2024, eligible homeowners can apply for a tax credit to help alleviate their real property tax. To qualify for this tax credit for the 2025–26 tax year, applicants must:

     Have a home exemption on their property.
     Ensure that none of the titleholders own other property anywhere.
     Confirm that the combined gross income of all titleholders does not exceed $80,000.

    The amount of credit homeowners will receive, if qualified, is based on their income and current property tax amount. The program intends to provide relief to homeowners affected by rising property taxes or on a fixed income.

    Qualified 2024–25 tax credit

    Homeowners who qualified for this credit during the 2024–25 tax year may receive an application in the mail in early July.

    Contact the Tax Relief Office for an application or download one at honolulu.gov/treasury starting July 1.

    TAX RELIEF OFFICE
    For more information, call 808-768-3205
    or visit honolulu.gov/treasury
    (Information furnished is subject to change without notice.)

    The City and County of Honolulu announces its 2025–26 Real Property Tax Credit program will open for applications starting July 1. From July 1 until Sept. 30, 2024, eligible homeowners can apply for a tax credit to help alleviate their real property tax. To qualify for this tax credit for the 2025–26 tax year, applicants…

  • 5 Primary Election Reminders

    Ahead of the 2024 Primary Election on Aug. 10, the Office of Elections offers a few key reminders for Hawai‘i voters.

    ➊ Hawai‘i is a vote-by-mail state. Your Primary Election ballot will arrive by mail. Registered Hawai‘i voters automatically receive a mail ballot for every election.
    ➋ Check that your voter registration is current. Visit elections.hawaii.gov or call 808-453-VOTE(8683) to verify that your voter registration is accurate. If you have moved or changed your mailing address, you must update your voter registration. Update online or by submitting a Voter Registration Application (link at end of article).
    ➌ You must sign your ballot return envelope for your ballot to be counted. You can expect to receive your ballot packet by July 23 for the Primary Election. Before your ballot arrives, review candidate statements at elections.hawaii.gov.
    ➍ Ballot must be received by 7pm on Aug. 10. Ballots can be returned by mail or put in a ballot drop box. Visit elections.hawaii.gov for location details. Ballots received late cannot be counted.
    ➎ Assistance is available. In need of assistance? Consider the following accessible options:

    • Visit a voter service center to vote using accessible voting equipment.
    • Request an electronic ballot and mark your ballot using your personal compatible device.

    STATE OF HAWAI‘I, OFFICE OF ELECTIONS
    802 Lehua Ave., Pearl City, HI 96782
    808-453-VOTE (8683) | elections@hawaii.gov
    elections.hawaii.gov
    Voter Registration Application:
    elections.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/
    1436986-01-Hawaii-Votes_application_final.pdf

    Ahead of the 2024 Primary Election on Aug. 10, the Office of Elections offers a few key reminders for Hawai‘i voters. ➊ Hawai‘i is a vote-by-mail state. Your Primary Election ballot will arrive by mail. Registered Hawai‘i voters automatically receive a mail ballot for every election.➋ Check that your voter registration is current. Visit elections.hawaii.gov…

  • Spreading Alzheimer’s Awareness & Aloha

    Born and raised in Honolulu, Steven Tam spent many years recruiting and then training recruits at Prudential Locations Real Estate. Steven’s ability to connect with others not only made him an effective leader, but an impactful volunteer, as well.

    Alzheimer’s Awareness Begins

    When Steven’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, he left his full-time real estate career to assist his mother with caregiving. Steven knew nothing about Alzheimer’s, so he decided to attend a presentation by the Alzheimer’s Association — a crash course about the disease. There began a beautiful relationship. The Alzheimer’s Association provided him with resources and a network of others in same situation. Empathetic staff and volunteers taught him what to expect as the disease progressed.

    The interaction with the Alzheimer’s Association prompted Steven to look for professional opportunities to help the community. What he found there was a need to support caregivers. That led him to AARP, where he headed long-term care, caregiving and financial security campaigns. He also managed BrightStar Care of Honolulu, which provides in-home services to those with dementia and other disabilities.

    Following his father’s passing in 2013, his desire to make a difference in the lives those affected by Alzheimer’s increased. He became a volunteer at the Hawai‘i chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, helping with programs and events. He became more involved and was eventually became the director of development. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing the fundraising programs. After three years, he retired in 2020.

    Volunteering With Aloha

    Steven has volunteered as a community educator for about 10 years. He encourages others to volunteer and urges caregivers to seek support.

    “Remember, you are not alone and be willing to ask for help — because people are willing to help more than you know,” says Steven.

    ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION (nonprofit)
    677 Ala Moana Blvd., Ste. 301, Honolulu, HI 96813
    To volunteer: alz.org/volunteer, alohainfo@alz.org
    808-591-2771 | alz.org

    Born and raised in Honolulu, Steven Tam spent many years recruiting and then training recruits at Prudential Locations Real Estate. Steven’s ability to connect with others not only made him an effective leader, but an impactful volunteer, as well. Alzheimer’s Awareness Begins When Steven’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, he left his…

  • You Just Might Be a Senior Citizen If…

    As my introduction, let me just say that “senior editor” isn’t solely a job title. Yes, I am an editor, but I’m also a bona fide senior citizen. I rarely even thought about “it,” until one day… I applied for the editor position at Generations Magazine and was asked how I was preparing for my senior years. I was like, “Who, me?” If a glance into a mirror doesn’t remind you of the passing years, I guess one can always depend on the astute observations of others.

    I got an early start in the publishing industry delivering newspapers via Schwinn in a Chicago suburb. As a teen, I worked at a printing factory during summer vacations. There, my first “editing job” was removing badly printed Libby’s labels from huge stacks of them. You can’t have magenta beans adorning cans of haricot vert.

    In high school, I wrote social commentary about teen angst and the Vietnam War. After high school, I rambled on for an underground newspaper. While attending college, I worked as a graphic artist for science agencies such as NOAA and at CU’s planetarium, and on Maui, for the NifTAL Project and a book publisher. I exchanged my art degree, X-Acto knife and loupe for a red pen when I took the editor job at a newspaper. I have also worked for online news outlets.

    While working at GM for over 10 years, I have learned many reasons why it is prudent to prepare for senior citizenship. If you are lucky like me, “it” could happen to you, too. When store clerks begin to ask, “Do you need help with your groceries, auntie?”— you just might be a senior citizen. Read this magazine just in case…

    As my introduction, let me just say that “senior editor” isn’t solely a job title. Yes, I am an editor, but I’m also a bona fide senior citizen. I rarely even thought about “it,” until one day… I applied for the editor position at Generations Magazine and was asked how I was preparing for my…

  • Communication & Grief

    Grief is a natural response to the loss of someone special. The process of grieving allows the griever to adapt to a new world of existence without the loved one.

    The success rate of an estate plan reflects and reveals the need for the estate planning attorney to expand his or her skill set in benefit of each client. Rather than simply focusing on lineal legal and tax matters, the estate planning attorney can incorporate counseling skills and engage the client through a virtuous circle of communication, so that the client and his or her survivors can proceed through the natural grieving process, which begins with anticipatory grief.

    If allowed to proceed through the grieving process with minimal guilt, anxiety, stress, unresolved issues with the decedent and conflict, we can help each griever experience fully their grief and allow the griever to validate and honor the life of the deceased, and affirm and strengthen relationships with survivors.

    The sooner the planning begins, the more options exist to minimize the risk of conflict among family members. Maintaining open communication maintains trust, and thereby reduces resentment and conflict.

    STEPHEN B. YIM, ATTORNEY AT LAW
    2054 S. Beretania St., Honolulu, HI 96826
    808-524-0251 | stephenyimestateplanning.com

    Grief is a natural response to the loss of someone special. The process of grieving allows the griever to adapt to a new world of existence without the loved one.

  • Hawai‘i Lawyers Helping Seniors

    Fifteen years ago, the Hawai‘i State Bar Association created the Senior Counsel Division (SCD). Its members are Hawai‘i attorneys who are 50 years of age or older (which is over half the Hawai‘i State Bar), and number in the thousands.

    The OWLs (older, wiser lawyers) who make up the SCD are the most experienced and knowledgeable attorneys in the state. We have a responsibility to share this expertise with others in our profession and with the kupuna in our island home. Therefore, the purpose of SCD is to help older lawyers practicing in Hawai‘i and our kūpuna in the community, as well.

    This help has ranged from providing legal information to the public to participating in community service projects.

    For example, SCD has organized and recruited volunteers to help the Hawai‘i Foodbank with its Senior Food Box Packing Program—a critical service for low-income seniors. Thousands of boxes have been packed for seniors on O‘ahu and the neighboring islands.

    SCD has also hosted legal clinics and staffed ask-a-lawyer type information tables at various senior fairs and events around the state. SCD has appeared at the Palolo Learning Center and the Hawai‘i Agricultural Conference at the Hawai‘i Convention Center. Recently, SCD joined Generations Magazine and over 20 other senior service providers at Windward Mall for the Generations Senior Fair in February.

    One of SCD’s major activities is its monthly Coffee Hours. During these events, experts from various sectors of senior interests share valuable knowledge and experiences in their respective fields of expertise. The topics that have been addressed in past Coffee Hours have included Blue Zone diet cooking, treating Alzheimer’s, asset protection planning, Medicare and how missing deadlines can drain your savings, financial elder abuse, economics of aging in Hawai‘i, preventing
    cognitive decline, and senior residential living facilities and when to place a loved one there.

    This year, topics will include condominium law, HOAs and rights of residents; Social Security; Grey Divorce (issues surrounding divorcing later in life); Honolulu Prosecutor’s efforts to keep our island safe and caregiving mediation.

    These presentations are open to the public and can be attended either in person at our offices in downtown Honolulu, or can be watched live on Zoom (call or email for a link). Past shows are also available on YouTube.

    HAWAI‘I STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
    Senior Counsel Division
    Alakea Corporate Tower, 1100 Alakea St., Ste. 1000
    Honolulu, HI 96813
    808-537-1868 | SCD@HSBA.org | HSBA.org

    Fifteen years ago, the Hawai‘i State Bar Association created the Senior Counsel Division (SCD). Its members are Hawai‘i attorneys who are 50 years of age or older (which is over half the Hawai‘i State Bar), and number in the thousands.

  • Covering Your Assets

    Think of asset protection planning as a game. Follow the rules and you may avoid detours through lawyers’ offices and courtrooms.

    Rule 1: What you can touch, your creditors can touch. A creditor might be a business partner, someone you clipped with your car or an ex-spouse. The planning response to Rule 1 is to limit your own access to your stuff just enough to keep your creditors’ mitts off of it, while allowing you pretty much full use and enjoyment of it.

    Rule 2: Liability exposure flows two ways—toward your stuff and away from your stuff. Liability flowing toward your stuff: Somebody sues you because you creamed them with your car, so he or she gets a court order compelling the sale of your beautiful beach house in order to pay down the judgment against you.

    An example of liability flowing away from your stuff: Somebody rents your beach house and is injured falling through the floorboards because you didn’t maintain the structure properly. Your tenant sues you, gets a $1 million judgment, takes your $450,000 beach house, and then wants to force a sale of your home or your business to pay off the rest of the judgment.

    So the planning response to Rule 2 is to build walls between your assets and not let any of your assets slosh over them. Building the right walls is the essence of asset protection planning.

    EST8PLANNING COUNSEL LLLC
    Scott Makuakane, Counselor at Law
    808-587-8227 | maku@est8planning.com
    Est8planning.com

    Think of asset protection planning as a game. Follow the rules and you may avoid detours through lawyers’ offices and courtrooms.

  • Insurance You May Not Realize You Need

    Insurance is a product for the what-ifs in life. A good insurance policy can reduce the financial impact of an adverse event, mitigate financial losses, provide stability and offer some peace of mind during difficult times. Some insurance coverage is deemed so important, it’s mandated by law. But there is also lesser-known insurance coverage worth exploring. Consider these optional coverages to trade uncertainty for financial protection.

    Homeowner riders. If you have a mortgage, homeowner insurance is required. A basic homeowner policy provides standard reimbursement after a deductible for approved claims due to theft or damage to your property, dwelling, personal possessions and liability. Such coverage, however, may not be sufficient. If you have valuable art or jewelry in your home, a rider can ensure appropriate reimbursement if these items are stolen or damaged. Consider a rider to offset the liability of owning a swimming pool or trampoline, for example. Other common riders cover water damage, identity restoration and business assets (if you conduct business in your home).

    Renters insurance. If your personal property is stolen or damaged at a rented house or apartment, you may be out of luck unless you carry your own renters insurance. Look for a policy that includes liability coverage, which provides financial protection in case someone gets hurt at your rented residence.

    Travel insurance. You may want to explore travel insurance before an international trip. A policy that covers unexpected cancellations is reassuring when planning an expensive vacation with non-refundable reservations. A policy that provides international medical coverage can be a real lifesaver since most US health insurance plans do not reimburse for care provided outside the country. The most comprehensive travel policies include reimbursement for medical evacuation and repatriation of remains.

    Appliance insurance. Many utility companies offer affordable insurance plans to cover needed appliance maintenance and repairs. Coverage is usually available for major appliances, including your refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and air conditioner.

    Pet insurance. Veterinary care can be expensive. A pet insurance policy can help pet owners manage the cost of owning a pet. Most policies do not cover wellness care but do cover all or part of the expense for emergency procedures and major medical interventions.

    Life insurance riders. Basic life insurance pays out for death from natural causes and most accidents. There are exceptions, however. Insurance companies generally exclude coverage for risky activities. If you participate in extreme sports or own a private plane, you may want to purchase a life insurance rider.

    Review your insurance coverages annually or when you experience a life-changing event. Be sure to comparison shop as insurance policies can vary widely in coverage and cost. A trusted financial advisor can be a great resource to help you determine if you carry sufficient levels of insurance or if additional coverage is warranted.

    MICHAEL W. K. YEE, CFP,® CFS,® CLTC, CRPC®
    1585 Kapiolani Blvd., Ste. 1100, Honolulu, HI 96814
    808-952-1240 | michael.w.yee@ampf.com
    ameripriseadvisors.com/michael.w.yee
    Michael W. K. Yee, CFP®, CFS®, CLTC, CRPC ®, is a Private Wealth Advisor, Certified Financial Planner ™ practitioner, with Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC in Honolulu, HI. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for 40 years. Investment products are not insured by the FDIC, NCUA or any federal agency, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve investment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value. Investment advisory products and services are made available through Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.
    © 2023 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. All rights reserved.

    Insurance is a product for the what-ifs in life. A good insurance policy can reduce the financial impact of an adverse event, mitigate financial losses, provide stability and offer some peace of mind during difficult times. Some insurance coverage is deemed so important, it’s mandated by law. But there is also lesser-known insurance coverage worth…

  • ‘We Never Talked About It’

    The patient is in a coma. The doctor at the hospital is asking, “What kind of care would your dad have wanted if he could speak?” Too often, the answer is “I wish I knew. We never talked about it.”

    Medical technology is extending our lives. But many people are dying in ways they would not choose, and many survivors are left feeling guilty and uncertain whether they made the right decisions for their loved ones. However, it doesn’t need to be this way.

    The Big Island’s Community First Hawai‘i nonprofit strives to change this scenario by holding free workshops every other month via Zoom and in person to help folks complete their Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD), a legal document that allows you to choose someone to speak for you and documents your end-of-life care choices.

    For those who already have a Living Will, Health Care Power of Attorney or an AHCD, the workshop helps in reviewing their document to ensure it meets their current needs.

    COMMUNITY FIRST HAWAI‘I (nonprofit)
    PO Box 7158, Hilo, HI 96720
    Call or email for a link to workshop recordings.
    808-756-9637 | info@communityfirsthawaii.org
    communityfirsthawaii.org/advance-health-care-directive

    The patient is in a coma. The doctor at the hospital is asking, “What kind of care would your dad have wanted if he could speak?” Too often, the answer is “I wish I knew. We never talked about it.”