Love is in the air this month, and part of that means taking the best care possible of the ones you love. February also is a time when the nation spotlights heart disease, the number one killer of Americans. As part of American Heart Month, take some time to combine the two - focus on the heart health of the ones you love the most, including the seniors in your life. People aged 65 and older are more likely to suffer from heart attacks, strokes, and heart disease, according to the National Institute on Aging. Its time to get down to business. Focus on the heart health of the seniors in your life. Ensuring they get checked out by a medical professional is important. But also do some fun, healthy things together to promote heart health.Here are 25 tips for seniors to be heart-healthy.Make an appointment to see your primary care physician. Find out how youre doing, and see what recommendations he or she has for your heart health.Go to the free yoga classes at Venice Beach. There are classes in the morning or a sunset class at 5 p.m. each day, all for free, seven days a week.If youre still using tobacco products and smoking at this age, its time to stop. Make this the year you quit. If you have a senior loved one in your life that smokes, help them stop and make it a goal for this year.Get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked. Know your healthy ranges, and ensure you stay within those.Find some new recipes that are heart-healthy and make them together with your senior loved one.Head outside each day. Even if youre just going to fetch the mail from the mailbox, it gets you moving and out into the fresh air.Be around people. Loneliness is bad for the heart. Find friends you want to be with, join an event at the senior center, or call up a family member you havent talked to in a while.Get some Zzzs. The Centers for Disease Control says getting enough sleep is vital for heart health. Portion control is key to healthy eating. Before your meal or before you snack, measure out your portions, so you dont overeat. Head to the Peace River Gardens in Punta Gorda. There are different botanicals to see throughout the year. It is a great place to walk around and get some exercise while seeing the sculptures and artwork. There also are events to attend throughout the year.Make it a goal to walk at some different beaches this year. Try a new one each week. Hit some youve never tried before, or go back to an old favorite. Walk a little further each time you visit. Walking in the sand is great exercise, and looking at and listening to the ocean is good for the soul. Feel the sunshine on your face at least once a day if its shining, even for a minute. Whether you simply step onto your patio or head to the beach, it is a great way to get into a good mood and improve your overall health.Move a little more each day, or each week. Make some goals, such as walking one block further, or riding your bike for a minute more each week. Every little bit counts, and leads to heart healthier habits.Have you gone to the grocery store and seen some odd-looking spiky fruits and wondered what they were? Put one of those in your cart and try one for the first time. See if its something you want to add to your heart-healthy diet. It seems like everyone loves pickleball. Try it out and see if youre a fan too.Hire a caregiver that can help you get moving. Compassionate caregivers at places such as Visiting Angels Punta Gorda can provide services such as companionship on a walk around the neighborhood, or fall prevention help as you do laps in your own home. Hunt for sharks teeth at Venice Beach. Even if you dont find a lot, the act of bending down each time, sticking your hand in the water and seeing what treasures youve found is exercise, and its a fun hunt and thing to do. Watch a comedy or a funny show. Laugh out loud. As they say, laughter is the best medicine.Turn on the tunes. If you have upbeat music playing in your home or car, you cant help but bop around to it. It puts you in a good mood and adds more movement to your day. Head to a farmers market and grab some fresh fruit and vegetables. Wash them up so you have healthy, ready-to-eat snacks.Make sure your seniors get up and out of bed and moving each day. If needed, hire a caregiver that can help them get dressed and ready for the day. Being dressed and ready helps put them into the right mindset to be active and alert during the day. As youre sitting down watching a show, lift some hand weights or do some leg lifts. Make it a goal to do 20 on each limb while youre watching the nightly news before dinner. Stand more if youre able. Do some of the tasks you might usually do sitting down while standing instead. For example, pace around the house while youre on the phone instead of sitting in your comfy chair. Stretch each day. It not only keeps you more nimble, but stretching can get your heart rate up.Eat at least two servings of fish a week The omega-3 fatty acids in fish are great for heart health.Visiting Angels is Here to HelpIf you are looking for help with your senior loved one as they strive for heart health, our professionals at Visiting Angels Punta Gorda are here to help. We provide a variety of home care services to meet any need they might have, from getting dressed for a morning walk to help with light meal prep.Our expert team of caregivers serves clients in Punta Gorda, North Fort Myers, Boca Grande, Cape Coral, Sanibel, Captiva, Arcadia and surrounding areas. To learn more about our services, call us at 941-347-8288, or fill out an online form here.

As you know, the gig economy has been booming over the past several years. If youre thinking of using your skills to take on a side gig, what should you do with the money youll make?Theres no one right answer for everyone, and the decisions you make should be based on your individual situation. And of course, you may simply need the extra income to support your lifestyle and pay the bills. But if you already have your cash flow in good shape, and you have some freedom with your gig money, consider these suggestions: Contribute more to your IRA. If you couldnt afford to contribute the maximum amount to your IRA, you may find it easier to do so when you have additional money coming in from a side gig. For the 2023 tax year, you can put in up to $6,500 to a traditional or Roth IRA, or $7,500 if youre 50 or older. (Starting in 2024, this extra $1,000 catch-up contribution amount may be indexed for inflation.) The amount you can contribute to a Roth IRA is reduced, and eventually eliminated, at certain income levels. Look for new investment opportunities. If youre already maxing out your IRA, you might be able to find other investment possibilities for your side gig money. For example, if you have young children, perhaps you could use some of the money to invest in a 529 education savings plan. A 529 plan offers potential tax advantages and can be used for college, qualified trade school programs, and possibly some K-12 expenses. Please keep in mind that potential tax advantages will vary from state to state. Build an emergency fund. Life is full of unexpected events and some can be quite expensive. What if you needed a major car repair or required a medical procedure that wasnt totally covered by your health insurance? Would you have the cash available to pay these bills? If not, would you be forced to dip into your IRA or 401(k)? This might not be a good move, as it could incur taxes and penalties, and deprive you of resources you might eventually need for retirement. Thats why you might want to use your gig earnings to help fund an emergency fund containing several months worth of living expenses, with the money kept in a liquid, low-risk account. To avoid being tempted to dip into your emergency fund, you may want to keep it separate from your daily spending accounts.   Pay down debts. Most of us will always carry some debts, but we can usually find ways to include the bigger ones mortgage, car payments and so on into our monthly budgets. Its often the smaller debt payments, frequently associated with high-interest-rate credit cards, that cause us the most trouble, in terms of affecting our cash flow. If you can use some of your side gig money to pay down these types of debts, you could possibly ease some of the financial stress you might be feeling. And instead of directing money to pay for things you purchased in the past, you could use the funds to invest for your future.As weve seen, your side gig money could open several promising windows of opportunity so take a look through all of them. Chad Choate III, AAMS828 3rd Avenue WestBradenton, FL  34205941-462-2445chad.chaote@edwardjones.com This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. Edward Jones, Member SIPC

Its been a bumpy year for the financial markets which means that some of your investments may have underperformed or lost value. Can you use these losses to your advantage?Its possible. If you have some investments that have lost value, you could sell them to offset taxable capital gains from other investments. If your losses exceed gains for the year, you could use the remaining losses to offset up to $3,000 of ordinary income. And any amount over $3,000 can be carried forward to offset gains in future years. This tax-loss harvesting can be advantageous if you plan to sell investments that youve held in taxable accounts for years and that have grown significantly in value. And you might receive some gains even if you take no action yourself. For example, when you own mutual funds, the fund manager can decide to sell stocks or other investments within the funds portfolio and then pay you a portion of the proceeds. These payments, known as capital gains distributions, are taxable to you whether you take them as cash or reinvest them back into the fund. Still, despite the possible tax benefits of selling investments whose price has fallen, you need to consider carefully whether such a move is in your best interest. If an investment has a clear place in your holdings, and it offers good business fundamentals and favorable prospects, you might not want to sell it just because its value has dropped. On the other hand, if the investments youre thinking of selling are quite similar to others you own, it might make sense to sell, take the tax loss and then use the proceeds of the sale to purchase new investments that can help fill any gaps in your portfolio. If you do sell an investment and reinvest the funds, youll want to be sure your new investment is different in nature from the one you sold. Otherwise, you could risk triggering the wash sale rule, which states that if you sell an investment at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical investment within 30 days before or after the sale, the loss is generally disallowed for income tax purposes.Heres one more point to keep in mind about tax-loss harvesting: Youll need to take into account just how long youve held the investments youre considering selling. Thats because long-term losses are first applied against long-term gains, while short-term losses are first applied against short-term gains. (Long-term is defined as more than a year; short-term is one year or less.) If you have excess losses in one category, you can then apply them to gains of either type. Long-term capital gains are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on your income, while short-term gains are taxed at your ordinary income tax rate. So, from a tax perspective, taking short-term losses could provide greater benefits if your tax rate is higher than the highest capital gains rate.Youll want to contact your tax advisor to determine whether tax-loss harvesting is appropriate for your situation  and youll need to do it soon because the deadline is Dec. 31. But whether you pursue this technique this year or not, you may want to keep it in mind for the future because youll always have investment tax issues to consider.   Chad Choate III, AAMS828 3rd Avenue WestBradenton, FL  34205941-462-2445chad.chaote@edwardjones.com  This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.Edward Jones, Member SIPC