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Donald Dimitruk• 831-464-6464 Call for information and a quote! Questions answered on the phone. FREE - No obligation - JUST ANSWERS! Clear explanations of exactly how a Reverse Mortgage can work for you! Celebrating Serving Santa Cruz for 41 years! Donald Dimitruk YOU CAN SHARE THE DREAM Established in 1978. Is your blood pressure High because your retirement plan is Low? It's time for a Financial Check Up! Access your Home Equity with a REVERSE MORTGAGE Increase your Retirement Income No Payments for Life! Registered Financial Consultant® Registered Mortgage Advisor California Life Agent #Of20144 BRE#10902537 NMLS#232493 Professional Mortgage Associates Does Your Retire- ment Plan Need A Transfusion Or An Infusion? M edical check-ups are needed to help us remain in good health going into retirement. What about a financial check- up to insure that we are prepared for the opportunities that the freedom of retirement will bring? If ageing in place is the goal, then a Reverse Mortgage may be the way to achieve it. Making your home safe, more comfortable and accessible may require some thought and action. You may want a bathroom remodel to include a walk in shower or walk in tub. Wider doorways may be needed to accommodate wheel chair access or a lift to get up and down levels. Better hand rails and even a chair that helps you get out of it are all nice things to have for this stage of life. Upgrading our current homes for new or anticipated physical restrictions will cost money and that money may be provided by the stored up equity that has built up in the home over the years. I often refer to the home as a silent financial partner in our lives because as we work hard to pay down the mortgage, the home is increasing our wealth by appreciation over time. In many cases the home increases our net worth more each year than a whole year of work and saving, thanks to the long history of appreciation and desirability of our central coast real estate. Our good fortune! The Reverse Mortgage is gaining in popularity as they become more clearly understood and the misconceptions about them are dispelled. It is not difficult to calculate the financial cost of upgrades necessary to makeover the home that provided a place to raise our families into the place that will give us comfort and peace of mind in retirement. It's also not difficult to calculate how much of our stored wealth in home equity can be used to make these type of changes and how it will affect our financial outcome. Most people are surprised by the amount of income they will really need for comfortable retirement over and above the amount of social security and any pension income. An in depth Financial Check-up is necessary to clearly understand the complete picture of how your finances will support your retirement lifestyle. Donald Dimitruk is a Registered Financial Consultant® and a Registered Mortgage Advisor and is available for a free consultation about how a reverse mortgage may bennifit you at 831-464- 6464. by Donald Dimitruk, RFC®, RMA and thereby lessen the associated symptoms. If you visit Dr. Hetzler's office, he can examine the ear canals with a microscope and show you what your ear canals look like using a video camera. Also, the office has micro vacuums to help clear material out of the ear canal and other microscopic instruments that allow precise removal of material from the ear canal. Want to look on your own? "There are inexpensive, high quality video cameras that anyone can use to look in their ear canals," says Dr. Hetzler. "You can find them on Amazon if you search for 'video otoscope.' You may have to go through several pages of results, but look for the models that look like a pencil. They should be less than $20," he advises. He has found it easiest to use these with his Mac laptop using QuickTime Player, but they are also advertised as being compatible with PCs and Android phones. "There are also models that use Wifi and can be used with iPhones. These cost more in the range of $30," he adds. Dr. Hetzler has a few tips for preventing swimmer's ear: "Keeping all water out of the ear canal, such as by using earplugs and/or a swim cap, should lessen the likelihood of developing a swimmer's ear infection," he says. "In general, many people don't need to use earplugs in a swimming pool, since most will not have a problem with occasional exposure of their ear canal to pool water. But if one is having problems from pool water exposure, earplugs/swim caps can lessen the problem." Not using Q-tips in your ear canal, he says, can also lessen the likelihood of traumatizing the thin ear canal skin—which could otherwise contribute to developing an ear canal skin infection. If you feel that water stays in your ear canal, there is a "commercially available product, 'Swim Ear' drops, that is alcohol- based and can help evaporate the water," Dr. Hetzler advises. "This alcohol-based product should NOT be used if one has a hole in their eardrum or scratches or cracks in their ear canal skin as it will be quite uncomfortable." If you're traveling somewhere that you plan to spend lots of time in warm water, he says, take along antibiotic eardrops (after getting a prescription from your doctor) to begin using if your ear canals become sore. "If you initiate the drops near the onset of symptoms, you may be able to quickly resolve the problem and not have to miss time in the water." To prevent getting surfer's ear, people can use these tips: 1) Only surf in water warmer than 68 degrees. 2) Keep your head out of the water by never falling off your surfboard. 3) Wear earplugs and/ or a neoprene hood to lessen the cold-water exposure to the ear canal and head areas. Dr. Hetzler cares a lot about ear health. He offers one more piece of advice, and this one is unrelated to water: "People can be aware of how loud the sounds are that they are exposed to by measuring them with a free iPhone app, 'NIOSH SLM.' This app has been shown to be accurate, and displays the sound's decibel level," he says. "People's situations vary, but in general, you should avoid exposing yourself to sound louder than 85 decibels for prolonged periods of time." Article Resources: mayoclinic.org pamf.org Dr. Douglas Hetzler, Department of Otolaryngology, Palo Alto Medical Foundation -- Santa Cruz, 2950 Research Park Drive, Soquel, 831-458-6272 ...continued from C1 bigstock.com Dr. Douglas Hetzler