Please enjoy this 1-minute video (for those receiving this by email: please click on the blog title line above to view). Long Term Care is a complex topic with no right answer because it depends on your present health as well as your own family history. Self insuring is the common method people take and […]
Archive | Elder care

How Do You Know if Diminished Financial Capacity Has Crept in?
By definition, you don’t recognize the signs of diminished financial capacity. You need to rely on others for this. And as you’ll see below, relying on others presents a dilemma! This is not something to be ashamed of – it’s a natural order of aging. For some slowing down comes earlier, for others later. The […]

Incapacity planning for Social Security
As the Coronavirus continues to put people of all walks of life in hospitals and on ventilators, the necessity of incapacity planning is starting to hit home. The question now isn’t so much “what if I die?” (although there’s that, too), but “what if I’m unable to speak for myself? Who will take care of […]

How should you really evaluate retirement health care costs?
A crucial part of retirement income planning is helping you estimate health care expenses in retirement, both in the first year of retirement and over a your life expectancy. These costs are notoriously difficult to estimate because they depend on: 1) a client’s health care usage (i.e., health status) both now and in the future; […]

What’s your plan for retiree dental care?
Most people believe Medicare covers dental – nope – Medicare does not! Some Medicare Advantage plans do (and some don’t – you need to check). Some retirees may have employer provided dental coverage. Check to see if it will cover things beyond maintenance care (cleanings and x-rays) that most plans are limited to. Here’s the […]

What to do, and not do, as an executor with the deceased credit cards?
Male hiker exploring the Dolomites landscape So you’re the executor/successor trustee of the will/trust of a loved one. What do you do about their remaining credit card debt? Are you personally obligated to pay those from your funds? How do you close all those credit card accounts? What documents will you need to contact the […]

Could Filial Responsibility Laws bite you?
Filial Responsibility Laws (in more than half the States) could surprise you when the State comes to family members to pay your relative’s long term care bills. Children or other heirs may become responsible for parent care expenses. This may not be what you, as a parent, have in mind. You want to be […]

Medical debt problems?
Medical debt is a special kind of debt. Medical debt also tops the list of debt collection complaints at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). You’ll find helpful tips below, from the CFPB, in how to manage medical debt, try to minimize it, and what not to do with those expenses. For example, don’t put medical […]

Managing your loved ones money and affairs
It may be overwhelming to manage the affairs and money for a loved one who isn’t able to do that for themselves anymore. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has released booklets to help with the money side of things and … especially important … walking you, the caregiver, through your duties, spotting scams, and […]

How to Use “Dynamic Updating” to Determine a Prudent Retirement Income Based on Age
This article is a brief summary of how all of our * research papers tie together to modernize the retirement income measurement from your investments. In other words, how to determine a prudent amount of retirement income. Advisers generally annually update plans with their clients. An important part of this update process is capturing new […]