Caregiver Tips for Senior Financial Planning - Unlimited Care Cottages

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Caregiver Tips for Senior Financial Planning

Many of us will be caring for a parent, grandparent, spouse, friend, or neighbor in the future. There is a lot of material out there about nutrition, health care,Caregiver Tips for Senior Financial Planning emotional support, and senior safety tips but there isn’t much information available about financial planning.

The following are tips that every potential caregiver should start considering:

1.)  Plan ahead – begin the conversation today because it’s never too early to start planning. It’s not easy talking with your family members or friends about their finances but it’s a conversation you need to have sooner rather than later.

Discuss the following items:

  • What is their ability to pay for care?
  • Do they receive retirement and/or social security benefits?
  • Who owns their home, car, land, or other assets?
  • Have they made any plans for their future senior care?
  • Do they have long term insurance?

2.)  What do they want?

  • Do they want to live in their own home?
  • Do they want to live with their children or grandchildren?
  • Or would they prefer an assisted living home?
  • How do they feel about living in a nursing home?

3.)  Always seek financial advice – it’s essential to talk with an expert to ensure you are getting the best advice. Financial planners can help you understand which assets may need to be used, the order in which they should be applied, and how long those assets will last. It’s also important to discuss benefits like Medicare, Medicaid, disability insurance, and social security.

4.)  Always seek legal advice – make sure you talk with an attorney who is experienced with elder care. A lawyer can help make sure your loved one has up-to-date legal documents.

Discuss the following items with an attorney:

  • will
  • power of attorney
  • health care proxy
  • living will
  • when and how to apply for Medicaid and other benefits

5.)  Locate financial documents – make sure you know where your loved one keeps their insurance policies, statements for checking, savings, and investment accounts, as well as any other legal documents. Keep a list of them and note where they are located in case of an emergency.

6.)  How will all of this impact you? Will you have to miss work to care for your loved one? How many sick or vacation days do you have saved up? Will you have out-of-pocket expenses? What does you financial portfolio look like? You need to consider how your personal finances may be affected. Talk to your children, spouse, and siblings about this today.

7.)  Love drawer – this is a place, maybe a drawer in the kitchen or in a desk, where a person stores copies of their senior care type of documents, such as insurance papers, wills, asset documents, funeral arrangements, etc. And they inform their necessary family members or friends where the drawer is located and what’s in it. This is a great idea!

Planning and organizing all of this today will prevent you heart ache and confusion in the future. Your loved one may not be able to answer a lot of these questions in a few years so it’s best to discuss this now.

Contact Assisted Living by Unlimited Care Cottages today to discuss your options. We can help guide you through this process.

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