Proper estate planning protects your resources, because the biggest financial threat that seniors and retirees face is needing long term care in a nursing home. At a cost of $150,000 per year, nursing homes are expensive. If you’re currently 70, and you anticipate needing a nursing home in 15 years, you can expect to pay 70% more, based on the cost having increased 60% over 10 years. That means you could be paying $250 000 a year, and most people cannot afford to be paying this for very long.

Many seniors would be concerned about whether they can afford to keep their home. If the healthy spouse is still living in the house, how will they afford to live there? If they are broke from long term care costs for the sick spouse, there is no money for the healthy spouse. You need to protect yourself from the long term care system to avoid going broke.

Beneficiary Designations Are Not Enough!

Beneficiary designations will not protect your resources but will only answer the question of who gets your stuff when you die. It won’t answer the question of what happens if you get sick before you die. You can protect your assets by using a trust. Do you feel like you are relying too much on beneficiary designations? If so, we suggest you come to an estate planning and elder law workshop. You can register on our website for a workshop HERE . We’ve created an educational program where we take you through a couple of different classes. You will end up getting an estate plan that is exactly what you need, based on your goals and concerns.

We also have many resources including blog articles and videos to educate you. We believe that when you are educated, you can make an informed decision. Visit sechlerlawfirm.com and find blogs and videos under the Resources tab. You can also visit our YouTube channel to watch our collection of videos. While you are there, please subscribe so you don’t miss out on any future videos.