Retirement Road: Are you prepared for the Downshift?

Your Financial Plan May Prepare You for Independent Retirement.  

But Does It Prepare You for Aging? 

Most retirement planning answers familiar questions: 

• How much should we save? 
• When can we retire? 
• How should investments be managed? 
• Who receives our assets when we die?

Those are important questions. 

But there are stages of retirement coming that many retirement plans barely address like: 

What happens if you are still living—but can no longer safely live independently? 

That is when retirement planning needs to include senior “life” planning, which is all about how life will look and be lived when personal capabilities change. 

Someone may need help bathing, dressing, preparing meals, managing medications or simply staying safe. What is surprising to many is that Medicare generally does not pay for ongoing custodial long-term care—the type of help many older adults eventually need with everyday activities. 

Suddenly this is when the family's questions are very different. 

Retirement Isn't just One Stage of Life 

Imagine a couple in their early 70s  enjoying a we deserved retirement doing all the things they dreamed of doing together. They have retirement accounts, a home, wills and Powers of Attorney. They feel prepared for the future. 

Then one spouse develops dementia. 

They ask their adult daughter to begin managing appointments and start making decisions. Can Mom and Dad can remain at home? Will paid caregivers be needed? Later, assisted living or nursing care could enter the conversation.  Is the daughter willing and able to make those necessary decisions? 

These questions are far beyond what their investment portfolio ever prepared them for: 

• Where will Mom or Dad live as their needs change? 
• Who will make financial, medical and everyday living decisions? 
• How will care be paid for? 
• What assets should be preserved—and what can safely be spent? 
• How do those decisions affect the spouse and adult children? 

This is where elder law planning becomes important. 

Plan for the Possibility—Before the Crisis 

A comprehensive elder law review looks at how a senior’s life will be lived and all of the resources that life requires. It considers how your money, legal documents, housing choices, family and possible long-term care needs work together while you are still alive. 

That can include reviewing Powers of Attorney, estate planning documents, asset ownership, caregiver arrangements and possible Medicaid eligibility. 

Medicaid is a major payer of long-term services and supports, but eligibility involves financial and care requirements. Know that federal Medicaid rules generally examine transfers made during the five years before an application for certain long-term care benefits. 



That is one reason timing matters. Decisions that seem harmless today—such as giving money or property to children—can create problems later if Medicaid becomes necessary. 

An Elder Law Attorney focuses specifically on the intersection of estate planning, long-term care, Medicare, Medicaid, decision-making authority and protecting the older adult and family. 

The objective is not simply to qualify everyone for Medicaid. It is to understand your options early and  assist clients in making decisions about their “senior life”, while helping them to preserve independence, protect assets when legally possible, reduce the burden on family members and have a plan if private resources eventually run low. 

The Bottom Line 

A good retirement plan helps you enjoy the years after work. A comprehensive elder law plan asks what happens through the rest of your life—including the years when living independently may no longer be possible. 

Planning earlier gives you something even more valuable than paperwork: It give you choices. 

Attend our next Legacy Care Event at www.silvaslaw.com/events or schedule a personalized appointment with Silvas Law to review how your estate plan, long-term care strategy and elder law planning work together. 

Take the Next Step

👉 Attend our next Legacy Care Event!

"Legacy Care"

The Truth about Long-Term Care & Medicaid
Click Here   ~ www.silvaslaw.com/events

👉 OR schedule a personalized consultation to walk through your options

Schedule a personalized appointment by calling us at 817-264-7447.

Real families. Real planning. Real protection.
Elder Law planning with Silvas Law.

BOOK NOW!

----------------------------------

Silvas Law is a Personal Family Lawyer® firm, we know the value of planning for the future.
And we know the value of planning for the life you want today and the legacy that extends far beyond your assets.