
Chances are, you’ve heard of reverse mortgages. But do you really know how they work? There are many professionals on both sides of the fence. One side will try to sell you on the upsides of reverse mortgages, and the other will warn you of the downsides. Let me tell you this, objectively: reverse mortgages can be a good solution for a certain type of consumer, but they are complicated. Understand how they work before you decide on this...
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When shifting circumstances bring unexpected elder care costs, they also bring the urgency of having to make short and long-term financial decisions. It is at this point that one must confront the reality of the exorbitant costs of care for the chronically ill and elderly. In 2007, the annual cost of long-term care in the US averaged $77,000. While many people are woefully unprepared to handle these high costs, many others have serious misconceptions about the real costs of...
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As a financial planner for the elderly, one of the issues that I am frequently confronted with is the spending down of the inheritance to pay for the high cost of eldercare. All too often, when an aging person's health and care needs require important difficult financial changes to be made, the adult children's sense of financial bequest and expectation misdirects their decisions and actions, negatively impacting the quality of care received by their elderly parent. Many elderly people...
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Even after thirty years in the financial planning industry, I am constantly learning and gaining new professional experience. This time, however, the experience came from the recent, painful loss of my dad. His passing came after nine years of his living in elder care facilities and his slow deterioration, which included dementia, the loss of his senses, his ability to perform the activities of daily living and more. As I learned with my father’s death, no matter how prepared...
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Should I Sell My House? This is frequently the most significant financial decision faced by many seniors—or by family caregivers. Often the impetus is that a person’s cost of care has risen or that home maintenance and safety issues have become unmanageable. The situation can become acute if family members or other potential caregivers live too far away from the homeowner to provide help on a regular basis. Beyond the potential emotional issues that surface and need to be considered,...
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