Ways To Protect Your Financial Health in Your Later Years

Navigating your finances as you age can feel like walking on a tightrope. It’s a balancing act that requires careful planning, wise decision-making, and a keen understanding of the financial landscape. 

With the right approach, you can set yourself up for success, regardless of the future. Explore ways to protect your financial health in your later years that can give you peace of mind, secure your retirement, and ensure that you’re well-positioned to handle any challenges that come your way.

Understand Your Financial Position

To properly coordinate your future financial well-being, you need to first know about your current situation. The key to this is in the details. You need to know your total income as well as where it all comes from. Are you still working? 

Do you have a pension or other retirement income? Next, consider your expenses, including everything from the mortgage or rent to groceries and entertainment. 

Once you organize what’s coming in and going out each month, you can look at your savings and investments. 

Finally, consider any debts you may have. Knowing what you owe can help you make a plan to pay it off and improve your overall financial health.

Create a Detailed Financial Plan

Creating a financial plan helps you understand exactly what you’re doing with your money. Start by setting clear, achievable financial goals. 

For long-term goals like building a nest egg, familiarize yourself with how much money you’ll need to live comfortably and make that your baseline. Then, outline the steps you need to take to reach this goal. 

This might involve setting a budget, investing wisely, or finding ways to increase your income. Remember, a good financial plan should change and grow with you as your financial situation and goals evolve.

Plan for Healthcare Costs

Healthcare costs can be a significant expense, especially as you get older. But with a proactive mindset, you can avoid being caught off guard by these costs. 

Visit your healthcare provider to get a solid understanding of your current and potential healthcare needs. Then, look into your options for covering these costs. This could include Medicare, supplemental insurance, or a health savings account.

Protect Your Assets

Another way to protect your financial health in your later years is to safeguard what you’ve worked hard to accumulate. This can involve a range of strategies, from buying insurance to diversifying your investments.

It could also mean making sure your home is safe from hazards that could cause damage. It’s not just about protecting the value of your assets but also ensuring they can continue to provide for you and your loved ones.

Appoint a Power of Attorney

Appointing a power of attorney for financial purposes is an important step in planning for the future. This person will have the authority to make financial decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so due to illness or incapacity. 

Choosing someone you trust, and who understands your financial situation and goals, can give you peace of mind knowing that your finances will be well managed, no matter what happens.

The more thought you put into your financial planning now, the better your situation will be come retirement and beyond. Start these steps today for a tomorrow that you can enjoy to the fullest.

4 Familial Factors to Consider When Creating an Estate Plan

Everyone with valuable assets and property should have an estate plan that is up to date and keeps your family members in mind.

While a last will and testament might seem straightforward, questions and confusion can arise if things are not spelled out in detail. 

Here are some important considerations that should not be overlooked.

Children

Your children might inherit equal parts of your estate if that is what you wish. However, if you plan to distribute your assets differently, that needs to be specified clearly. 

Also, if one of your children happens to pass away before you do, you will need to determine what will happen to their share portion of the estate. You should also address potential questions about foster children, step-children, and underage children. 

In addition, your estate plan should indicate whether surviving parents, siblings or other extended family relatives will inherit anything from your estate. Don't assume that a verbal suggestion made now will be followed later.

Pets

Although it may seem peculiar to consider your pet's needs when you pass on, someone will need to assume responsibility for any animals you own at that time. 

A surviving spouse might care for them if they are in good health. However, lacking a spouse or another family member who has agreed to care for the pets, your will should state who should care for the pets or where they will go.

Separation or Divorce

If you remain separated or divorced for the rest of your life, the estate plan should clarify whether any family-held possessions, such as a car or real estate, will be given to the surviving ex-spouse. 

Some family heirlooms acquired during the marriage might be of interest to an ex-partner while any children may have no interest in these things. Specify this in your will to prevent tensions when the time comes.

Make an Estate Plan

Don't wait to prepare your estate plan. Consult estate lawyers who can provide valuable information and help you make important decisions about your last will and testament, a power of attorney if warranted, and a living will. 

Your loved ones need to know who will make critical life decisions if you are unable to. They also want to know who will administer your estate when you pass away. 

An estate plan will prepare your wishes in a legal format that cannot be questioned or changed without your consent.

Although these issues may seem difficult to deal with now, it is best to work out your future plans while you are healthy and under no pressure to do so. 

That approach makes it easier to remain objective about your decisions and to prepare family members for the time of your passing.

How to Plan out Your Estate Before You Die

Some people never consider the possibility of creating an estate plan because they believe that it’s particularly difficult. In all actuality, there are simple things you can do to get started with building an estate plan as soon as today. 

The truth of the matter is estate planning does not need to be difficult, especially if you follow this 5 step checklist to prepare your documents.

Advance Directive

An advance directive typically referred to as a living will, is a document that provides guidelines as to what medical personnel are authorized to do if you become incapacitated in the future as to which you cannot tell them what your preferences are. 

You can include details such as whether they should utilize life-sustaining measures like breathing tube and feeding.

Life Insurance Policy

If you own a home or if you have children, it’s especially important that you get a life insurance policy as a part of your estate planning efforts. 

A life insurance policy can help to cover estate taxes and pay large amounts of debt, in the event that you pass away and the aforementioned expenses get passed on to your spouse or family members, such as mortgage payments for example.

Power of Attorney

A power of attorney (POA), gives another individual the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf. Most experts recommend that you should establish a power of attorney for your finances and your health as well. 

While this can be the same person, it doesn’t have to be and you can choose to give an estate planning attorney, power of attorney over your finances or health care.

Create a Will

Creating a last will and testament is one of the most basic and critical aspects of estate planning. If you pass away without a will, this enables the government to redistribute your assets according to state law. 

The key thing to consider when creating your will is to determine how many assets you possess and the people that you would like to get them.

Digital Assets

In today’s world, most people have digital assets in digital wallets like Paypal, Bitcoin, Monero, and more. When it comes to creating an estate plan it’s important that you don’t forget about your digital assets. 

As such, it would be a good idea for you to list all the digital assets you possess along with passwords and usernames, as to which you can give someone you trust so that they can access your accounts.

As you can see, the process of establishing an estate plan doesn’t have to be difficult. The most important thing to remember is that you should be aware that any asset that you fail to include in your estate plan, will be surrendered to the government. 

In addition to that, take a look at any debts you pay possess or things your children may need if you pass away, and consider these factors when it comes to planning your estate accordingly.

Some Legal Needs that Seniors Need to Consider

When you’re in your 50s or 60s and looking forward to the day you retire, you think that you can finally kick back and relax after spending more than half of your life working. But there are so many things you need to settle first like important legal documents.

Living Will 

When you hear the word will, it is usually associated with death, which is something people rarely or even avoid talking about. We don’t like to be reminded of our mortality and often times evade this topic when it comes into a conversation. Still it doesn’t change the reality that death is inevitable and we never know when it will come for us. This very unpredictability is the reason why it is important to set legal affairs in order at the earliest possible time. One of the things one can do to prepare is to have his lawyer draft a living will. 

A living will is different from an ordinary will. The former is a legal document, which is normally used to express one’s wishes when it comes to medical treatments that may prolong his life. The latter is a document with instructions on how you want assets--property and estate--to be divided after you have passed on. A living will is akin to an advance directive that will take effect if ever one becomes terminally ill. It will help inform the health care providers and even family about the desired medical treatment in case a person has become incapable of speaking for himself. 

Living Trust

A living trust is often confused with a living will but they couldn’t be more different. The latter has more to do with your wellbeing and health and serves as a guide for your family and health care providers on how to proceed in the event you become incapacitated. The former is a legal document that is akin to a will in that it will contain your clear instructions on how you want your assets to be distributed among your family and relatives. 

The difference between a will and a living trust is that a will only becomes effective--if and only if--the grantor (yourself) has passed on and the will then enters into probate. Also called “inter vivos trust”, a living trust is a trust created while a person is still alive rather than one that will created only after he or she dies. The process of probate can be time-consuming, not to mention costly, however, if you choose to have a living trust, then it will bypass these extra expenses. 

Small Business

There will come a time--maybe not immediately--during your retirement when you will realize that you want to do something. You might want to start a new business that you can manage on your own or with a small handful of family members. When you’re done pondering on several small business ideas and deciding which one is best for you, you will need to gather requirements--including some legal documents--that will help you get started so you can operate your new business. 

When you’re a senior, I think one of the best things you can do is to prepare yourself for whatever will come in life--be it adventure or challenges. Preparing legal documents ahead of time will help prevent disputes that may arise between family members on distribution of assets. To save on exorbitant lawyer fees, you can avail of prepaid legal plans, which have very budget-friendly monthly fees. 

About the AuthorBased in San Diego California, Tiffany Matthews is a professional writer with over 5 years of professional writing experience. She also blogs about travel, fashion, and anything under the sun at wordbaristas.com, a group blog that she shares with her good friends. In her free time, she likes to travel, read books, and watch movies. You can find her on Twitter as @TiffyCat87.