Archive for the ‘will’ Category

A New Twist on Spring Cleaning

Friday, April 9th, 2010

This year along with gleefully putting away the scarves, gloves and snow shovels, why not make part of your spring cleaning taking a careful look at insurance policies, wills and health care directives? Often things in your life have changed since you first created these documents. What situations have changed for you? Are all your directives still valid, or is someone you haven’t spoken to in years still your executor? Isn’t spring a perfect time to dust off those documents, and rethink your priorities?

Since I sold my company 5 years ago, first we got rid of the partners life insurance. Now, I’m  looking at my disability policies. Should they be changed to long term care as that might be more relevant to my life going forward, or were they written long enough ago that they’re too good to give up? Mind you, if you are disabled, according to a recent GMA investigation, you might find yourself being tracked by the insurance company. Isn’t it always amazing that you pay so much for insurance, and they’re so loathe to pay it back to you? Maybe the answer is to cover your bets, and keep most of the disability and add some long term care. What do you think?

Then, I’m making an appointment with my attorney to review my will, health care proxy, etc. to make sure they’re all up to date, and still the way I want them. At the same time I’m going to review my beneficiaries, and update those retirement plans and insurance policies. Remember the blog from a few weeks ago? Maybe this time I’ll even get my husband to finish and sign his (hint, hint).

What documents do you have that could use a little spring cleaning?

Don’t forget the other Blogging Boomers, this week’s carnival is hosted by So Baby Boomer.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Insurance, boomers, business, cleaning, legal, people, will | 1 Comment »

Beneficiaries Who Do You Choose? Rock, Paper, Scissors, IRA, 401K?

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Not sure how this came up, it might be because of the ability to transfer your IRA to a Roth IRA this year, but I recently

Who to choose? How to choose?

Who to choose? How to choose?

started thinking about who my beneficiaries should be, and how you choose them. Everyone is used to just signing spouses, parents, kids, on insurance and retirement plans, but are there guidelines? Is there a smart way to approach this?

Understand that my list isn’t very long. My husband of course, but if we go together, then what?  Since we don’t have children, that eliminates one obvious group. From there it gets dicier. When my niece and nephew were younger, they were listed so there would be money for their education.  Now they are pretty much out on their own, and while some  money for them would be a nice thing, is it the best use of the money? Do you give leave it to someone older that is needier? What about charities?

Turns out this is a much bigger issue, than just picking a couple of relatives, and signing your name. First of all, you need to decide if tax planning will be an issue (is it ever not?), or if you just want to give away the “stuff” and let your heirs deal with the tax implications. According to attorney Amie Gartenberg, “the tax tail wags the dog”, and with inheritance tax rules currently in flux…

The other thing I didn’t know, was that bequests in your IRA, 401K etc, supersede those in a will. What I also learned is that you should review all these documents periodically with your attorney. Just think about it like this, every time there’s a new president, you should probably make an appointment, as taxes seem to change with every administration. And people forget to update wills and other documents when they or their family members undergo major life changes, such as divorce, federal indictments, or a loosing poker hand.

So this year, spring cleaning for me will include dusting off my will and other documents, and making sure everything is up to date. What about you?

Don’t forget about this week’s Blogging Boomers Carnival. Where else can you find out whether spring clogs are for those of us over 40, and other great topics?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Insurance, aging, boomers, family, legal, taxes, will | 2 Comments »

How much do you really love your loved ones?

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Everyone always gives lip service to how much they love their family, but if you don’t have a will, it’s just empty talk.

It's All About Aging Parrot LoveIn the survey we ran last fall, 45% of the people responding did not have a will. This is about on par with the national average. So what’s preventing you from doing this? If your idea of a legacy is leaving your family and friends fighting it out in probate court for years, then just go read another blog. If it’s one of those items forever haunting your to-do list, why don’t you decide to push it to the top of the list? Call your lawyer, make an appointment. If that’s to much for you, at least go to something like legalzoom, or Suze Orman’s site, where they have simple questionnaires to fill out and create a will. Here’s a pretty straightforward explanation from AARP: “Identify who will inherit your estate. Use your will to say who gets what. You can leave everything to your spouse, a painting to your granddaughter, divide everything equally between your two kids, or leave various percentages to friends and charities.”

So get to it! And for those of you who already have a will, when was the last time you updated it? Just a thought.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s Blogging Boomer’s Carnival, and please if you haven’t already, donate to the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders to help Haiti.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in aging, conversation, family, legacy, will | 1 Comment »

Driving and Talking, an Idea About Having “the Conversation”.

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Every week, my husband and I take a 90 minute drive to our country house. It’s turned out to be a really good way to catch up on what’s happened during the week, toss ideas around, and have serious conversations. Since I’ve been working on the website, I’ve become very involved in getting people to plan for their parents’ futures, by planning for their own. One of the serious conversations we had recently was about end of life wishes, and it’s good to know that we’re both clear on what the other wants. It's All About Aging Driving Sign

The importance of this came home this past week, here’s the story:
If you’re in love enough to say “I do” why can’t you say “I don’t”?
We talk to our spouses and loved ones about so much, but often neglect the most important conversation. The one about what your end of life wishes are. Life support? DNR? Organ donation?  A friend of mine lost her husband to pancreatic cancer Sunday. What makes this even sadder is while he had a will, and had provided for his wife of twenty years, they had never had “the Conversation”.

About 2:00 in the morning, she heard him gasping for breathe and called 911.  Paramedics put him on life support and when they found out he had neither a health care proxy or living will, insisted  she call a friend to meet her at the hospital. Tests were run to determine if he was brain dead, and in a state of shock, she alone had to make critical decisions. He was pronounced brain dead, she made the decision to pull the plug, and he passed about an hour later.

Please, if you love someone, talk to them. Here’s a link to Five Wishes, a health care proxy to get you started. It’s not easy, but it’s a lot easier than having to make life or death decisions, all alone in a cold emergency room at 3:00 in the morning.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in aging, boomers, conversation, crisis, driving, family, parents, people, will | No Comments »

Avoid Your Own Astor Disaster or Where There’s A Will…

Monday, October 12th, 2009
Do you want this to be your legacy?

Do you want this to be your legacy?

While it’s safe to say that no members of the Astor family will be taking away the Nobel Peace Prize (and congrats to President Obama) that’s not to say that we all haven’t been following the drama as it unfolds. Most of us are not in that financial stratosphere (and if you are, how about investing in this site?) but there are important lessons to be learned even if your estate consists of a minuscule savings account.

First, have a will. Surprisingly, in the survey we ran last month, of over 160 respondents, over a third of them didn’t have a will. The oldest group (70+), two out of three people did have a will, the third person hadn’t even started thinking of it. What are you waiting for? A free-for-all with your relatives and friends? A six month trial with endless appeals? In the age group 56-70 the majority had wills, but the numbers dropped significantly in the group 41-55 with only 54.7% having a will. This is a group that has children, but almost 25% of them didn’t have a will.
Even if you draft a basic document from one of the legal websites, like Legalzoom or go to Amazon.com for the Suze Orman’s Will & Trust Kit, it’s better than nothing at all, and no matter how much you may deny it, the thought of ________ getting their hands on your __________ should send you running to the lawyer.

Second, communicate with the people you care about. And communicate early. The more people who know what your wishes are, the less chance that your favorite Childe Hassam painting won’t disappear from over the sofa. Some people use the 40/70 rule for starting the conversation (meaning that when someone is either 40 or 70 start talking) but if you have children of any age, your estate should be in order to protect your children. And why would you want to make your passing any more painful for them by dying intestate (without a will)? On the CBS Moneywatch site there’s a great list of 12 tough questions to ask your parents, and don’t feel you have to limit it to your parents. You might want to go through the list yourself and make sure you have all these bases covered.  That’s what I did before I approached my parents.

I’ve learned from having these conversations with my parents that it’s REALLY tough to break the ice, but once it’s broken, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to work on this, one step at a time. And isn’t a good night’s sleep, knowing everything is taken care of, better than the nightmare of endless legal wrangling? Let me know how you’ve done. The next time we do a survey, I want 99% to have a will, ok?

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in aging, conversation, family, legacy, legal, memories, parents, will | 2 Comments »