I know many of you are in that stage of life where you’re dealing with aging parents. Military life and even post-military life can make this even more difficult because you’re often not living near either 1 or both sets of parents. And while you may not always be able to be there, there are some things you can do to help take care of your parents and help them be prepared as they continue to age.
There are things that you’re probably thinking about like where are they living, can they still take care of themselves, and do they have the ability to pay if they need additional care. There are possibly things you’re not thinking about like estate planning nuances.
Here’s a checklist for helping aging parents that runs through some things you should be talking with your parents about or making sure you know the answers to. I’d also suggest you think of these things with respect to your own situation and what you might want it to look like as you age.
Checklist highlights and my thoughts
Living Situations
What is their current situation and what are their future plans? Are they realistic? How will you know when it’s time to move to the next step?
What help will they need?
Estate Planning
Do they have the required documents in place (will, trust, Powers of Attorney)?
Get the Powers of Attorney done. I’ve seen situations where this wasn’t done and the person no longer has the capacity to sign these documents. At that point, you’re looking at having to go to court to get someone appointed to be able to make decisions for them. This introduces unnecessary delays and expenses.
Do you know where all their documents are?
Do they need to update any beneficiary designations?
Do accounts need to be retitled?
It can make often sense to have Payable On Death for bank accounts and Transfer On Death for brokerage accounts to avoid probate.
Living Arrangements
What is their preferred living arrangement?
Many Continuing Care Retirement Communities have waiting lists. Often the waiting lists take several years until you’re offered a space.
Will that change once your first parent dies?
Do they have Long-Term Care insurance?
Do you know what it covers and how and when it can be used? There are often elimination periods before a payout is authorized so if they are unable to take care of themselves make sure you get the medical documentation as soon as possible and submit it to the insurance company.
Tax Planning
Do they have any unrealized losses in a taxable account?
It can make sense to harvest these because they are lost with the cost basis reset at death.
There are some additional advanced step-up in basis possibilities for those with large unrealized capital gains if one member of a couple is likely to die first. Consider talking to a tax planner or advisor if this is the case.
Download the helping aging parents checklist (link) that provides much more information and other things to consider.
Have questions about this or maybe planning for your own ultimate retirement and long-term care needs? Consider setting up a call here.
