Protect Your Parents And Their Financial Health

The private legal and financial issues can have a profound impact on families. Here is guidance and preparation through the process, as though working with a trusted friend who also happens to be a trained financial professional The adult child with the foresight and courage to tackle these issues while their parents are able to discuss them, will be forearmed When disaster strikes, it's too late.Stressing that adult children should talk with aging relatives while they are healthy and vital, the book helps families: -- remove psychological and practical barriers-- identify all the information required to make good decisions, creating a framework for action-- compile data, formulate discussion points, and set and achieve goals-- deal with reticent parents, advisors, distance barriers, and complex financial issues-- understand the financial and legal aspects of aging: what to do if your parents have money, and what to do if they don't

Wall Street Journal “Love and Money” columnist Jeff D. Opdyke offers a compassionate and highly effective handbook designed to help elderly parents manage their money. Protecting Your Parents’ Money is the essential guide to helping Mom and Dad navigate the finances of retirement, covering such topics as understanding Medicare, preventing elder fraud, and the hunt for a quality, affordable retirement home. Protecting Your Parents’ Money is a book everyone should own, as members of the Baby Boomer generation find themselves dealing with the many financial problems surrounding aging parents, and face their own future as seniors.

Because caring for your parents' health also means caring for their wealth... Watching your parents decline and assuming the burden of caring for their physical needs is difficult enough, but you can't allow that to overshadow the importance of their financial needs. After all, what will happen if your parents outlive their savings? In order to be a financial caregiver, you'll need to know how to deal with legal and financial paperwork; government agencies and regulations; a host of insurance, investment, and estate planning issues; and the inevitable emotional and psychological issues that arise whenever money and family mix. In this indispensable guide, two family finance experts who are caring for their own parents' finances provide a basic primer in personal finance for those who are involved in their parents' financial lives. Filled with checklists, worksheets, resource lists, and other essential tools, this comprehensive guide supplies the knowledge and confidence you need to Decide who should manage your parents' money Communicate with siblings and caregivers Establish budgets and write annual reports Manage your parents' stocks, bonds, real estate, and other investments Deal with health insurance, Medicaid, and other insurance issues Protect your parents from elder fraud

Does your family talk about money? Do your kids understand your money values? Do you and your mate agree on how you spend and invest your money? Do you know if your parents are financially secure? These are the questions that Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and her father, Charles Schwab, ask at the beginning of this invaluable family financial primer. The authors acknowledge that these are difficult questions but stress that families must grapple with them and come up with answers. Despite the proliferation of the financial news media, money remains a taboo subject in most families. Often the mere thought of talking about money with a family member causes enormous personal stress and confusion. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The goal of this father-daughter collaboration is to bring solid financial advice into the context of family, where it can be explored, understood, and implemented to the benefit of everyone. The first essential thing that must happen is conversation, and It Pays to Talk is filled with advice about how to start talking. The authors are both working parents with a combined sixty-five years of knowledge and experience in the investment field. In this book they present a road map that every family can follow as they develop and implement an investment strategy and money-management plan. They begin by covering the fundamental principles that every investor needs to understand in order to succeed for the long term, and then they move on to cover joining forces in marriage; building your family’s wealth regardless of market conditions; investing for your children’s future and raising money-savvy kids; retirement planning; estate planning for you and your parents; and dealing with the unexpected—insurance, divorce, and investing a windfall. Throughout the book, the authors offer advice about how to start the often difficult conversations that lead to smart decision-making, as well as how to talk gently, intelligently, and respectfully about the many issues that define and shape our attitudes about money. It does pay to talk. This valuable and expert book will get you started and help you at every stage of your family’s investment career.

The complete guide for managing the financial, legal, and emotional issues of inheritances large and small. A death in the family is never easy, but receiving an inheritance, whether expected or not, can leave heirs feeling overwhelmed and even guilty at this change in their fortunes. Ann Perry’s insightful examination of the challenges make managing a bequest a little easier. Combining her practical know-how as a personal finance writer, the expertise of financial advisors, attorneys, and psychologists, and the wisdom gained from her personal inheritance experience, Perry deftly deals with such touchy subjects as selling the family homestead, divvying up property in “blended families,” parceling out heirlooms, dividing a family business, and sharing—or not sharing—an inheritance with a spouse. With refreshing candor, Perry addresses the guilt, grief, and unrealistic fantasies that can keep heirs from making the most of their windfalls, and also explores the unique, even life-changing, opportunities that a bequest can present. An excellent tool for estate planning, as well, this is essential reading for those who are writing their wills as well as those who are remembered in one.

Caring for your aging parent can feel overwhelming, from the emotional crisis of sudden illness to the legal crisis of sudden guardianship. A common wish is to be able to provide the same level of love and support to our parents as they so generously offered to us as children. Understanding the potential stress on your finances and savings, and knowing how to cope financially, can help ease this confusing life change. Lise Andreana is a frequent guest speaker at financial conferences and a go-to source for financial reporters nationally. She is relied upon for her 18 years of financial planning expertise combined with her unique designation as a Certified Professional Consultant on Aging. This, her latest financial planning title, covers the key decisions that every adult child of an aging parent must make in order to provide loving support to the people who matter the most.

Learn to start open, productive talks about money with your parents as they age As your parents age, you may find that you want or need to broach the often-difficult subject of finances. In Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations with Your Parents About Their Finances, you’ll learn the best ways to approach this issue, along with a wealth of financial and legal information that will help you help your parents into and through their golden years. Sometimes parents are reluctant to address money matters with their adult children, and topics such as long-term care, retirement savings (or lack thereof), and end-of-life planning can be particularly touchy. In this book, you’ll hear from others in your position who have successfully had “the talk” with their parents, and you’ll read about a variety of conversation strategies that can make talking finances more comfortable and more productive. Learn conversation starters and strategies to open the lines of communication about your parents’ finances Discover the essential financial and legal information you should gather from your parents to be prepared for the future Gain insight from others’ stories of successfully talking money with aging parents Gather the courage, hope, and motivation you need to broach difficult subjects such as care facilities and end-of-life plans For children of Baby Boomers and others looking to assist aging parents with their finances, Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk is a welcome and comforting read. Although talking money with your parents can be hard, you aren’t alone, and this book will guide you through the process of having fruitful financial conversations that lead to meaningful action.