Page 36 - Money - November 2018

THE
ULTIMATE
RETIREMENT
GUIDE
2018
SOLO “principal”—has become incapacitated. It’s Amoruso’s clients work with Midland Trust
SENIORS
important that you create your power of in Tarrytown, N.Y., which charges an annual
attorney when you’re still in full command of fee based on assets, starting from 1.25% on
your faculties. If you don’t, and you become the first $1 million and then declining as the
unable to take care of yourself, then the court balance rises, says Linda A. Mahon, vice
system will appoint a legal guardian for you. president and trust officer. The company
“You lose total control,” says Amoruso, includes many services in this fee, such as
who serves as president of the National visiting the home to sort through financial
Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. paperwork and tracking down clients’
Another way to retain some control over unclaimed pensions. Recalling one particu-
your future care is to purchase a long-term- larly complicated situation, Mahon says, “We
care insurance policy. The median cost of a were calling Singapore at one point.”
home health aide is $4,100 a month, and the Trustees have a legal obligation, known as
cost of a semiprivate nursing-home room is a fiduciary duty, to uphold your wishes as
$7,148 a month, according to the 2017 outlined in the legal documents. (Bonus:
Genworth Cost of Care survey. Consumers Done properly, this structure can help your
with over $2 million of investable assets can estate avoid probate.)
generally afford to self-insure against the For day-to-day help with your finances,
risk of needing these services, financial a daily money manager can pay your bills,
advisors say, but those with less should at balance your checkbook, organize your tax
least consider their options. Gloria Gottlieb, papers, and even help with your medical
president and registered financial consul- claims. Barbara Boustead, a social worker
tant at Your Consultants, an independent and daily money manager in Madison, has
insurance broker in New York City, says her a number of elder orphans as clients. She
firm helps clients fill out the required chooses not to assume financial power of
paperwork when the time comes to claim attorney, instead working side by side with
their benefits, a service that can be par- her clients, but some daily money managers
ticularly useful for those without family do take on that role. Trust officers can also
to assist. pay bills for clients. Mahon says her firm
Trusts can also protect people who are has taken over bill paying for a client who is
aging solo. You can work with an attorney to around 90 years old and mentally sharp but
set up a revocable trust and place all your is losing her eyesight to macular
assets into the trust. You will likely become degeneration.
the trustee of your own trust, but if you These services can be invaluable for
become unable to manage your own affairs, those who can afford them. Those who can’t
then a successor trustee steps in and the might have to think more creatively. “At this
trust can switch from a revocable trust into stage of life, my resources are thin,” says
an irrevocable trust, Amoruso says. Those Elaine Bearden, 61, of Waco, Texas. She
who have no close associates to appoint as plans to open her home to boarders to help
successor trustee can name a corporate defray costs and to create networks of
trustee, like a bank, to this position. Some of friends who can help one another manage
as they get older.
Perhaps most important, successful solo
aging may require a mind shift for some
people. “In our society, we tend to put so
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