One concern that many elderly folk rightly have is how to best protect their assets. There are many different schools of thought on this topic, and not everyone is able to easily take these preventative steps. For example, those that have a had a disability for a long period of time may struggle more than an active and healthy 75 year old will. Still, having an understanding of the best way to protect yourself and your assets will help you out, even if you can’t apply all of these concepts to yourself.
First, you want to address your long term care. You want to ensure that you are getting the proper care for yourself. You should place a focus on your physical needs, but you also want to maintain your independence as much as possible. You have three main options when it comes to paying for your care. You can pay out of pocket, you can use insurance, or you can use a public benefit, such as Medi-Cal or the VA. Having a health care policy, or a long term care insurance plan, is a must if you want to reduce costs here. It doesn’t matter if your policy is a private one or a public one, like Medi-Cal. You should have something here to help you offset costs to some degree so your family isn’t stuck with the bill. Private long term care insurance has been shown to have great benefits, but oftentimes people don’t think about this until they are no longer qualified to receive it.
Some people worry about what senior care, even an unobtrusive type like in-home care, will do to their finances. This is a legitimate concern. You’ve worked your entire life to earn money, saving it, perhaps so your family could enjoy some of the benefits of your hard work. Using Medi-Cal to fund your senior care can require you to spend a lot of this money, and it may even have a negative impact on the quality of the care that you receive. There are things you can do, like attempt to specify a certain caregiver, but this is subject to official approval. Some people recommend placing your money into an irrevocable trust before applying for Medi-Cal in order to protect your assets better and to help family members in the future. This needs to be addressed on a case by case basis, and it doesn’t work in all instances, so be sure to get legal advice before pursuing this.
You have things to consider, too. You have family, and maybe a spouse. Your money was probably saved for their benefit, too. If asset protection is important to you, then it’s really important that you speak to a legal professional before you make any sort of finalized decision. This is not legal advice, so if you do want to go into more details within this subject, it is important that you speak to an attorney, preferably one that specializes in senior care or elder law. They can help you to better prepare your senior care and protect you and your family at the same time.
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