“In my mind everyone needs an asset preservation plan, especially as you grow older.” If you’re fortunate enough to make it to age 65, there’s about a 40 percent chance that you’ll eventually wind up in a long-term care facility. If you make it to age 85, that goes up to about a 70 percent chance.
This specific legal planning is directed toward protecting your life savings from the financial devastation that can accompany the need for long-term care. Different from estate planning, having an asset preservation plan in place makes sure you have an inheritance left to pass on to your loved ones.
In this Elder Law Minute, Wes Coulson, Southern Illinois Elder Law attorney, discusses legal planning directed towards protecting assets from the potentially devastating costs of long-term care and gives insights as to who needs an asset preservation plan.
Who Needs An Asset Preservation Plan?
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Wes Coulson and this is your Elder Law Minute. If you’ve listened to our other videos, you’ve probably heard me speak several times on the subject of long-term care asset preservation. That’s basically specific legal planning that is directed toward protecting your life savings from the financial devastation that can accompany the need for long-term care.
As I’d like to say the difference between estate planning and asset preservation planning:
Estate planning decides who is going to inherit from you when you die and makes sure that that gets done in an orderly and effective way. But if you don’t have an asset preservation plan, your estate plan may be meaningless because if you die flat broke in a nursing home, there’s nothing left to distribute.
So, who needs an asset preservation plan? Well, in my mind everyone does, at least as you’ve gotten older. If you’re fortunate enough to made it to age 65 there’s about a 40 percent chance that you’ll eventually wind up in a long-term care facility. If you make it to age 85 that goes up to to about a 70 percent chance.
If you knew that there was a 40 percent chance that your house would eventually burn to the ground, would you think of doing without homeowner’s insurance? I don’t think so.
So, times that we look at. Basically once someone has retired or reached retirement age, your focus shifts from continuing to make and grow your wealth to making sure that you can protect it. And asset preservation planning is a very important aspect of that.
I invite you to give us a call. We’ve been given the privilege of helping an awful lot of people with this planning with very successful outcomes and we would be honored to have the opportunity to help you as well. Thanks.
For more information on powers of attorney, visit these articles:
- How An Asset Preservation Trust Protects Your Life Savings From Long-Term Care Costs
- What Happens To Assets In An Asset Preservation Trust?
- What If I Put My Life Savings Into An Asset Preservation Trust And Then I Need Some Back Later?
“Your Trusted Advisor on the Elder Care Journey”
Dent-Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer’s Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older. At Dent-Coulson Elder Law, our clients’ well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call (877)995-6876 or Contact Us and we will get in touch as soon as possible.
