If you like to-do lists, especially if you’re worried about what your life will be like when you’re older, an aging plan may be just what you need.
An aging plan is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a comprehensive strategy for living well even when your body may not feel like cooperating.
So, if you’ve never thought of an aging plan, we’ll walk you through what you may want to consider including in yours.
[Read: Senior Home Care: Services, Costs and Tips for Aging in Place]
Why You Should Have an Aging Plan
Some people call an estate plan an aging plan, and you could argue they’re the same thing. But an aging plan is more ambitious and broader. In fact, your estate plan might be part of your aging plan.
Everybody gets older whether they have a plan or not, but creating an aging plan is similar to planning for bad weather — like buying an umbrella since you know eventually there will be rain — or putting money away for retirement because you likely won’t be interested in maintaining a full-time job someday. An aging plan can be a good idea if you want your golden years to be as enjoyable and stress-free as possible. Having an “aging plan” might help you stay more focused on planning for the future than if you just haphazardly strategize for your golden years.
“The best way to think about elder care is hoping for the best but planning for the worst,” says Brian Schmehil, a certified financial planner and managing director of wealth management at The Mather Group, LLC, based out of Chicago.
“None of us know what the future brings so it is important to think about our future while we’re young and of sound mind,” he says.
After all, aging can be challenging and sometimes scary if you feel older than your years or have health issues; an aging plan may make it a little less so. It also might give you more power over the future. You can’t control the future, of course, but you can prepare for it and have plans to make it easier to navigate.
[READ 7 Ways to Reduce Health Care Costs in Retirement]
What Should Be in Your Aging Plan
An aging plan is essentially a to-do list for the rest of your life, and you can obviously start as early or as late as you want. But a lot of topics might be in covered in an aging plan, including:
— Medicare information: This could include names of brokers or companies you’ll want to work with to apply for a Medicare plan or lists of carriers from whom you may want to get a Medicare Advantage plan.
— Retirement accounts information: You could include how much money you expect to have in your accounts when you retire, how much you expect to be dispersed annually and so on.
— Aging-in-place information: This may be a plan to modify your home to accommodate you if you don’t move into assisted living. You should think about what types of modifications you’d need and research the costs to start saving for the future.
— Assisted living information: This may include where you would like to live and how much it will cost if you decide you’d like to live in a retirement community.
— Estate planning documentation: Discuss your will and power of attorney, provide contact information for your elder law attorney and whatever else you can think of to put here. You may leave information about life insurance, a trust, a living will or funeral instructions here.
— Questions you don’t have answers to yet: You could think of this part of the plan as your “think tank.” You may want to ask yourself questions like: Where do I want to live when I’m older? How will I know when I’m ready to give up driving? Should I consider installing a walk-in shower? You can jot down the answers as they come to you.
Your list could be a mile long, figuratively and literally. But one thing that should definitely be in an aging plan is concrete strategies that you can use if there’s an unexpected medical emergency, says Chuck Dugan, medical director at Hopscotch Primary Care in Hudson, North Carolina.
“Illness and injury don’t happen on a schedule. If you have a major health issue, concern or potential for developing a chronic disease, speak with your provider about your concerns,” Dugan says.
He says that ideally, you should keep a list of your current medications and health conditions in a place for emergency medical services to locate them if they need to. So, even though you want to include this information in your aging plan, you’ll also want a list where an EMS professional might find it, such as in your wallet.
[Read: 7 Signs It’s Time to Move to a Senior Living Facility]
Looping in Family Members to Your Plan
You don’t need to show your family the entire plan, but they’ll need to be privy to certain elements.
For instance, Schmehil says, “You want to ensure you have trusted contacts set up with your financial institutions, so they have someone to contact, in case you can’t be reached, or if they have concerns about your health, well-being or welfare.”
A comprehensive aging plan should have strategies you or your family members can employ in worst-case scenarios, such as financial exploitation.
But what if you don’t have family members or even close friends? A lot of people don’t.
That’s all the more reason to put together an aging plan, Dugan says.
“Unfortunately, not everyone has a network of close contacts,” Dugan says. But he says that “most regions have an agency on aging, or similar organization, that has information on local resources, health care providers, social services, religious organizations and support groups.”
In other words, don’t decide that when you’re older, you’ll hope for the best and just tough things out on your own. You don’t have to. You can create your own network of aging allies, but the time to do that is now, not when you’re physically frail and less sure of yourself.
[Read: What Is a Geriatric Care Manager?]
How to Put Together an Aging Plan
That’s really up to you. Your aging plan can be in a notebook or a binder, divided among files on a computer or saved on your phone, and it can be as short or long as you want it.
But there are a few things you should consider as you put together an aging plan, according to Howard Enders, who is based out of Linwood, New Jersey, and is the COO of the Estate Registry, which offers tools and services to financial professionals such as estate planners.
First, your aging plan is worthless if others can’t see it.
“Executors and beneficiaries can’t act on your desired wishes if they are left searching through safety deposit boxes, desk drawers or old email accounts for important documents,” Enders says. “It’s not just about having the plan. It’s about making sure the people who matter most have clear, secure and direct access to it.”
He says there are many digital solutions out there that make this easier than ever. “You can store your will, trust documents, insurance policies, asset lists, liabilities, account details and contact information for key advisors all in one place. The right platform will even provide automated reminders to keep your information current.”
But, most importantly, your aging plan isn’t something you do once and never look at again. Enders says that as your life changes, your aging plan, or at least your estate plan, must also change. “It’s a living document that should evolve with your life,” he says.
Otherwise, eventually, you may outlive your aging plan. What seems like a good idea for 2050 may not be very relevant once it’s the year 2050.
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What Is an Aging Plan and How to Make One originally appeared on usnews.com
