Mar 21, 2019 3 min read

This week, we are going to discuss being a caregiver to elderly parents or friends.

As people age, most will lose some of their physical and mental capacity. What they once did effortlessly could become a challenge. This is a natural progression. Caregivers step up and help to care for these individuals and help them with life’s decisions.

Often caregivers have to make personal sacrifices to perform this needed aid. Sometimes they give up their job and its income to help loved ones. Sometimes they must relocate to provide this care. That may mean uprooting their own lives. Sometimes different family members have different opinions of what options should be selected.

The best solution is to have discussions about these issues before care is needed. This way senior family members can express their own desires and wishes about end-of-life decisions. One good way to do this is have the parents write a letter to their loved ones explaining what they would like to see happen while they still have good mental capacity. This letter can serve as a reminder to their future caregivers which may help overcome challenges that lay ahead.

In planning ahead for these challenges, it is important for future caregivers to understand their parent’s financial and legal issues. Having updated wills, powers of attorney, investment statements and banking information is critical. This information needs to include passwords to access this information. If the seniors have a safe deposit box, the caregivers should know its location and be able to access it.

There may be public benefits available to help. Military benefits such as aid and attendance might be available to help with health care cost. Many seniors were in Vietnam in the 1970s. If they were exposed to “Agent Orange” and got certain cancers, they might be eligible for a pension benefit.

Different diseases have associations which might know about available resources and can provide knowledge and support. If caregivers need a break from the rigors of being a caregiver, sometimes they can get a break from volunteers at church or other civic groups.

It is important to monitor aging parents to be sure that they are not a target of scam artist. These criminals know that it is often easy to confuse seniors and take advantage of them. Instruct seniors to never give their Social Security number to someone who calls them on the telephone. Once I heard of someone who received a telephone call telling them they could get a free back brace. Since this person, like many others of his age have some back issues, he thought the doctor must have told someone he needed one. Also since the price was free, it was very appealing. The caller asked if he had Medicare. Since most people over 65 do, this was a very easy guess. “Just give me your Medicare number, and I will send you the free back brace.” Until recently, your Medicare number was your SS number. These scammers are very smooth.

There are different stages of caregiving. Be prepared and get your team organized. Planning ahead can help reduce tensions and make this important job a little easier.

Your Financial Future is written by certified financial planner Gary W. Boatman, MBA and CFP, who also wrote the book, “Your Financial Compass: Safe Passage Through The Turbulent Waters of Taxes, Income Planning and Market Volatility.” If there is an area that you would like to see discussed in the column, send your suggestions to gary@BoatmanWealthManagement.com.