Deliberate, Thoughtful Planning
Wishful Thinking – Get Others’ Sympathy
Deliberate, Thoughtful Planning – You Have Earned Others’ Respect
Twelve years ago.
The year is 2009. On a hot summer afternoon, warm bright air, sunny, a bit of a breeze. Two men retiring from the same homegrown Michigan company. They were very much alike, these two older gentlemen. Team builders. Known for getting the job done. Both had better-than-average, thirty-year careers. Personable, well-respected, and secure. Paid-for home, nice cottage. Everybody likes the lake. Boating. Swimming. No debt. Conservative investments. No bad habits (except spoiling the grandkids). Respected. Accomplished.
As new retirees so often are, both were filled with dreams for the future. Time to spend more time with the important people. Wives, kids, grandchildren. At the cottage, on the golf course, traveling. Enjoying the retirement freedom and security they had anticipated, saved for, earned.
Last week.
July 2021. The company had its one-hundredth anniversary. Both men were invited to celebrate.
They were still very much alike. Both healthy. Each had three grandchildren. Still devoted to their wives of over forty years. Both primary caregivers. At home. Just a few short years into retirement, their wives were stricken with Alzheimer’s.
The sympathetic support of family and friends has been gratifying and welcome.
But there were enormous differences.
One struggled to make ends meet. “On duty”
24 hours per day. Exhausted. Retirement savings, cottage, comfortable home – all gone. His wife gone to the nursing home. And with pension replaced by the 401(k), living on social security. Pitiful.
The other man recently hosted his granddaughter’s wedding. At the lake. One hundred and twenty guests. Life savings intact. Independent, secure. Yes, he was his wife’s primary caregiver. But she still lived at their home. And he had plenty of help. Using the program of all-inclusive care for the elderly (PACE). PACE provides services at home. No worries. Covid emergency rules let him keep the home, cottage, life savings. Respected.
Why is one desperate and the other secure?
Do you want pity or respect?
Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in a person’s life? It does not seem to be native intelligence or talent or dedication. I do not believe that one person wants security, and the other does not. No one is looking for pity. Both would like respect. How has each man used the knowledge they have?
Doesn’t the difference lie in what each person knows and how he or she uses that knowledge?
And that is why I am writing for you and for people like you. For that is the purpose of this blog: to give its readers knowledge – knowledge that they can use in life. LifePlanning™ that benefits themselves, their loved ones, their greater circle of friends. Have you heard about PACE or the new COVID emergency rules anywhere else?
Why didn’t your lawyer or financial adviser tell you?
They cannot tell you what they do not know.
Traditional estate planning lawyers are only concerned with avoiding probate and getting your leftovers to the kids. Things that happen after you have both died. Good to do, of course, but you are not dead yet. Maybe it would be helpful to know how to keep your assets while you are still in the land of the living. LifePlanning™ shows you how.
Financial advisors advise on finances. Liquidity. Rates of return. Stability. Long-term care is not their area of expertise. Let’s keep the financial folks focused on financials. Let them worry about increasing your nest egg. LifePlanning™ is making sure the eggs stay in the nest. Financial advisors want to put more in your bucket… LifePlanning™ makes sure the bottom doesn’t drop out.
This is where you find the rest of the story.
Take action today
Knowledge, concept ideas – all very fine. But without action? Nothing. LifePlanning™ incorporates the reporter’s unique perspective and knowledge, in real life. Getting what you have earned. Avoiding nursing home poverty. Living life to the full, whatever the circumstances. Thousands of Michigan families use LifePlanning™ techniques. Securing a better life for their families. Security is a choice. What do you choose?
Knowledge is power, if you use it
Emergency Covid rules gave you options without poverty.
Beginning last spring, we told you about an expansion of the program for all-inclusive care for the elderly – PACE. Emergency rules for the covid pandemic. We told you: you do not have to sacrifice your life savings, your cottage, your property. Over the last year, through pandemics, vaccines, elections, protests, and general shenanigans, many, many families responded. And have benefited.
But the emergency rules were set to expire on November 1, 2020. Then extended to April 1, 2021!
Bad news: you and hundreds more families were shut out. Not enough time. Too bad, so sad. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Snooze and lose. A bitter pill. But… those rules were extended to April 1, 2020. And then?
The recent past has been full of surprises. Finally, a good surprise!
Good news: the emergency rules have been extended “until further notice.” Thousands of families let the first opportunity slip through their fingers. You let the second chance expire. Now you have a third chance. Should you wait to see how long the government let this go? Are you kidding?
No poverty, no charity, no waste
Not pity… the respect you have earned
Make rules work for folks who play by the rules
Too many middle-class families (one is too many and long-term care poverty smashes the security of thousands) go broke from endless long-term care bills. Pitiful. That does not happen to our Lifeplanningtm families. Respect.
It is simple: three goals, one strategy.
1. No poverty – you will not go broke.
When you are in control, life is good. You will not go broke from casinos, Bernie Madoff, or too many vacations. Long-term care rips the steering wheel from your hands and points you over the cliff. No choice, no chance.
LifePlanning™ keeps you firmly in the driver’s seat. In control. Lifesavings intact. As you have always been.
2. No charity – caregivers get paid. You already “bought the insurance.”
America pays for long-term care through your taxes. Withheld from every paycheck you ever
earned. More than your fair share over the years. You paid for other people. Folks you have never met. You, the middle-class, only want a fair shake. You paid in, you should get paid back if
3. No waste – any leftovers go to your beneficiaries. Not wasted on probate or taxes.
Why shouldn’t your family, your loved ones, benefit from your leftovers? Why should probate, taxes, government soak up what is left? Wise plans avoid strife and insure family harmony.
For 31 years, the LifePlan™ strategy has achieved your goals.
The rules can work for you. LifePlanning™ makes the rules work for the people who play by the rules. Other so-called experts, attorneys, planners, financial advisor accept the status quo. They do what everyone else does. The LifePlan™ approach dives deep. Seeking out and securing your family’s future.
What should you do next?
Safe and secure or broke and anxious?
About those older gentlemen I mentioned at the beginning. They retired at the same time and faced similar challenges. What made their lives so different? Knowledge. Useful knowledge. Action. Follow through. Better results. Why does one man, honorable and well-meaning, face a pathetic future… to be pitied by friends and relations? Why does the other man, with the same opportunities, face a secure future… respected and admired by sons and daughters, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren? And his neighbors at the lake?
Sound planning or urgent need?
Are you facing an urgent need? A loved one who has received a diagnosis? Have you retired and watched your friends and neighbors go through long-term care impoverishment?
Are you considering retirement and want to face the future without fear? Would planning that lasts a lifetime meet your criteria? Does it seem unfair that the middle-class should pay and pay while others reap the rewards?
Put us to the test
Thousands of families across 31 years have experienced the proof. Why not you? Call directly or email. If your situation is urgent, we will get right on it. Or choose to attend a LifePlan™ workshop in person or online.
Get the information you cannot get anywhere else.
Get the information you need without charge or obligation. Just ask. Your time and attention are precious, we will not waste either. Get the inside story no one else shares.
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