By: JM Megail Gaumer

Did you know that a woman that reaches the age of 60 has a life expectancy of 23.8 years? That is 15.5% longer than the life expectancy of a man. When you take into account that many women are/were the ones to stay home to raise families and provide care to elderly family members it opens your eyes to the fact that as women reach retirement age they have put themselves into a hardship.

Women’s healthcare costs exceed that of men’s by a range of 4% to 48%, but do their incomes make up the difference? No, the average retirement income in 2009 for women was $21,519 – 57% lower than men.

That leave the question, what can be done to alleviate the burden in their golden years with or without their spouse by their side. We welcome you to schedule a free consultation to discuss your individual retirement concerns and help find solutions to them.   

By Kathy Cooper

May is the month designated to recognize the contributions of older persons who have contributed to our country and particularly those who have defended our country.  

You may not know that President John F. Kennedy was the founder of Senior Citizens Month in 1963, recognizing the growing concerns of older Americans.  President Jimmy Carter changed the designation to “Older Americans Month”. The Administration on Aging is the sponsor.

This year’s theme is designed to recognize the large number of baby boomers who are reaching retirement age and plan to remain physically and socially active through their 80s and beyond.  Keeping our country’s older citizens healthy is a top priority and encouraging them to be active is a great way to prevent the problems that they encounter if they become sedentary and isolated.  What can you do?  Want to find out more? 

http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/Press_Room/Observances/2012/Older_Americans.aspx

By the way, even healthy boomers should be planning to protect their wealth against the unforeseen.  Call us for a free consultation. 

By Bob Kueppers

The older population, persons 65 years or older, numbered 39.6 million in 2009 (the latest year for which data is available). They represented 12.9% of the U.S. population, about one in every eight Americans. 

By 2030, there will be about 72.1 million older persons, more than twice their number in 2000. People 65+ represented 12.4% of the population in the year 2000 but are expected to grow to be 19% of the population by 2030.

By Bob Kueppers

At Cooper, Adel & Associates, we have clients whose families are scattered all over the world. Many times, the child who is physically closest is the one who ends up taking care of a parent while the other siblings are often out of the loop on the daily routines of care giving. One option to consider to help families is CareZone.com. CareZone provides a safe, private place to organize, store and manage everything online without the worry of privacy issues. CareZone prides itself on securing your data so only you and your family can see it: they don’t allow advertising or profiling and you won’t find any options to let Facebook, Twitter or the world know what’s going on in your private world.

After becoming a member, users can write journals about their loved one’s progress.  Members can add medications, contacts, notes, and even upload files of important documents. This is one option to keep the entire family in the loop without annoying emails or playing phone tag. 

by Ron King

The funeral is a ceremony of proven worth and value for mourners. It provides an opportunity for all who share in the loss to express their love, respect and grief. It allows them to openly face the crisis that death may present. Through the funeral, the bereaved take that first step toward the emotional adjustment of their loss and start the healing process.

The cost to memorialize and bury a loved one has increased steadily in the past few decades, and survivors are often seeking donations and opting for less expensive options to honor the life of their loved ones.

When a loved one dies, money (moreover the cost of burial) is not a forethought. Once the initial shock of death has subsided, grief-stricken survivors realize that dying in America is expensive. The average funeral cost in the U.S. is about $6,500. With the added costs of cemetery, flowers and other expenses the total can easily reach $10,000. Grief, desires, obligations, and lack of direction can cause one to go into debt just to honor the dead.

As part of the many services we offer the public, we at Cooper, Adel, and Associates provide and answer to this dilemma that can affect all of us at some point. Through the use of tailored estate and burial pre-planning we can take the monetary burden off your loves ones so that they can focus on what is most important in the time of death…healing.

My dad played competitive softball well into his early fifties.  As a matter of fact, some of my favorite memories growing up took place at ball diamonds spanning from southwestern Ohio to Zanesville.  Spending ten hour Saturdays at the ball field was as natural to our family as sitting down to dinner, and we loved it.  Dad started pitching for the Hamilton Indians, who are now the well-known West Side Little League of Hamilton, when he was eight years old.  He played hard as a kid, and played just as hard as an adult.  He endured broken bones, busted kneecaps, separated shoulders and pulled muscles.  And through it all…my dad played.  

Fast forward more than a few years, and my dad is now 67, and about to undergo total knee replacement surgery for the second time.  As he waits for the anesthetic to do its job, the question of “was it worth it?” will never enter his mind.  Playing ball is what he did then, and surgery is what he'll do now, and that's all there is to it.  The question of “are your healthcare documents in order?” is what I will ask him before he has this surgery, and I'll trust Cooper, Adel & Associates with the task of ensuring that they are.  

Love you dad!! 

By Michelle Mason

Do you help an older or disabled adult with housekeeping, shopping, 

meal preparation, transportation, paperwork, or personal care? If so, you are a caregiver.  Many caregivers do not identify themselves as such.

They find themselves in a new world for which they are unprepared. The stress is compounded when caregivers have other responsibilities, such as children and work.

Facts:

Many older adults, who live by temselves find new friends and new experiences to keep connected with life once they become residents in adult facilities. 

The quality of care will improve in many adults, because they are receiving regular Medical services and 24-hour care provided by a Nursing Home, or Assisted Living facilities. 

Experienced caregivers eventually learn two vital lessons:

• Help is available –seek it out and use it.
• Take care of yourself, or you will be unable to take care of anyone else. 

Caregiver Tip 

Moving a loved one into a Nursing Home is an act of Love, not a denial of duty. 

To apply for Medicaid to pay for the Nursing Home or Assisted Living Facility, the applicant must meet certain requirements.  Adult children are often afraid to interfere in their parent’s financial affairs.  Parents are often sensitive about letting their children “get into their business”.

” It is important to get organized and create a plan for the future!  Call Cooper, Adel & Associates for a free consultation.

Well, it's the beginning of a new year and we all have made our new year resolutions, right!? RIGHT!!  I believe at one time or another we have all resolved to lose weight or get fit in the new year, however very shortly after a lot of us seem to fall off the band wagon, however as I get older I realize how much a sensible diet and exercise impacts how we feel about ourselves overall.

As we all know, getting older is not easy. As we age, the things we used to do in our 20's is not so easy in our 30's and so on. It all boils down to staying active and healthy. I have realized that extending your health into the golden years is a goal you (and I) should strive for.  Being passive about fitness and wellness can bring on many illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease or stroke that will interfere with your quality of life or can result in frequent hospitalizations or long term care.  By optimizing your level of fitness and wellness, you can increase your chances of being independent much longer and do the things you want to during your retirement years like travel, enjoy time with family or even start a second career or pursue a lifelong dream.  

Keeping up with wellness also involves mental wellness.  You can increase your mental sharpness by making a spreadsheet on the computer or paper to track each area of your personal wellness on a monthly basis.  The Mayo Clinic suggests doing crossword puzzles, reading parts of newspapers you usually would skip, learning a musical instrument, taking different routes to get places, or volunteering to help improve memory skills.

Of course, when starting a new exercise regime always consult with your doctor first.

I’m sure most of you have heard of the singer/guitarist, Glen Campbell. He sang hits such as “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “By the time I get to Phoenix”. For those of you who do not know who he is, he was in show business for 50 years. During that time he released more than 70 albums and sold more then 45 million records. As some stars do, there was a point in his life when he battled drug and alcohol addiction. Luckily for him, he successfully got the help he needed and won his freedom from addiction. According to an interview that was done by CNN with Glen’s wife, his toughest battle was not with addiction but with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the loss of brain function that affects memory, thinking and behavior. 

This is a tragic story that ultimately ended his singing career. Beyond the point that he is a famous icon, I see people struggling with conditions like this every day.  That is why I encourage anyone that I can to pre-plan, or get your ducks in a row, as Attorney Thom Cooper always says.  Please contact Cooper, Adel & Associates for a free consultation to learn how you can get your ducks in a row.

By Dolly Wilkerson

Have you jumped the fence into Middle Age? We may grow wiser with years thanks to lessons we learn, but maybe not as quickly as we used to. Words and names flow to the tip of the tongue and then evaporate there at the most embarrassing moments. It’s frustrating and we all suffer from it, some more then others. A recent study called “Age of Reason” states that our mental sweet spot occurs at the average age of 53. 

Preparing for retirement is only a small part of the picture. You have to prepare for the unfortunate reality that at some point, your thinking is going to diminish and your ability to make sound decisions that affect you and your family will also suffer. It is only common sense that you begin the planning early and revisit it often.

Four steps that are recommended include:

• Get your documents together: starting with a durable power of attorney (POA). Other documents should include an up to date will, health care POA, and current beneficiary forms just to name a few.

• Know someone who can give you a second opinion: This could be a responsible adult child, a capable friend you’ve known for a long time, a trusted financial adviser, or an elder law attorney specializing in these matters.

• Read the fine print: make sure the annuity or the financial instrument you are considering purchasing actually covers the long term care you are interested in. In a recent case in Westwood, NJ a daughter, whose father suffered from Alzheimer’s and was living in an assisted living facility tried to exercise the waiver on the annuity he owned. The insurance company turned her down citing that it waived fees only for those living in “nursing homes”.

• Give your adviser a back door way of protecting you: Most advisers and elder law attorneys will ask for an “incapacity letter”. It allows the professional to alert a designated person if mental decline becomes apparent in the normal course of doing business.

The toughest part of all is knowing when to sound the alarm. Linda Patchett of Chapel Hill, NC, gets it right when she says “Within each person rages the tension between maintaining independence and self-hood and recognizing deficits”. Age 60, she says, is “a very good time to bring the issues of aging into sharper focus.”

Ref: AARP Magazine, January-February 2012, “Your Money / Financially Speaking / Sound the alarm if you’re not as mentally sharp as you once were”