Planning for the future involves anticipating expenses, and it is a good idea to take this very seriously and pragmatically. You want to have solid numbers to work with, and you also want to remove the rose-colored glasses when you’re working with them. The last thing you want is to be overly optimistic and find yourself in a difficult position when you are reaching an advanced age.

With the above having been stated, Americans who are planning for their elder years should understand just how expensive long-term care has become. Most senior citizens will need long-term care of some kind, and the average length of stay is between two and four years. These are facts that you have to accept if you want to plan ahead intelligently.

Every year the MetLife Mature Market Institute puts out a survey for public consumption that enlightens us with regard to the current state of long-term care costs. They have released their 2011 figures, and as expected, long-term care costs are continuing to rise.

The national average for a year in a private room in a nursing home in the United States in 2011 rose by 4.4% to $87,235. The average cost in New Jersey was $316 a day and if you multiply this by 365 you’re looking at $115,340 per year. This is certainly a significant expense for most people.

As considerable as they are, there are steps that you can take to prepare yourself for these expenses. To explore your options, take a moment to arrange for a consultation with a licensed and experienced central New Jersey Elder Law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Far too many people do not plan ahead effectively for retirement, but the good news is that a lot of people are proactive about it and they have very specific ideas about how they want to spend their time eventually.

This is fantastic and goal setting is what it’s all about. When you can get excited about what lies ahead if you stick to an intelligently conceived plan, you have the motivation to stay focused and disciplined.

The above having been stated, a lot of people don’t like to think about contingencies that could be unpleasant. Ignoring things does not make them go away, and along these lines, it is a good idea to consider the second stage of your retirement that will follow the active years.

A high percentage of people will need living assistance at some point in time. Some will receive in-home care and others will reside in assisted living communities or nursing homes. This is a stark reality, and if you want to be truly prepared for the future you should face it head on and make preparations both financially and practically.

There is also the matter of possible incapacity to consider. The appropriate response would be execution of durable Powers of Attorney as well as a Living Will. A trust agreement could also contain incapacity provisions.

Multiple stages of life must be considered when you’re planning for the eventualities of aging. To develop a plan that addresses all contingencies, the wise course of action is to discuss your future with an experienced and savvy Middlesex County Elder Law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Long-term care is extremely expensive these days, and if you use the average length of stay coupled with the average costs associated with nursing home care you may be looking at a bill that exceeds $250,000.

This is why so many individuals angle toward Medicaid eligibility. These people rely on Medicaid to cover their long-term care expenses when they reach an advanced age because Medicare does not cover them.

Of course Medicaid is a program that is intended to help people who have significant financial need. For this reason there is a $2000 upper resource limit.

Before you dismiss the possibility of being eligible, you have to understand that a lot of your valuable property does not count toward this figure. Your home, your vehicle, and your personal possessions are not countable in a Medicaid eligibility context.

There are also provisions in place that allow the healthy or community spouse to retain his or her half of assets that do count toward that upper resource limit. There is a ceiling on this however, and there is a change in place for 2012. The community spouse may now keep countable assets of up to $113,640. In 2011 that number was $109,560.

Trying to position yourself to become eligible for Medicaid can be a bit complicated for the layperson. If you are interested in learning how to qualify for Medicaid while retaining a significant percentage of your assets, the wise course of action is to sit down and discuss the matter with an experienced and savvy Somerset County, NJ elder law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There is a famous scene in the movie A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson says quite dramatically “You can’t handle the truth!”

When it comes to making preparations for the eventualities of aging, it is a good idea to be realistic and come to terms with the realities that you may be facing. If you are prepared should a particular scenario arise the matter will be far easier to address, and this is what intelligent advance planning is all about.

With this in mind you would do well to be aware of the fact that some seven out of every 10 people who are at least 65 years of age are going to need long-term care eventually. This is a fact of life, plain and simple–the “truth,” as it were. You can pretend that it is not so or you can be proactive about preparing for the possibility.

The suggestion here is to consider doing some research in advance. Identify the long-term care community that you would prefer should you need such care. You can ask questions of the facilities themselves, consult with extended family members and friends, and tap into online resources that provide rating systems and reviews.

Doing some cost comparison evaluations can be useful as well because long-term care is extremely expensive these days.

As they say, it is better to be safe than sorry. If you would like some professional advice regarding the implementation of a comprehensive plan for aging, simply get in touch with a good Middlesex County NJ elder law attorney to arrange for an informative consultation.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When you are relatively young you might feel far removed from the potential challenges that you may face when you are an elder. It can be hard to wrap your head around the possibility of a time coming when you are no longer capable of the things that you are capable of today. Yet, everyone ages and the average lifespan at the present time is over 78 years and it has been consistently rising. People are routinely living into their mid-80s and beyond, with this age demographic being the fastest-growing group among us.

When you reach such an advanced age it becomes very likely that you will need long-term care. According to statistics provided by the United States Department of Health and Human Services 75% of individuals who reach the age of 65 will someday need long-term care. Medicare does not cover these expenses, but Medicaid will if you can meet the eligibility requirements. As a result many people work with elder law attorneys to devise strategies that angle them toward Medicaid eligibility while still retaining a significant portion of their assets.

Right now Medicaid pays 40% of the total long-term care costs that are incurred by Americans. More and more people are retiring every day as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age. It is estimated that 10,000 people are applying for Social Security daily and this volume of applications is expected to be accepted for the next 20 years. So Medicaid spending is important to millions of our nation’s seniors, and increasing numbers will be needing long-term care.

At the present time there is a congressional super committee in place that is charged with cutting the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. Both the president and the House of Representatives have proposed large cuts in the Medicaid program earlier this year. When the committee makes recommendations on November 23, it would be logical to anticipate cuts to Medicaid being included in their debt reduction plan.

It will be interesting to see how cuts to Medicaid might wind up impacting long-term care for senior citizens. If you are planning for the future you might want to pay attention to the outcome of this cost-cutting initiative.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

It may be human nature to sometimes sweep unpleasant realities under the carpet, but this is a problem that can breed itself. When things take place in the shadows that are never spoken about they can sometimes grow unfettered, making the problem worse. This is one of the challenges inherent in the problem of elder financial abuse.

These crimes take place in a shadowy area because of the fact that so many of the victims don’t want to come forward and tell anyone about the exploitation. Some of them feel embarrassed at having allowed it to happen, and others simply aren’t aware of the fact that they’ve been victimized. And because the perpetrators are often family members or other people known to and trusted by the victim he or she may keep silent to protect the abuser from prosecution.

This is one very common scenario, but now that we live in the era of information money can be transferred electronically in the blink of an eye. We all have can have access to our bank accounts and brokerage accounts online, and criminal types are well aware of this and they often target seniors with propositions intended to separate their mark from his or her money.

This is something to take very seriously, and even though you may have reached senior citizen status the same common sense that you used to avoid being victimized when you were younger is just as useful in the Internet age.

Identity theft is another plague that threatens people of all ages. However, senior citizens are especially appealing targets because they often have strong credit ratings and may not be as active managing their finances online as their younger counterparts. One very positive step would be to subscribe to one of the multiple identity guard solutions that are now being offered to monitor activities undertaken in your name.

To do everything possible to protect yourself from elder financial abuse in all its forms, you would do well to consider your legal options. To explore them, simply arrange for a consultation with an experienced, savvy elder law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Each year there is a study released by the MetLife Mature Market Institute that closely examines the costs associated with long-term care. The numbers for 2010 indicate that these costs are quite high and trending upward. The national average expense for 12 months residing in a private room in a nursing home last year exceeded $83,500, an increase of 4.6% over 2009 figures.

People interested in living in an assisted living community could expect to pay nearly $40,000 per year in 2010. Once again, these are national averages; in the state of New Jersey long-term care costs are considerably higher with a year in a private room in a nursing home averaging in excess of $100,000.

You may shrug off these figures under the assumption that you are probably not going to need long-term care. Considering the fact that seven out of every 10 people who reach the age of 60 will indeed need such care according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services you may want to adjust your thinking if you are indeed under this assumption.

Some people decide to aim toward Medicaid eligibility as a response to long-term care costs. There is a resource limit of $2000, but some significant assets such as your home, your motor vehicle, and some personal possessions don’t count against this number. So there is a strategy called the “Medicaid spend-down” that is sometimes employed, and it is rather self-explanatory: you spend down your assets in an effort to stay within the Medicaid resource limit.

If you decide to spend down in an effort to qualify for Medicaid it is important to understand that there is a five-year “look-back” period.  You are penalized for divesting yourself of assets during the five years preceding your application for Medicaid. The penalty is based on the cost of long-term care in your state. For example, if the average monthly cost is $5000 and you gave away $50,000, your eligibility would be delayed by 10 months.

To explore the matter further and gain an understanding of your options for addressing long-term care expenses, simply arrange for a consultation with an experienced elder law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

There are some things that you hear about that can really be upsetting, and perhaps the grandaddy of them all are cases when someone who is especially vulnerable is taken advantage of. In the field of elder law there is scourge of this nature running rampant in the form of elder financial abuse.

There is a study that was recently published by the MetLife Mature Market Institute. They worked alongside researchers from the University of Kentucky and Virgina Tech along with the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (NCPEA) to compile statistics and draw extrapolations. The results are contained in the The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation, and Predation Against America’s Elders.

“Crimes of occasion” are instances when someone seizes an opportunity that they see to exploit a senior citizen financially without making a career out of it. “Crimes of desperation” are usually committed by family members and people known to the victim who are desperate for money and willing to resort to just about anything to get their hands on some it. And “crimes of predation” are perpetrated by criminals that are proactively looking for seniors that they can target.

There are many different ways that seniors can be financially abused. Identity thieves find seniors to be especially attractive targets because in many cases they have great credit and own their own homes outright. They also fall prey to scam artists of all persuasions, from telemarketing scams to Ponzi schemes to phony home improvement rackets. Some elders are lured into signing powers of attorney by a family member or someone otherwise known to them. Others are slowly but consistently taken by “helpers” who help themselves to the victim’s financial resources.

Awareness is key, and so is good legal advice. To learn more about elder financial abuse and how to protect yourself from it, simply arrange for a consultation with an experienced elder law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

The government program that provides income for senior citizens that just about everyone is well aware of is Social Security. Exactly when you qualify for your full benefit is going to vary depending on the year that you were born. For people who were born between 1943 and 1954, full retirement age is 66. It then rises by two months each year until 1960. Individuals who were born in 1960 and after reach full retirement age on their 67th birthdays.

It should be noted that the above parameters are current as of this writing. There is a lot of talk in Washington about making cuts to the program, and one way of doing that would be to raise the retirement age.

Social Security is due to people who have paid a sufficient amount into the program through the payment of payroll taxes. Those who have not done so are not eligible for Social Security when they reach full retirement age.

But, people with financial need who do not qualify for Social Security may be eligible to receive SSI or Supplemental Security Income. To qualify you must have less than $2,000 in countable assets. But, the value of some significant property does not count, such as your home and your car. This limit is the same one that exists for qualification for Medicaid benefits.

The maximum monthly SSI payment that a single person can receive is $674 at the present time, and a married couple may receive $1010. In addition to this monthly fixed income, people who have been approved for SSI are also eligible for Medicaid automatically. This is of interest to many seniors because Medicaid pays for long term care, such as a stay in a nursing home or an assisted living community. Medicare is not set up to absorb these costs, which are considerable and rising all the time.

To learn more about this and other matters of interest to senior citizens, simply arrange for a consultation with an experienced elder law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

When you start to explore the field of elder law and estate planning you will invariably come across many different legal terms, and you may not be entirely familiar with all of them. For this reason we like to examine some of the legal instruments that are commonly used by elder law attorneys to provide our readers with a little bit of background information. To this end we would like to take a look at powers of attorney, which serve an important purpose in the field of elder law.

A power of attorney is a document that is executed by the grantor who names an agent or attorney-in-fact who is empowered to act in the grantor’s behalf. There are limited powers of attorney, which can be confined to a single act, such as a real estate transaction or the sale of a motor vehicle. And there are general powers of attorney that give another individual or individuals the right to act in your behalf in all matters.

When it comes to elder law issues, powers of attorney are integral to incapacity planning. If you were to become incapacitated and unable to make your own decisions the court could be petitioned to appoint a guardian to act in your behalf, and if the petition was granted you could become a ward of the state. Most people would prefer to choose their own legal representatives to make decisions on their behalf in the event of their incapacitation. This is achieved through the execution of powers of attorney.

But, standard powers of attorney do not remain in effect after the incapacitation of the grantor. So, elder law attorneys will generally recommend the execution of durable powers of attorney. These legal instruments do in fact remain in effect even after the incapacitation of the grantor. In some jurisdictions, one can execute a springing durable power of attorney, and these instruments take effect only upon the incapacitation of the grantor.

To gain a deeper understanding of powers of attorney, simply arrange for an incapacity planning consultation with a licensed, experienced elder law attorney.

The Augulis Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.