No Kids? Plan Carefully for Retirement

Whether you're a RINK (retired, independent, no kids) or a
DINK (dual income, no kids), you may find that building a nest egg for
the golden years isn't enough.

If you don't have children, you need to ensure that someone
will look out for your best interests should there come a time when
your body starts to give out or you just can't take care of yourself
anymore.

You can pay for attorneys, accountants and financial planners
to watch your assets. Health care professionals can monitor your health
and people can be hired to cook and clean. But who's going to
coordinate your care, observe the people who are assisting you and make
sure that your voice is heard and your wishes are respected?

We all need to think about these issues whether or not we have
children. Today's mobile society provides little guarantee that grown
children will live nearby. Even when they live in close proximity,
family and job demands may limit the amount of time they have to devote
to an ailing parent. And, sadly, too often parents and children are
either estranged or have a dysfunctional relationship.

If you don't outlive your spouse, siblings and friends, you
can hope to rely on them, but it's a big plus to have someone
physically and mentally strong to deal with the issues and hassles that
may arise. The bottom line is you should begin assembling a team of
professionals, friends and relatives. Let them know your wishes -- and
put them in writing -- before you become dependent.

"People are afraid of doing this because they're afraid of
losing control," says Chris Cooper, a Certified Financial Planner based
in Toledo, Ohio. "They're not losing control; they're delegating
control so that they stay in control. If you don't do it, control can
be taken away from you either by your own poor health or by a court."

Cooper, who is also a nurse and holds a graduate degree in
gerontology, founded ElderCare Advocates to assist clients who are
dealing with long-term care planning and end-of-life issues.

"I oversee the services that they're getting -- money
managers, accountants, household employees, home health care and
nursing home people and transportation. I help create the budgets to
help pay for this," says Cooper.

"Long-term care begins when you can't do for yourself what you
used to
do for yourself. If you used to mow the lawn and now you can't, that's
long-term care. If you used to balance your checkbook and now you
can't, that's long-term care. People want to think of long-term care as
the day you go to a nursing home. If you get services sooner rather
than later you'll reduce the potential of ever going in a nursing home."

Cooper is a rare breed. Most financial
planners aren't
set up to handle everything that he does; but they can play a pivotal
role.

class="subhead">Building the team

class="subhead">Raymond Mignone, a Certified
Financial Planner in Little Neck, N.Y., and author of "RINKs --
Retired, Independent, No Kids," says a good certified financial planner
will have contacts with reputable estate and elder-law attorneys,
long-term care insurance representatives and accountants. As a result,
they can often coordinate what he calls the "money team."

"The financial adviser can be the
coordinator. He's the one who has contact on a more regular basis
because he's helping them manage their investments.

But there's a second team, the emotional
team. If you have brothers and sisters, then you have people who can
help you, otherwise close friends," Mignone says. "They're the people
who will be there when you need them."

Timing
can be everything because we never know when we might become disabled
or even incapable of expressing our wishes. Once you begin acquiring
assets, consider assembling your financial team. Among other things,
someone should be given power of attorney for financial matters. You
decide whether their power will be broad-based or limited.

Key members of your emotional team should
also be asked early on if they would mind handling certain duties
should you become incapacitated, as someone should be named to make
health care decisions.

class="subhead">Recruiting team members

class="subhead">Some team members may not need
to be recruited as early as others. As you age it's important to think
about the various areas where you may want assistance and then bring
them into the plan, says Erika Safran, principal at Financial Asset
Management Corp., in New York.

"When
you're in your mid 60s and early 70s and you're well, tell people what
you'd like to do. I need someone to accompany me on doctor visits. Is
there a service, an outlet, a social worker who is available for this?
There are companies that do that. It's the equivalent of renting an
adult child. They will check on people who live alone and they will
take them to the doctor. It's these small quality of life issues. Who's
going to interpret what the doctor says?"

Geriatric care managers can provide many
needed services, including accompanying a client to the doctor. The
profession has been around for quite some time, but the huge upswing in
demand, as the baby boomer generation ages, is showing the need for
certification standards.

"The geriatric care managers' profession
is not well-defined and there are no state laws governing it," says
Cooper. "You might have a nurse's aide acting as a care manager or you
might have a social worker with a master's degree acting as one. There
are no real standards and that's where the problem is."

The href="http://www.caremanager.org/" target="_blank">National
Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers
is trying to change that, according to director Debra Levy. In 2006,
members voted to require that all new members hold one of four approved
certifications: Care Manager Certified (CMC), Certified Case Manager
(CCM), Certified Advanced Social Work Case Manager (C-ASWCM) and/or
Certified Social Work Case Manager (C-SWCM). All current members must
hold one of the certifications by Jan. 1, 2010.

"It's
not that difficult to hang out a shingle and say you're a care
manager," Levy says. "We want to contribute to the quality of the
profession.

class="subhead">Finding help

class="subhead">"Most major cities have
geriatric care managers (from the association). They're health and
human services experts, social workers and registered nurses. Some have
backgrounds in counseling or gerontology. We do a comprehensive
assessment of their needs in their home, nursing or assisted-living
facility. We consider physical, medical and psychological (needs) and
we see if there are legal or financial matters that are not in place.
We suggest a plan of care and then most of the time we're hired to
implement the plan."

Fees
for services vary, but the comprehensive assessment runs $300 to $800,
according to Levy. Ongoing care ranges from $80 to $200 an hour
depending on the complexity of the care and the region of the country.
Long-term care insurance may cover costs, but Medicare and traditional
health insurance plans do not.

Doctors,
especially those specializing in the elderly, should also be able to
assist with assessments and referrals to qualified care managers. You
can also search the href="http://www.caremanager.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=71"
target="_blank">NAPGCM database
for care managers that belong to the organization. Be sure to check
credentials before hiring anyone. Another source for information about
geriatric care managers is target="_blank">HelpGuide.org. style="text-decoration: underline;"> style="font-style: italic;">

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