Making sure that your financial health is in good standing as you reach an advanced age is of course very important. If you are like most people it is going to take some intelligent long-term planning to position yourself to enjoy your retirement years to the fullest. But, if you work with a good South Carolina financial planning attorney you should be able to accumulate the resources that you need to live comfortably throughout your life.

In addition to your financial well-being you also have to concern yourself with your physical health. Having enough money to do all the things that you always planned on doing when your time became your own is not going to do much good if your health will not allow you to take advantage of your financial freedom.

One of the health issues to keep in mind as you are approaching your senior years is the possibility of falling down and injuring yourself seriously. The statistics on the subject are eye-catching to say the least.

According to the National Council On Aging, an older adult American dies as a result of a fall every 29 minutes. Falling is the leading cause of accidental death among elder Americans, and annual medical expenses incurred in the United States due to falls are expected to reach in excess of $50 billion by 2020.

There are things that you can do to prevent falls, such as installing handrails, grab bars and walk-in showers into your home. It is also important to stay focused, aware, and in the moment while measuring every step because a single mistake could have devastating consequences.

Kuhn & Kuhn Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

As you are looking forward to the future it is important to have a good understanding of what you can expect from Social Security. If you want to be able to retire in true comfort you don’t want to rely too heavily on Social Security, but if you are like most people it is certainly going to represent a significant portion of your retirement income.

The first question that many individuals have about Social Security involves when they will become eligible to receive their full benefits. There is no one answer because your age of eligibility depends on the year during which you were born. For people born in 1954 and earlier who are not yet receiving Social Security full retirement age is 66. For individuals born in 1960 and after the full retirement age is 67.

For those born between 1955 and 1959 full retirement age is somewhere between 66 and 67. It goes up from 66 by two months per year. So if you were born in 1955 your full retirement age is 66 years and two months; if you were born in 1956 your full retirement age is 66 years and four months, and so on until 1960 when it becomes 67.

As for the amount of your benefit, that is going to vary depending on how much you paid into the program over the years. There is a maximum at the present time of $38,880 per year. However, the average Social Security payout is under $1100 per month and this underscores why it is so important to plan ahead in advance and not be too reliant on Social Security.

Comprehensive long-term financial planning is the key to a comfortable future. If you do not currently have a plan in place, right now would be a good time to take action to arrange for a consultation with a good SC estate planning lawyer.

Kuhn & Kuhn Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

In the elder law community the subject of long-term care is a hot topic, and when you analyze the numbers you see a very profound challenge emerging. The population is aging rapidly with senior citizens comprising the fastest growing age demographic in the United States.  According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seven out of every ten seniors are some day going to need long term care. 25% of people who have reached the age of 85 are residing in a nursing home, so the fact is that there is a very realistic chance that that you will be spending some time in a long-term care facility.

According to the MetLife Mature Market Institute survey in 2010 it cost an average of nearly $40,000 to spend a year in an assisted living facility and over $83,000 to spend the same period of time in a nursing home. The average nursing home stay is about two and a half years. It should be emphasized that these are the figures as they stood in 2010; they are expected to continue to rise, so if you are planning for a possible stay in a long-term care facility in 20 or 30 years they could be much, much higher.

A lot of individuals are under the impression that Medicare will cover these costs, but in fact Medicare does not pay for long-term care expenses. But, Medicaid will if you can qualify. Your “countable” assets cannot exceed $2,000, but your home (up to $500,000 in equity), your motor vehicle, and your personal possessions don’t count. Plus, if you are married and you need to enter long-term care your healthy spouse can keep his or her share of the countable assets up to a limit of $109,560.

Qualifying for Medicaid can be viable response to the high cost of long-term care. But to do so in an optimal manner you would do well to plan ahead carefully with the assistance of an experienced elder law attorney.

Kuhn & Kuhn Law Firm is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.