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While you’re refining your estate plan to live through your senior years, don’t forget about final arrangements.

For most folks, postponing thinking about their funeral is the status quo, until someone close to them dies or until they have a health scare. Worse, according to The North Platte Telegraph’s article, “Sunday Focus: Don’t wait to make a plan until it’s too late,” they don’t address their demise at all, putting friends and family members in the position to have to guess what they would have wanted.

If you pre-plan your funeral, your family and loved ones are spared...

“Many seniors may be more focused on their bucket lists, than worrying about having their financial affairs in order.”

Seniors should be having some heart-to-heart discussions with their spouses and loved ones about their wishes concerning their assets and their final days, according to Intermountain Catholic in “Retirees Have Several Financial Issues to Consider.” After a loved one dies, family members are often left dealing with the expenses of their medical care and funeral. To be left to deal with these issues while grieving, adds another layer of heartbreak. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Many people...

“In the coming decades, baby boomers in the U.S. are expected to transfer an estimated $30 trillion in assets to subsequent generations. For many families in Minnesota, that will include the family cabin.”

One of the key markers of summer in many areas is crowded roads, as folks head out of the city to their summer retreats, like the Outer Banks of the Carolinas or the Berkshire Mountains. They know it’s summer in Minnesota, when the roads are filled with families headed to lake cabins. The tradition may not last another generation, according to MinnPost’s in “The uncertain future of...

“The process of estate planning is only more painful, if one spouse has already passed. In this situation, a surviving elderly parent may enlist the assistance of their adult children to manage and divvy up finances.”

Having adult children actively involved with their mother or father, when the other spouse has passed is a blessing. However, sometimes too much of their influence can create unwanted and burdensome legal problems, especially if a parent is having diminished mental capacity. In an article from Caring.com, “How to Stay Respectful (and Legal) In Parents’ Estate Planning,” adult children are advised to...

“Since last year, the NAHB has seen a 30 percent increase in the number of its members seeking special training to help older clients who want to stay in their homes for as long as possible. Remodeling a house, is just one way to make that happen.”

The ultimate goal of aging in place is avoiding a move to an assisted living facility or a nursing home. For some people, it may mean staying in their current home or perhaps moving from a home with more than one level to a ranch with one level or an apartment building with...