Peace of Mind for Your Aging Parents

Book excerpt: Explains the most effective ways to discuss the legal and financial responsibilities that come with the end of life and tools for managing them—such as wills, trusts, estate planning, and cash management—in the context of financial psychology. Dying is complicated. It presents myriad challenges at a time when people are least prepared to deal with complexity. Typically, aging people turn to their adult children and grandchildren, their caregivers, and their professional advisors to guide them in their final years. This book is aimed directly at the children and grandchildren of aging parents to prepare them for meaningful conversations with their parents and among themselves. It gives them the tools they need to communicate knowledgeably with caregivers and professional advisors and to make important decisions with, or on behalf of, those who depend on them. The authors provide legal and financial tools and techniques, including wills and trusts, cash management, and investment planning, approaching each from both a financial and a psychological perspective. They recognize that some of the challenges that people face during their last few years of life cannot be controlled and describe not only what these tools and techniques can do but also what they can't. Those that cannot be controlled, however, can still be managed, and the authors explain with clarity and compassion how to deal with them through psychological and spiritual engagement.