What are the criteria to use when choosing people to represent you financially? Attorney Steve Waltar from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne to talk about this aspect of financial and legal wellness, one of the eight foundational principles of senior wellness featured this summer in the Vitality Revolution podcast series.

Steve explains, “I think the easiest one is the healthcare power, because it is not a popularity contest. It does not matter whose feelings you’re hurting. This is your body. Who do you trust to make collective decisions that might lead to your death? Who do you trust? It’s usually a spouse first. Not always, especially as people age. It might be tha someone’s not doing mentally well enough.

“But the harder one I think is the financial. You first have to look at your assets and an estate planner, I have to know what they are. When we’re trying to choose someone, we want to figure out: do they have the experience and knowledge to manage your financial affairs properly? Do you have rentals? Do you have stocks and bonds? What kind of assets do you have called upon to make a decision that may affect other family members? Will your trustee, your personal rep, your power of attorney, act in a fair and unbiased manner?

“Sometimes that shouldn’t be a child. Sometimes it should be someone you work with, or a peer, or uncle, something like that. Do they have an investment experience? Do they have enough time? Sometimes kids are just so busy in their jobs and with young kids, they don’t really have the time to do it. It’s not an easy decision. It’s not that difficult, but you don’t want to just presume it’s the oldest child. Look at the assets, look at how the children get along. Sometimes I have people wanting to list their 18 year old kid. No, they haven’t lived on their own, they haven’t paid a mortgage. They don’t know things. They could be great down the road, but not now.”

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