Attorney Steve Waltar from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne to talk about financial and legal wellness, one of the eight foundational principles of senior wellness featured this summer in the Vitality Revolution podcast series. Are you preparing for the future? Topics include investing in long term care as well as critical documents to have in place as you age.

Steve says, “I’m an estate planning attorney, so I think you need to have your documents in place. It’s very different when you’re young. You may need a will to list guardians and then when you’re older, a need trust to do tax planning and then sometimes you need to start giving things away to plan as an elder. But you need really clear financial powers, health care powers, you have to have that stuff lined up. Because if you fail to plan, then the state will take over and it might not even be your loved one that is making care decisions for you.

“People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. Statistically, it’s somewhere between 70 to 80% of people who die without a will. And a will is kind of a starting point. A will may be really important, but it may not be that important. It may be that powers of attorney are way more important, and management, and incapacity.”

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