Justice Scalia’s Legacy

If you’re an NFL quarterback, you’ve reached the pinnacle of your profession. There’s nowhere left to go except down the ladder or into retirement. It’s the same with CEO’s like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet. As President, Barack Obama has hit the peak of his political career. Likewise with Supreme Court Justices: they are the capable-est, the intelligent-est, the wisest among all lawyers. While we have yet to hear what Justice Scalia’s estate plan looks like, it seems clear that his professional legacy is firmly fixed. [Read More]

3 Myths About Medicaid for Nursing Home Care

Nursing homes are incentivized by the state to perpetuate the hoax because the daily nursing home rate paid by the state is lower than the private pay rate. Lawyers who don’t know anything about the Medicaid regulations are telling people they have no options for planning for Medicaid eligibility. How do you overcome misinformation or a lack of information? You get educated. Here are three myths, rooted in the Medicaid Planning Hoax, that are all wet. [Read More]

I Digress: Estate Planning Includes Creating Your Legacy

One of the most overlooked aspects of estate planning is the opportunity to create your legacy. Believe it or not, creating a legacy isn’t all about having Northwest Iowa libraries and hospitals named after you. Instead, there are some more cost-efficient, yet great ways that you can help your family remember your values and beliefs. [Read More]

101 Death Hacks: A Cheat Sheet for Arranging Your Affairs Before You Die – 1-20 [Part One]

Everyone loves ‘hacks’. From party hacks to Halloween costume hacks to garage organization hacks, if you want to simplify a project or task you can do a quick Google search or pay a visit to the Lifehacker website to find ways to effectively shortcut a complicated job. Why should that be any different for estate planning? Well, a DIY will is probably going to create more problems than it solves, but you can still simplify the estate planning process. Check out this first post in our five-part series to learn how. [Read More]

High Five: The Zen Guide to Creating Your Will

Over the last seven years of advising clients, I have come to the realization that many people aren’t doing estate planning because it’s intimidating. It’s scary. Depressing. That’s a lot of negative emotion! But I don’t think estate planning is a negative experience – quite the opposite. Follow this guide to finding the Zen of creating your will, and you’ll soon discover that all those negative thoughts have been replaced by peace of mind about your final affairs. [Read More]

High Five: 5 Things Your Nursing Home Social Worker Won’t Tell You

At an average of $180 per day in Iowa, paying $60,000 per year for a nursing home is not only likely, but it’s almost guaranteed. Staring that number in the face can make your stress level rise pretty quickly. So, you ask the nursing home social worker for information about applying for Medicaid. Unfortunately, nursing homes are being put in a position where they simply can’t talk to their patients about Medicaid eligibility planning. As a result, there are a few things the nursing home social worker may not tell you. [Read More]

How to Take Control of the High Cost of Nursing Home Care

Nursing homes are expensive. Whether you’re looking at long-term care insurance well in advance of needing care or you’re visiting with the nursing home admissions office to move your elderly mother into her room tomorrow, you know that the out-of-pocket costs for nursing home care can quickly reach five digits. Paying $60,000 per year is not only likely, but it’s almost guaranteed. In the face of numbers like this, it’s only natural to despair. But you don’t have to feel lost as you face down the looming nursing home crisis. [Read More]