“People don’t like to talk about death, being sick, end of life, any of this. But it’s important to start that conversation.”
The good news is that the average life expectancy in Canada has increased six years since the 1950s.
The downside is that for many, those extra years may be a challenge, financially and otherwise.
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“With people living longer, an increasing — and significant — percentage of the population will suffer extended illness through their elderly years,” Ottawa-based author Marc Séguin, 62, writes in his self-published book Advocacy in Aging.
Drawing on experiences in his own family, Séguin says preparing beforehand for a probable decline in capabilities can go a long way toward making things easier, and clearer, for those in your circle who will be entrusted — perhaps quite suddenly — to oversee your affairs.
It’s a conversation many are reluctant to initiate, he said in an interview.
“People don’t like to talk about death, being sick, end of life, any of this. But it’s important to start that conversation.”
Where do you see yourself living as a senior, and when? What if you run out of money? What role, if any, do you see for your children, and how do they feel about it? What will your retirement budget be, and how will it be funded? If you were incapacitated tomorrow, how easily could the person responsible for your affairs identify and pull everything together? Have you even delegated such a person? What is the current state of your health and what medications are you taking? These are some of the questions that need to be addressed at an early stage of the dialogue.
Having a “transition team” in place and keeping them updated on any change in your wishes or circumstances should smooth some of the bumps in the final leg of the journey, said Séguin, now retired from a career launching and leading business startups.
While people routinely name a spouse or child as their power of attorney or liquidator, these aren’t always the best choices, he noted. It can be too stressful for an elderly spouse or demanding for a child who may be uncomfortable with paperwork and administrative tasks. Given life expectancies, delegating someone as power of attorney actually may be more important than the will, Séguin said.
Financial planners also should be in the loop, with investments growing simpler and safer over time. Séguin says too many retirement plans assume fairly constant spending by seniors, when the reality is that care and lodging costs can spike suddenly at any time.
Those managing their own retirement funds, as many must do these days given the sharp decline in defined-benefit pension plans from employers, also need to be prudent as they strive to make the nest egg last. Poor choices late in life can have disastrous consequences.
“Ideally, individuals would have the knowledge and skills to manage their own affairs for their entire lives,” Séguin said, “but unfortunately that’s not usually the case.”
Health care is another challenge. With so many Canadians now living without regular consultation with a family doctor, a lot of changes to health and behaviour may go undetected until they’ve reached a very advanced stage.
The older you get, the more likely you are to have ailments that can affect and hinder information processing and decision-making.
All the more reason to start mapping out the final years and pondering different scenarios well ahead of time, Séguin said.
“By the time you are 55 or 60,” he writes, “it is imperative that you prepare, or revisit, your financial plan for your senior years, regardless of whether you have significant net worth or not much at all.”
Séguin’s book is available at AdvocacyInAging.com.
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