The Big 3 Fears of Aging and What You Can Do About it.

 What are your biggest fears as you face aging? The following are 3 widespread aging fears that you may be struggling with:

1.  Running out of money.

2.  Becoming a burden to your family.

3.  Losing control of your life, ie. being forced to move into a nursing home.

What can you do to quash these fears?

Step One is to take stock of your situation.

1.  Finances- Take a piece of paper or spreadsheet and list your assets, debts, and income.

2.  Health- Do you have any current health problems or, given your family history, do you have any health expectations?

3.  Goals- What lifestyle do you envision? If your health declined, do you see yourself receiving care at home, living with a relative, entering a facility, etc.?

Step Two is to seek counsel and make a plan.

Sometimes it takes a village.  You may wish to seek out a financial advisor to assist you in meeting your financial goals.  If your health is declining, you may wish to seek out a care coordinator to explore your care options.  You should also consider seeing an attorney. An attorney can ensure that you have basic estate planning documents in place like a will, health care and financial powers of attorney and can also advise you whether it is in your interest to engage in additional planning. Maybe a trust is right for you. Maybe you should be engaging in long term care planning.  You won’t know until you have explored your options and sought out competent counsel.

Long term care planning can be a particularly valuable method to ensuring peace of mind.  The goal of long term care planning hits right at the fears listed above.  Long term care planning looks at your available resources, your health and your preferences for health care and crafts a plan to avoid becoming a burden to your family or losing control of your care environment.

Step Three is to not let denial, apathy or laziness prevent you from getting started.

It’s no secret that no one likes getting older or the new challenges that come with aging.  But if we’re lucky we all reach are golden years.  Make sure that your seniority is spent how you want it to be. 

So what are your greatest aging fears and what have you done to quash them? Please share below.