Helping Your Aging Parents with Their Finances

One of the most difficult discussions for adult children to have with their aging parent(s) happens when it’s time for Mom and or Dad to hand over the car keys for safety reasons. More times than not, all parties don’t see eye to eye on the timing. Another equally awkward conversation between grown children and their elderly parents comes when it’s time to talk about the parents giving up control and management of the check book and their finances.

After more than 30 years of working with countless clients, I can tell you that most adult children are not comfortable bringing up the subject of finances and estate planning with their parents. I can also tell you that most seniors need a considerable amount of help getting their finances and estate plans organized, updated, and coordinated. The takeaway here is not to wait until there is a crisis at hand before addressing the subject.

The senior population has long been the target of financial con men and scammers. What may surprise many people is that a large percentage of the financial exploitation cases of seniors involve family members and people close to the senior victim. It’s not just crooked family members or evil scammers that many seniors need help looking out for. Banks and credit unions are happy to have and will say nothing to long time senior customers who have large sums of money sitting in a savings account earning close to zero percent interest on their accounts. Insurance companies also love their long-term senior customers who just keep renewing policies without ever reviewing coverage or shopping rates. That being said, it is my professional opinion that at some point by their late seventies, someone in addition to the aging senior should get involved in reviewing and maintaining the finances.

Here are a few red flags to look for that may indicate that your aging parent or loved one may need help managing and or safeguarding their finances.

·         Piles of unopened mail.

·         Unpaid bills and shutoff notices, or bills paid more than once.

·         Unusual purchases on bank or credit card statements.

·         Contributions to charities that your parents haven’t supported in the past.

·         Mail and phone solicitations that suggest your parents may have already been defrauded.

·         They continually ask the same question even though it has been answered several times.

·         They have A new friend or organization that they want to help out financially.

·         A new friend or relative is suddenly spending a lot of time with your parents.

Here is a partial list of the important documents and financial & estate information that should be located, organized, and maintained.

·         Estate planning documents (Wills, trust, durable power of attorney for finances and healthcare, healthcare directive, Living will, DNR(s).)

·         Birth certificate(s), marriage certificate(s), death certificate(s), divorce decree(s), Social security card(s), Medicare card(s), Military discharge papers and separation documents.

·         Copies of all real estate deeds and current property tax statements

·         Retirement and pension papers (survivor benefit information)

·         Recent statement for each and every bank account, investment account, IRA, etc.

·         Bank/CU Checks, debit cards, credit cards, mortgage/loan documents

·         Auto loans, auto lease agreement, auto title(s) and registration, insurance, etc.

·         Boat, RV, ATV, motorcycle, snowmobile, trailer, firearm, etc. title(s) and registrations.

·         All property & casualty, life insurance and annuities policies and recent statements.

·         Safe deposit box info and key. Check to see who can access the box after death.

·         Tax records (past 7 years)

·         A complete contact list of all service providers and professionals that they work with.

·         And more…

Here is a partial list of other important financial information that should be checked on and maintained over time.

·         Do all bank, credit union and investment accounts have named (pay on death) primary and secondary beneficiaries and are those beneficiary choices in alignment with and coordinated with the estate plan?

·         Are there joint accounts? Are those joint accounts in alignment with the estate plan?

·         Do all banks, credit unions and financial institutions have copies of the DPOA for finances, trust documents, etc. Do they require their own documents?

·         Do all life insurance policies have primary and secondary beneficiaries and are those beneficiary choices in alignment with and coordinated with the estate plan?

·         If there is a revocable living trust, is the trust properly funded?

·         What income is coming into the household? How? When?

·         What bills are due and when? Is there a detailed written budget for running the household?

·         Are there personal financial statements? (Personal balance sheet, cashflow statement)

Getting a person’s finances organized and properly coordinated with their estate plan is a big job and requires a significant investment of time and energy. A challenge for many family members is the fact that much of the work that needs to be done such as making calls to banks, credit unions, insurance companies, etc. must be done during the work week. With only so many paid days off and family commitments of their own, many adult children find it overwhelming to complete the project on their own.

A solution for many families, especially those who live out of town from their loved one is to hire a professional Daily Money Manager (DMM) to step in and take on or complete the job. Once everything is organized and coordinated the DMM can hand it back over to a family member to manage and maintain or at the family’s request the DMM can provide those on-going services as well. To locate a qualified DMM in your area you can visit the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADM) website at www.aadmm . In the state of Michigan you can reach out to my firm at www.mmifinancialgroup.com .

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Todd W. Meyer is one of the principals at MMI Financial Group, Inc. He has 38 years of experience working with clients and personally heads the Daily Money Management & Financial Concierge Services department of the firm. Todd is an active member of the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM). Todd can be contacted at todd@mmifinancialgroup.com

 

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#mmfinancialgroup #helpingyouragingparentswiththeirfinances

Coordinating Your Financial Affairs for A Successful Retirement

Did you know that a Daily Money Manager (DMM) or Financial Concierge (FC) typically acts as the professional coordinator for all of their client's financial matters? In addition to working with their clients to create and maintain an up-to-date personal bookkeeping system, financial and estate records retention system and seeing to it that all current and future obligations are being met, a daily money manager also sees to it that the other members of the client's financial team are kept informed.

Here at MMI Financial Group, Inc. our DMMs routinely work with client’s accountants, attorneys, insurance agents, investment advisors, financial planners, bankers, financial institutions, pension departments, care managers, DPOAs, trustees, executors and more. A few examples of how our DMMs work to communicate and coordinate services with the client's team of advisors and service providers includes the following:

· Accountants receive their completed annual tax organizers and the relevant tax receipts and documents necessary to make sure clients get all the deductions they are entitled to. Tax advice is also sought as needed.

· Estate attorneys are kept informed of any life changes critical to keeping an estate plan current. Client accounts and beneficiary arrangements are maintained and coordinated with revocable living trusts and estate plans per the attorney's direction. Additional legal advice is sought as needed on any legal matter.

· Insurance agents are updated on any changes to vehicle ownership, property and tangible asset holdings, residential occupancy or changes that might impact policy beneficiary arrangements. Our DMMs see to it that health insurance and/or Medicare supplement coverage is reviewed during annual open enrollment periods. We also make sure all insurance premiums are paid by their due dates to prevent any lapse in coverage.

· Banks, financial institutions and pension departments are provided with copies of the client's DPOAs and trust documents and the account registration and beneficiary arrangements for each and every account are coordinated with the estate plan per the attorney's direction.

· Financial planners are kept informed of the client’s complete list of assets and liabilities, as well as ongoing monthly cashflow and obligations so that they may provide effective long-term planning advice.

· Family members, DPOAs, guardians and trustees have the benefit of an independent third-party monitoring accounts, processing payments, and preparing financial reports for necessary financial communication and filings.

· Geriatric care managers are brought in when the family needs assistance outside the scope of finance to provide services for aging family members.

· And more…

What most people don't actively think about is that in the absence of having a professional daily money manager or financial concierge, they (by default) are responsible for coordinating all things financial, estate and retirement related. We've all heard the phrase "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", the problem comes when there is no squeak.  If you're acting as your own DMM it's a lot like acting as your own general contractor to build a house. You may hire an electrician to do the electrical work, but they are not going to help you with the plumbing. The heating and cooling contractor isn't going to focus on anything but the heating and cooling. As the general contractor you have to make sure that you have coordinated everything correctly and that you haven't forgotten anything. There are a lot of moving parts to building a house. There are also a lot of moving parts to effectively creating and maintaining a comprehensive financial, estate and retirement plan.

Because of advances in medicine along with the fact that we live in a more helth conscious society, people are living much longer than ever before. Advanced aging brings with it a set of challenges that previous generations haven't really formally planned for. The fact is, for those individuals who live a long life the day will come when they have to hand over their car keys to someone else because it's no longer safe for them to drive a car. Another pivotal moment will come for the elderly when they have to hand over their check book to someone else because it's no longer safe or practical for them to manage their own finances. 

Rather than waiting until a health event forces the issue or a serious financial misstep comes to light, many seniors today are taking a proactive approach by hiring a DMM to help them get their finances and estate matters organized and prepared for aging so that a family member or a professional DMM can easily come alongside of them to lend a helping hand or take over when the time comes. Being able to effectively coordinate and utilize the knowledge and expertise of each of your advisors becomes more and more important as you age.  

If you know someone who may benefit from reading this article, please share it with them. If you would like to learn more about developing an aging and final chapter of life financial management plan, contact us today for a free consultation at (989) 725-9878 Ext.12 or info@mmifinancialgroup.com

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Todd W. Meyer is one of the principals at MMI Financial Group, Inc. He has 38 years of experience working with clients and personally heads the Daily Money Management & Financial Concierge Services department of the firm. Todd is an active member of the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM)

todd@mmifinancialgroup.com (989) 725-9878 ext.10

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Daily Money Managers Can Help You Manage and Settle an Estate

Daily money managers (DMMs) when utilized can play a pivotal role on a person's financial management and estate settlement team. Helping to coordinate the financial management and/or settlement of an estate is one example of how DMMs can take a time consuming, confusing and stressful job off of their client's shoulders.

At MMI Financial Group, Inc. our DMMs can come along side of a person who has been named as the executor/personal representative or successor trustee and take the lead in organizing and completing the many required tasks. Our DMMs will coordinate the participation necessary from the client as well as other professionals such as their banker, accountant, attorney, financial planner, investment adviser, insurance agents, etc.

As the lead professional, we can see to the details such as: Preparing an inventory of assets, determining date-of-death values, create and maintain cash flow and personal balance sheet financial statements, organizing bank and investment statements, locating and organizing all important documents, seeking legal assistance and direction from the attorney, arrange for appraisals of property and valuable items, prepare checks to pay debts and creditors, keep accurate records of all money transactions in and out, notify government offices, notify credit reporting agencies and interested parties about the death, help the executor/trustee to terminate contracts and leases, contact insurance agents to modify or terminate policies, contact investment advisors and financial companies to obtain and complete necessary paperwork to distribute or retitle the deceased's assets. complete forms and paperwork on a variety of matters for the executor's signature, arrange for an auction or estate sale, arrange consignment sale of automobiles, boat, RV, collectibles, and more, provide information to the accountant for income and estate tax returns, prepare and provide on-going transparency financial statements to heirs as required, oversee and attend to many other task and details.

Too often people are unaware of the fact that there is affordable professional help available to them, so they just go it alone. They assume that because they have been assigned to settle the estate that they are personally responsible for completing all of the work.  Because they are unfamiliar with the process and what steps need to be taken, the estate settlement ends up dragging on and on taking much longer to complete than it needs to.  Estate settlements can often take years and cost thousands of dollars in legal and accounting fees primarily because the executor has no direction and continues to procrastinate. 

If you know someone who is serving as successor trustee or executor of an estate now or may be serving in that capacity in the future share this article with them.  Let them known about our daily money management and financial concierge services.  A pre-death financial & estate planning review by one of our DMMs could save thousands of dollars in unnecessary legal fees, probate fees, court costs, and taxes and may shave months or years off the time needed to settle the estate. Contact us today for a free consultation at (989) 725-9878 Ext.12 or info@mmifinancialgroup.com  

___________________________________________________  

Todd W. Meyer is one of the principals at MMI Financial Group, Inc. He has 38 years of experience working with clients and personally heads the Daily Money Management & Financial Concierge Services department of the firm. Todd is an active member of the American Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM)

#estatesettlement #successortrustee #dailymoneymanagementservices #financialconciergeservices #mmifinancialgroupinc  #toddwmeyer

Small Business Owners, What's Your Exit Strategy?

When I ask small business owners or professionals the question, "What's your exit strategy from your business at retirement?," they rarely have an answer. The most common response is that they haven't given it much thought. That's a big mistake.

As a small business CEO, your job is to develop your business into an asset that can be sold in the future for top dollar. In order to do that you need to look at the big picture and begin with the end in mind.

For your business to be truly saleable, it needs to function without you. Too many small business owners make the mistake of not scaling their business to a size that allows them to virtually delegate every task so that the hands-on, day-to-day workload is performed completely by employees rather than themselves. That ultimately includes hiring a general manager to manage the business.

I'm regularly told by business owners, "I don't want to grow my business any larger."  What it comes down to for those people is this - they are already over-worked and they believe that growth means more hours, more risk, more people headaches, and for what? More gross revenue with little or no more profit? If you are a small business owner or professional and your business won't run without you for more than a couple of weeks, let me challenge you. At this point you don't own a business, you own a job. You don't have to know how to take your business to the next level, you just have to want to grow and then start assembling the team to help you do it. Beyond making the decision to grow your business, the first step in the process is to become a small business CEO rather than a small business owner/manager. In truth, you need to become both.

None of this happens overnight. It's a process of developing a vision, strategic planning and recruiting and developing people. This will likely take years. The payoff is big if you get it right. It's not easy, as a matter of fact it can be very difficult. That's why most business owners and professionals don't do it. I'll let you in on the secret, "don't try to do it alone." Assemble a team of service providers and professionals to come along side of you and to work with you in the areas of your business that you need or want help with.   

There are lots of business owners and professionals who are doing exactly what I've laid out before you in this article.  That general manager that I spoke of earlier is typically developed from within as part of a strategic transition plan and served under the business owner as the assistant manager until they proved themselves by personally driving business growth to a predetermined objective at which point they were promoted to the position of general manager. As general manager the next step is for them to purchase the business at the owners retirement. How will they pay for it? It's all part of the plan.

What role do you want your business to play in your retirement plan? Are you willing to make an investment of time and resources over the next several years in order to develop your business into an asset that can be sold through a transition plan for a significant sum of money? You can't coast your way to success, you have to put your foot on the gas and push the pedal... Enjoy the ride!

The Stakeholders In Your Business

As a business owner or professional, you're in charge, you're the boss. When you interview prospective employees, two of the things you're undoubtedly looking for is loyalty to the company and commitment to the job. Turnover is costly, and the last thing you want is to put time and effort into developing someone to become proficient in their position only to have them leave a few months or years later.

I've always said that the ability to look at things from both sides of an issue is what makes a good leader. That being said, lets take a look at both sides of this important question. What would happen to your business and the lives of your employees and your customers if you died in a traffic accident on your way home from work today?  Could the company survive your death?  Would your employees still have a job and a paycheck to support their households?  Lets now look at this issue from an employee's point of view. Just as we don't want to lose an employee, our employees don't want to lose their job and have to start all over somewhere else.  Employees want to find a company to work for that values them and looks out for them. If they don't feel that they have job security where they are, they may start looking for something that offers more security. This is especially true with key employees. Both employers and employees are typically looking for a common denominator when it comes to security and longevity. This common goal creates a real opportunity for the proactive business owner/professional.

We're clearly talking about the need for business continuity & succession planning. The smaller the company or professional practice is, the more vulnerable the company is to the loss of a key employee or owner. Most business owners that I talk with on this topic have a complete misunderstanding of the real issues at stake and the opportunities and benefits that can come from business succession and transition planning.

I'm frequently told by business owners "I have that all taken care of." Really, I say, that's great to hear, can you tell me about that. "Sure, I have a big life insurance policy, so if I die my family will be well taken care of."  What about your stakeholders beyond just your immediate family? "What stakeholders?" Your employees to start with. "What about them." Well, will the company survive your death? Will your employees still have a job, and if so, for how long? Once you're gone, will the employees stick around to see if the company can make it, or will they begin to look for new jobs right away? What do you think the chances of survival are for the company if the employees start leaving? I'm not saying that the life insurance policy isn't important for your family, but lets not get confused into thinking your succession plan is "all set."  What if you get critically hurt or sick? What if it's your spouse or child who is critically hurt or sick? What role do you want your business to play in your retirement? Do you know what your business is worth?

To truly develop a solid succession and transition plan involves layers of underlying planning. It involves identifying and developing key people within the company. It involves business owners learning how to create leverage by strategically growing the business and delegating important tasks and responsibility. It's about building a successful company and creating an exit strategy.

Who are the real stakeholders in your business? You and your family, your partner(s) and their families, your employees, your customers, your suppliers and service providers, and your business entity itself. Focus on taking good care of your stakeholders by really digging in and working on the continued growth and success of your business, don't get caught up like so many business owners do, by just working in their business.

This is a topic with layers of issues to be covered. Follow me as I continue the discussion in upcoming posts.  

Better Money Management Habits This Year?

This is the time of the year that most of us take a few moments to reflect on the events of the past year and to take stock of those things that we would really like to improve upon in the new year ahead. 

I like to challenge my clients in December to set at least one financial goal and to make a commitment to begin tracking every penny they spend in the new year. Keeping a detailed list of daily expenditures is the first step in truly working to improve ones personal and/or business finances. I say if you're not tracking it, you're not working on it. When money is tight, people are more likely to pay close attention to their spending. When times are good and cash flow is plentiful it's easy to waste money by over spending on things that we really don't need.

Good money management requires two components, a financial goal, and a system for tracking progress toward that goal. If your goal is to accumulate $1,000 in your savings account by March 31st. and your game plan for accomplishing that goal is to cut out all unnecessary spending so that you can save as much as possible each week, then your system for tracking the goal and game plan is to track any and all spending. Your commitment to the goal and the act of tracking your spending will cause you to think about your goal before making any expenditures.

Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people are unwilling to do. My experience in working with people who have created personal financial security and wealth for themselves is that they didn't do so by accident. They pay close attention to their spending and they avoid wasteful spending by focusing on goals.  Developing good money management habits happens on purpose and it happens over time.  

Challenge yourself to become a better money manager in 2016. Set a specific savings or debt reduction goal by March 31st. 2016, and begin tracking your spending and progress toward the accomplishment of that goal today. Best wishes for a Prosperous new year.

The Definition Of Success

How do you measure success? It's not made up of dollar signs, says the late Zig Ziglar, famed author and speaker. No, success is much more than having money, power, or business success.

Here are the eight things that Zig Ziglar says success is:

1. Knowing that you did a great job when you close the door to your office at the end of each workday and head for home.
2. Having a home and people to love who love you in return.
3. Having the financial security to meet your obligations each month and the knowledge that you have provided that security for your family in the event of your demise.
4. Having the kind of faith that lets you know where to turn when there seems to be no place to turn.
5. Having an interest or hobby that gives you joy and peace.
6. Knowing who you are.
7. Taking good care of yourself and waking up healthy each day.
8. Slipping under the covers at the end of the day and realizing with gratitude that, "It just doesn't get much better than this!"

I often say to my friends and close business associates that it's not what we don't know that is holding us back in life, it's the fundamentals that we already know and look past that keeps us from the lifestyle that we seek. 

Thanks, Zig for giving us words that we can come back to over and over to help keep us on course as we journey through the game of life.