Preparedness

It’s hard to look at a life we consider terrific today and imagine it being any less than terrific tomorrow, a year from now, or 10 years from now.  It can only get better.  Right?

What I have learned over the years is the ebb and flow of good times and bad times.  For me, fortunately, it has been primarily good times.  For some I know, it has been almost consistently bad times.  I’m not sure if I am simply blessed with decent health or if I do the right things to promote good health.  Probably a combination.  Also, I have had a fairly even balance in lifestyle and friends/family so I don’t have the stress many people have.  The one downside is that I have worked for decades in a competitive field, requiring me to sweat it out each year as to whether or not I will make the preset goals established by my employers.  Now that I am independent, I set my own goals and try to make them realistic depending on the economy and on personal pipeline, etc.  I still depend on having a decent income and being able to pay for the ever increasing costs of healthcare, taxes, utilities, and day to day life.

What I want to say here is that no matter how good our life is today, or how healthy we are, it is not a bad thing to plan for the possibility of problems in the future.  Some people believe that planning for the future with a Will or with Insurance benefits will bring bad luck or trouble.  Not so, I say.  What it should do is give a person peace of mind that they have planned for the future and offset the possibility of bad things happening.

What I suggest is that people from age 50 and up, start looking at long term care insurance and also make sure their health care directives and their estate plans are in order.  Yes, you could live to be 100 and you could be independent and in good health to the end of your years.  But, in case you are not, LTC is an affordable way to help cover high costs of care in the future.  And, having your health care directives and estate plan in order just makes sense.

So, follow the Boy Scout theme and make it your own theme for future, “Be prepared!”