Prepared In Every Way

Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

Wasp spray is more effective than pepper spray and will stop, or at least slow down your attacker, from a greater distance. Not that you want to carry it in your purse, but good idea to keep it on your desk or in your home. Watch video here.

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If you’ve ever seen the comedy television show, “Psych,” you know the main character’s father is a police officer who wants his son to be prepared for anything. He does some pretty crazy things in this comedy police show to teach young Shawn what to do when someone tries to harm him. It’s not about “if,” but “when.” In one episode, he tells him how to get help when he’s kidnapped and thrown into someone’s trunk. He tells him to kick the tail lights out, look through the hole to see if he can identify surroundings, and use his shirt or another piece of fabric as a flag to attract attention. As a kid, Shawn thinks his dad is a little crazy, but before the episode is over, he is glad his father taught him because it helps save his life.

I’ll have to admit that I’ve learned a thing or two from this show myself, and it just reinforces my belief that parents should always be teaching their children.

Here’s a great example. Two little girls were saved from being kidnapped in Houston recently because their mothers had taught them what to do if they were approached by a stranger. One little girl was taking the trash to a dumpster when she was approached by a man asking for directions. He motioned for her to come close to her car, but she refused and ran the other way. Another little girl in the same apartment complex was walking to the bus stop when the same man approached her. Fortunately, her mother had coached her, too, on what to do if a stranger approached. The statement made on the news was this: The story could have had a much different ending if these little girls had not been taught by their mothers.

Don’t wait to have a weekly coaching session. Make everything a teaching moment. As you see things happening for yourself, or watch it on the news, use that opportunity to ask your kids, “What will you do when …”

Joyce Moseley Pierce

http://www.emersonpublications.com

http://www.preparedineveryway.com

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I recently taught a class on writing your personal history.   This article by Elaine Cannon is the most practical and the most simple way to get started.

1.  All you need is a spiral notebook and a pen.  (Or, as Elaine suggests below,  use a journal with high quality paper so it will last.  You can find loose leaf, lined, 3-hole punched journal paper for this project.  This would allow you to put the paper in a 3-hole binder and add to your subjects if you find you have more to write than you can fit on one page. This would also allow you to add photos and documents for that topic.)

2.  To start, just write the name of each topic at the top of the page.   You’ll see topic suggestions below.  Feel free to add others as you go along.

3.  Next, go back and write one sentence about each topic.

4.  Next, add to each page as the memories start to flow.

You’ll be surprised how many things come to mind once you start writing.  This is a project that may never be complete, but because you have your notebook divided by subject, you can always add to it.

Joyce Moseley Pierce

Putting life in your life story

And if there were no word about this living, no wonder at the beginning and no understanding at the end, what’s it all about?  Yet if there is a record…The woman was seventy-two when she died.  At her funeral someone read the details of her birth recorded in joy by her mother.  At the end of her life here was proof and perspective about the beginning, about the reaching and helping and brightening of her seasons.  At this dying a kind of resurrection, for the whole family loved their sister and each other anew.  A written line or two became their lifeline – the dry farm, the small store mother kept, the loved ones at Christmas or at daily prayer, the father’s Sunday ritual, the hard times, the faithful times, the laughing times and the struggle to add a new room as yet another baby came.  It was a wonderful, rooted remembering, that funeral.  There was no shriveling sadness, but only a hearty gathering of reasons for our being and then moving on.  It seems a testimony in itself for keeping a record of the proceedings of our days.

Elaine Cannon

Why am I doing this?

• Others will value our records
• Personal records are sacred
• Our records are helpful to other record keepers
• It may help to set the record straight
• We are commanded to keep a record
• Even imperfect records are worthwhile

How do I start?

• Do it in your own handwriting
• Use good quality paper
• Use black ink

Writing My Personal History Format

• Statement
• Description
• Reminiscence

Examples:

Statement on “Parents” -  Tell your parents’ names, and when and where they were born.

Description – Tell about each of your parents’ physical characteristics and personalities.

Reminiscence:

• How were your parents alike and how were they different?
• What were their talents, hobbies, interests or skills?
• How did they adjust to each other’s peculiarities?
• Was their marriage a happy one?
• Tell about their involvement in religion, civic, social or trade activities.
• What personality problems, disabilities, or health problems did they have while you were growing up?
• Was there a constant family unit of the same two parents?  If not, what effect did loss of a parent have on the family?  On you?
• If divorced, how was it handled?
• What change did remarriage bring?
• What was each parent’s role regarding discipline?  Religious training?
• What was each parent’s role managing money?  Decision making?
• What special memories do you have of your relationship with each of them?
• What did your father do to earn a living?  How did that affect you?
• Who was the real boss in the family?

Suggested Chapter Headings

Heritage	Spiritual experiences
Parents	Mischief
Relatives	Toys
Homes	Conversion
Neighborhoods	Hobbies
Birth	Careers
Childhood	Military
Youth	Beliefs as a Teen
Marriage	Teen activities
Education	Boy/girl relationships
Health	Dating
Finances	Courtship
Talents	Child rearing
Employment	Divorce
Children	Death
Brothers
Sisters
Holidays
Vacations
Callings

Finishing Touches

• Pictures
• Maps
• Letters
• Timeline
• Title page
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Appendix material

Genealogy sheets

Certificates

Speeches

Poems

Articles

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We’re only ten days from Thanksgiving. My sister and her husband are coming to visit for the long weekend and I’ve already started doing some sprucing up around the house. Having company is always a good time to reassess the damage at home. Working from home, it seems that I put blinders on to what’s going on around me. My sister could care less what my house looks like when she gets here, so she gets invited more often than others!

On Friday I got into organizational mode and cleared out the spare room so she wouldn’t get hurt on any extra kid-friendly stuff that might be lying around. Yesterday, I pulled a can of paint out from under the sink so I could touch things up in the kitchen. We installed a new dishwasher about a year ago and I hadn’t noticed until I did my survey that this dishwasher doesn’t stick out as far as the old one did. That means there’s a patch of white paint glaring at me every time I open the dishwasher door. I noticed that I have a large picture leaning up against the wall from two years ago when we painted. That makes me think of my friend, Laurie, who removed the backs of her chairs to fix them. A couple of years went by without replacing the backs, and by then it was just a matter of principle. People would come to her home, notice the backless chairs, and ask when she was going to finish them. Once it got to be such a conversation starter, I think she made the conscious decision to never replace them. Doing so would have meant caving in to what the conventional person would do. Laurie passed away a few years ago, and I’ll bet anything, those chairs are just the way she left them.

On second thought, maybe we should go visit my sister instead! If not, maybe I should stop looking for things to fix before she gets here. I don’t want to do a complete renovation and wear myself out so that I don’t enjoy the visit!

With all of the house-fixing aside, I have actually started working on my Thanksgiving menu.

I’ve already bought the turkey. Found one for 26 cents a pound at Kroger, so a 22 pound bird only cost me about $6.00. Now I just need to schedule a reminder so that I remember to put it in the refrigerator on Sunday so it’ll be thawed out and ready to cook next Thursday.

I brought a box of apples home from the orchard last week and decided today that I’m going to peel and core them to make apple pies for Thanksgiving. No Thanksgiving meal is complete without pumpkin pie, but since I need to find something to do with these apples, pie sounds like a good idea to me. I wonder who I can recruit to help me peel them all.

With turkey and dessert, what else do you need? At our house, I’m the only one who likes fresh cranberries, and I’ll prepare them just for myself. My daughter thinks you always have to have stuffing – Stove Top – not homemade – so we’ll have stuffing. My son always brings green bean casserole. It’s his specialty. My sister likes sweet potatoes, or yams, with all the marshmallow goo melted on the top. Maybe, since she’s making the effort to fly here to be with me, I’ll attempt to make that for her. I think everyone agrees that mashed potatoes with homemade turkey gravy is the best. At least we have one thing we can all agree on.

Whatever you’re doing for Thanksgiving, it’s a big enough day that it requires some planning. If you’re sharing a meal with others – whether you’re having them over to your place, or going to theirs – you might want to sit down and do some thinking about it. If you prepare ahead of time, you’re more likely to avoid last-minute disasters and short tempers. Prepare for the day now so you can relax and enjoy the time with those you care about.

This year, in memory of Laurie, I might just let that picture stay right where it is.

Now where can I put that note to remind me to thaw out the bird?

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On Friday night, instead of doing the dinner dishes right away, something on the television caught my eye and I sat down to watch it with my husband. Before long, it was time to go to bed, and when I walked into the kitchen to put my glass in the dishwasher, realized that a sink full of dirty dishes was still waiting for me. What made that even worse was that when I turned the faucet on to start washing them, nothing came out!

We live on property with a well, so we knew that we weren’t “out of water.” With flashlight in hand, my husband went to check on it, and discovered that the pump wasn’t working. There wasn’t anything he could do, so we decided to go sleep in our RV. We’d just returned from a trip and the fresh water tank was full, so we knew that at least we could use the bathroom and shower until we got the pump fixed.

Next morning, we called the man who works on our well. He came out with everything he needed to repair it, but the damage was beyond repair. We needed a new pump and he would have to pick one up and come back the next day to install it.

That meant going another 24 hours without water. Water’s one of those things you just take for granted until you have to do without. You just turn the faucet and water comes out, right?

Fortunately, we had bottled water stored for drinking, and some quick hand washing, but not enough for bathing. If it hadn’t been for the RV, we would have had to go to our daughter’s house for at least our daily showers.

We did, however, discover a couple of other resources for water:

1. Having a two story home means that you have lots of water pipes and they’re full of water. You know this because generally, when you turn the faucet on, water immediately comes out. I took three empty food storage barrels to the ground level and turned on the outside faucet. I was able to capture enough water to fill all three of the buckets. We put one in the kitchen and dipped water out of it with a measuring cup to wash hands. We put another in the bathroom to fill the tank if necessary.

2. We have a water softener system with a tank under the kitchen sink that filters the water. This water comes out of a smaller spigot – similar to those that produce hot water on demand. This tank probably holds about 5 gallons of water, so I was able to use it for cooking. That came in handy for meal preparation and I didn’t have to use the bottled water.

3. The hot water tank is another source of extra water. We didn’t have to get into it, but at least it was there.

We survived thirty-six hours without water without too much inconvenience, but it’s making me think about what I could do to make it even easier if it ever happens again. For one thing, we have 55 gallon barrels in our shed that are meant to hold water. Because we have the well, we’ve never been too concerned about filling them up. I wouldn’t want to drink the water out of them, but we could have used it for bathing if we had more than a simple pump to remove the water. That’s definitely something I’m going to be checking on this week.

Sometimes it’s good to have a minor emergency just so you can figure out a way to become more prepared. It’s even better if someone else has the emergency and it helps make you more aware. Take some time to assess the water situation in your home and come up with a plan you can implement if you ever find yourself without water. Even if you have city water, you might have your line temporarily shut off in the event that a main line is cut or has a leak. It’s always better to come up with a plan before you need it because you can think more clearly, and generally have more options when you’re not in emergency mode.

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Several years ago we rented a car that came with a GPS. It was the first time we’d ever used one, but it didn’t take long for me to nickname it the “marriage saver.” My husband is always the driver, which means I’m the navigator, and I can’t tell you how many vacations were tainted because we’d get lost somewhere along the way. It’s not that I can’t read a map, but if you don’t know where you’re starting, then it’s hard to say whether you need to go right or left to reach your destination. As soon as we got home, we bought a GPS for ourselves, and now, as the credit card commercial says, we “never leave home without it.”

We recently took a 2,000 mile journey to visit our daughter in Northern Nevada. We had the GPS stuck to the inside of the windshield, a step-by-step preferred route provided by the Good Sam Club, and an Atlas, just so I could confirm everything on the map as we went along.

The trip out there was great and we had no problems. It took us 3 days to get there, but everything went just as planned as long as we followed the directions.

Going home, we decided to go home through Las Vegas so we could avoid the hairpin turns in the mountains. We also wanted to avoid driving the RV over Hoover Dam. The GPS routed us straight south on Hwy 95, where we would catch I-10 in California and take it all the way home to Houston. One look at the map made me question the GPS and “her” routing us in a near-perfect 90 degree angle. Hwy 93 going southeast through Arizona went straight to Phoenix, and looking at it on the map, seemed like it would cut the miles and the time.

My husband is a bit leery of my “shortcuts,” so we sat down together, analyzed it, and decided to try the new route. We got to Las Vegas without any problems, but as we started going east into Arizona, it didn’t take long for us to realize that there was no way to avoid the mountains in Arizona, either! They weren’t as treacherous as the California mountains leading into Lake Tahoe, but there were steep inclines that threatened overheating the engine. There were warnings for descending, too, and emergency escapes for runaway trucks. Just looking at all of the crosses honoring those who had died on this highway was enough for me to question my judgment. While I don’t know what we might have encountered on Hwy 95, I had to agree with my husband that this “alternate route” I had suggested did nothing but slow us down.

Why is it that some of us, and I’m specifically talking about myself here, seem to think we know more than the map? Why is it so hard for us to just follow directions? Why can’t I agree that an electronic device with a woman’s voice knows more than I do?

There are just some things that are better left to the experts, whether you’re planning a trip, or the future of your family.

When talking to people about making end-of-life decisions and making sure their families know what they would want them to do, I’m constantly amazed at some of the comments I hear.

“I already have a will.”

“I have enough insurance. They’ll be okay.”

“Aw, I’m going to be dead anyway. Let them figure it out.”

I can’t believe anyone could be so insensitive as to put their families through additional stress at a time when all the loved ones want to do is grieve! As hard as it is to make decisions on a good day, imagine having to decide on funeral arrangements and how to pay for them when you’re overwhelmed with grief.

To those who think they’ve already done enough, let me give you something to think about.

First of all, if you have a will, good for you. I hope it’s current and issued in the state in which you reside, but that’s just the beginning. Does your family know where to find the will? Do you have a separate document telling them how your personal items should be distributed? Do your loved ones know who the executor is? Is the will in a safe deposit box at the bank where you can’t access it until bank hours, or do you have it in a fireproof safe at home? Is the information in the will current? Make sure your beneficiary is the person you want it to be.

If you have insurance, that’s great, too. Are your loved ones aware of the policies? Do you realize that you have to notify the insurance company at time of death and provide a death certificate for them to release the funds? If you think the insurance companies will just magically send your beneficiary a check when you die, you are just dreaming. Thousands, if not millions of dollars are kept by insurance companies because the money is never claimed.

Yes, you may be dead and not care that your loved ones are left to make stressful decisions without you, but if they don’t mean anything more to you than that, then you must not care that much about them now. Maybe you need to do some thinking about the relationships in your life.

If you don’t have a destination, then you may not need a map. Just get in the car and drive until you see some place you want to stop. But if you start out know where you want to end up, it’s essential. Instead of trying to figure it out on your own, rely on the experts who have plotted every nook and cranny along the way.

When it comes to finalizing your affairs, why not do the same? After all, if you put that much care and planning into a vacation, wouldn’t you do the same for your family?

Copyright 2009 by Joyce Moseley Pierce. Joyce is the creator of “All They’ll Need to Know,” and owner of www.EmersonPublications.com .

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Excerpt from:
FORECASTS & TRENDS E-LETTER
By Gary D. Halbert
August 25, 2009

You’d have to be living on a desert island lately to not be aware of the “Death Panel” controversy surrounding the health care reform bill. Former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, first made the news with the assertion that a panel of bureaucrats would have the power to make life and death decisions regarding the rationing of the limited supply of health care. Thus, the theory goes, anyone not deemed “worthy” of treatment could be denied expensive drugs or medical treatments.

As discussions about Death Panels spread like wildfire, liberals and their mainstream media lapdogs howled at this accusation. Palin, usually a favorite target of the loony left and liberal media, initiated such a national furor that the provisions discussing Medicare reimbursement for end-of-life counseling have been dropped, or so we are told.

So far, I have refrained from commenting too much on the ever-changing health care reform proposals, although it has been so tempting since there is so much information and mis-information about the various proposals already in the news and on the Internet. Suffice it to say that you simply can’t add the care of 46 million uninsured individuals to the existing number of health care providers and not create shortages (rationing) at some point.

This week, however, I would like to point out that the Death Panel discussion may be having an ancillary positive effect, no matter which side of the health care debate you land on. I have seen numerous articles and Internet blog discussions about how Palin’s (and many others’) remarks have increased interest about the importance of end-of-life planning, which is a positive benefit from my point of view.

I will also revisit several important end-of-life financial planning issues that I have covered in the past that everyone should consider, just in case the unthinkable happens. I will also tell you how you can obtain a very helpful resource entitled, “All They’ll Need To Know” that will help you prepare for the time when you will no longer be around to make your wishes known.

Untimely Death – An Unpopular Subject

Much of the recent end-of-life attention has centered on the need for a “living will,” which the MedicineNet.Com website defines as “… one form of advance medical directive…pertaining to treatment preferences and the designation of a surrogate decision-maker in the event that a person should become unable to make medical decisions on their own behalf.” Both I and members of my staff have had to deal with end-of-life issues with terminally ill parents, so we know the value of this service first-hand.

However, you shouldn’t stop there. Living wills are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to planning for survivors. There are many financial, legal and family issues that should be addressed prior to death or becoming incapacitated to help take some of the pressure off of a surviving spouse or other loved ones.

No one likes to talk about death, and many people put off planning for this contingency for that reason. Most young people think that death is a long way away, so they do nothing in the way of planning. Yet people of all ages are killed every day in accidents. The survivors of premature deaths are usually the hardest hit, because the death comes as much more of a surprise. That’s why it’s very important to plan for the possibility of an untimely death, even if you are young and healthy.

Also note that in this E-Letter, I will refer to the “financial partner” as the person who primarily handles the family finances, and the “non-financial partner” as the one who is usually not aware of all of the financial details.

Unprepared Survivors

In the financial services business, we have more than our fair share of widows and widowers who come to us without a clue as to what kinds of investments they and their late spouse owned, how much was invested, or how and where the assets are held. They are not alone. I have read in the past that over 90% of survivors are not fully prepared for an untimely death.

This isn’t surprising given how many families handle their financial affairs. In many cases, one spouse is in charge of the checkbook, investments and most importantly, filing of important papers. The other spouse is often minimally involved, signing on the dotted line when necessary and generally knowing where important records are, but not familiar with the details.

Unfortunately, the non-financial partner is sometimes that way by choice. I have talked to many couples where the husband or wife will say that the finances are the other partner’s responsibility, and they don’t care to know anything about them. In other cases, the financial partner intentionally keeps the other partner in the dark. This is especially prevalent with single individuals, who are often reluctant to share their financial information with someone else, even a family member.

Add to this lack of knowledge the shock and grief that accompanies an untimely death and you have a recipe for a financial disaster. And then it gets worse: Widows and widowers are often preyed upon by unscrupulous scam artists who offer help in time of need, but end up taking advantage of bereaved survivors whose judgment may be clouded by sorrow.

Yet, most of these problems are almost totally preventable. Just by taking a little time to document the financial details that pertain to your family can save hours of searching, not to mention the emotional strain coming from being thrust into the financial role without any preparation.

Gather and Organize Your Information

My first bit of advice may sound too simplistic, but it is to gather your financial information into one place: a file cabinet, bank safe deposit box or other suitable storage medium. It is amazing to me how many different places financial information is kept in many families. Some have part of their information at their office, other parts at home, some in a file cabinet, some in a dresser drawer, some in all of the above, etc., etc. There are times when survivors find important documents only by accident, and sometimes many years after death.

There’s no wonder why many survivors have a hard time figuring out what their financial situation is, because they are having a hard time finding all of the information, much less sorting it out. An article I recently read (http://www.unclaimedassets.com) estimated that more than 25% of life insurance benefits are not paid because beneficiaries didn’t know a policy existed. How sad!

When deciding where to store your important financial information, be careful about using bank safe deposit boxes. In some cases, banks will freeze access to safe deposit boxes upon notification of the death of the holder. This can be true even if the box is jointly owned with right of survivorship. Therefore, access to any important paperwork kept in the safe deposit box could be significantly delayed. If it is necessary to keep original documents in a safe deposit box, you should make copies of them to access if death occurs when banks are closed or access to the box is restricted.

Getting Your Affairs in Order

Once you have gathered all of your financial materials together in one place, it’s time to review them and get them in order. By getting them in order, I don’t mean alphabetizing them or putting them in nice neat file folders. What I mean is that you should review your overall financial situation and make sure that it reflects your current and long-term plans. Specifically, I would recommend that you do the following:

1. Update your will. If you don’t have a will, get one ASAP. It is also very important to update your will periodically. Estate laws change periodically and differ from state to state. I recommend that you consult a competent attorney who specializes in estate planning for this, even if your estate is not expected to be large enough to trigger an estate tax.

I do not recommend using do-it-yourself resources to do your will because they can never tailor a document to fit all of the intricacies of most families, and this is especially true when it comes to blended families. Plus, since estate planning law changes frequently, websites and books will not always notify you when your document needs to be revised, but a good attorney will.

2. Make sure all of your assets are titled correctly. The way assets are titled has an effect on how they transfer upon your death. For example, a bank account held by two people as “joint tenants” transfers differently than if it were jointly owned with “right of survivorship.” However, consult with your attorney regarding titling issues as there are some risks involved when naming other owners to your accounts.

In addition, it is important to keep your information current and updated. For example, if you have recently married, you may want to add your spouse to the account, unless it is intended to be separate property in community property states. Or, you may have remarried and want to remove an ex-spouse from the title of an asset.

If you have established trusts as part of an estate plan, it will be important to make sure that any assets that are part of these trusts are also titled correctly. Trusts are a key element of estate plans, and you will need a good attorney to help you with this.

3. Make sure contractual beneficiary designations are current. Life insurance, annuities, retirement plans and IRAs can all be transferred contractually by naming a beneficiary. This means that the proceeds are transferred outside of the will and need not go through probate. However, this makes it even more important to keep these beneficiary designations updated.

If you have recently married, or if one or both parents are deceased, you will need to replace parents or other family members as beneficiaries of your insurance policies. Just as important, if you have divorced, you may want to remove your ex-spouse as beneficiary, unless your divorce decree requires otherwise. It is not uncommon for insurance proceeds to be paid to an ex-spouse just because a person never got around to changing the policy beneficiary.

Under most retirement plans, the current spouse is required to be the beneficiary of death benefits, but this is not always the case for IRAs. Therefore, you will also want to make sure your IRA beneficiary is current. It is also important to name contingent beneficiaries should the primary beneficiary predecease you.

4. Make sure you have a “financial power of attorney.” A financial power of attorney simply empowers a trusted individual to manage your financial affairs should you become incapacitated. It takes effect at such time that you can no longer handle your own business affairs, and ceases upon your recovery or death.

In addition to the financial power of attorney, it is important to note any automatic payments you may have set up to be withdrawn from your checking account. If deposits are no longer made into the account, these automatic withdrawals could bounce, possibly affecting utilities, insurance coverage, debt payments, etc.

If you pay your bills via the Internet, then it is also important to make that known, as well as the user ID and password for your financial power of attorney designee or survivor to use to access your banking information and pay bills as they become due.

5. Make your wishes known. This piece of advice is obviously not limited to financial issues, but it is vitally important to make your wishes known when transferring financial holdings or any other asset with significant value upon death. While I have noted above how many financial instruments can have joint ownership with right of survivorship, or carry the ability to name a beneficiary, there are other items of value that may not be able to be transferred as easily, such as family heirlooms, antiques, valuable collections, personal items, etc.

In those cases, it is imperative that you state your wishes clearly in either a will or living trust. I think this is especially true today when there are so many “blended families” made up of children united by remarriage of the parents. What may be a family heirloom to one child could be a valuable commodity at the local pawnshop to another. It happens.

Another very important item to consider in this process is the disposition of financial assets. Whether those financial assets are stocks, bonds, investment or security accounts, or real estate, it is important for the financial partner to leave instructions as to how they should be handled upon death.

We often get calls from widows who are now trying to sort through the family investments and determine what they should do with them. Sometimes these callers are in a near-panic trying to make decisions about assets they know little or nothing about. Had the financial partner left clear written instructions, this confusion could be avoided. Thus, it is critically important for the financial partner to consider the level of sophistication of the non-financial partner, and leave written instructions for the disposition of assets accordingly.

Along this line, I am sad to report that survivors are often targeted by brokers and insurance salesmen and even bankers who offer financial help, but are really out to liquidate all assets and put them into products that will generate commissions or fees for them. From my experience, it is rare that every single investment should be liquidated upon the death of one partner, yet we often hear from survivors who have been given this very advice.

Therefore, an important part of getting your affairs in order should include the knowledge that your survivors will likely be targeted by the financial services industry and others, so you should leave very specific instructions as to how each asset should be handled.

6. Note all important contacts. There are some who successfully go through all of the prior steps in getting their affairs in order, only to fail to make a list of important contacts for their surviving partner. This list should contain the names, addresses and phone numbers of all important contacts. From a financial perspective, these should include your bankers, brokers, insurance agent, attorney, accountant, and financial and investment advisors. You should also include user names and passwords for websites where you have made any financial or investment transactions or have accounts.

This list is important because while the surviving spouse may be able to find all of the insurance policies and account statements, he or she may be totally lost as to how to proceed from there. Having a complete list of contact information will be very comforting during this time of great emotional stress for the survivors.

Write It All Down

Once you have all of your affairs in order and organized where they can be found, it is important that you document all of this in a concise manner. This documentation will serve as a guidepost for your survivors to let them know what assets you have, where they are located and how they should be treated. It is not enough to just tell the other partner about these issues and hope they remember. As the old saying goes, “a short pencil is better than a long memory.”

There are various methods of documenting everything your survivors will need to know. The simplest is a letter to the surviving partner detailing where all of the important papers are and how they should be handled. However, it is sometimes hard to think of everything to put into the letter, and a letter that does cover everything may be so long that it’s overwhelming.

Others keep a summary file folder along with their other important papers that contains copies of statements for assets, special instructions, important contacts, etc. The summary file approach is usually easier to update than rewriting an entire letter to address changes.

I don’t recommend either of these approaches. I have always recommended a more detailed method of keeping track of your assets and leaving detailed instructions for your loved ones when you are gone. There are various products on the market for doing so. However . . .

Back in 2005 I ran across one of the most useful and thoughtful financial tools I have ever seen to help organize all of the important items necessary to pass on to loved ones in case of an untimely death. It’s a booklet entitled ALL THEY’LL NEED TO KNOW from Emerson Publications. I was so impressed with this planning tool that I negotiated the right to reprint them and offered them to my clients and E-Letter subscribers.

To put it mildly, the response was HUGE! We mailed out thousands of booklets to clients and readers, many of whom had their own stories to tell about how a previous death showed them the need for such a resource.

All They’ll Need To Know provides checklists that cover virtually every piece of information you would need to pass on to surviving loved ones. This format is superior to a letter, in that it allows you to simply enter information into a template. You can even provide information on who you want to receive your special personal possessions, and even details about the funeral service you would like to have. Believe it or not, these small things are sometimes some of the most stressful decisions that survivors must make.

As a practical matter, the printed booklet has limitations in that personal preferences and financial information change over time, especially for younger individuals. Thus, mark-outs and erasures are common, which can also lead to confusion. Plus, in our electronic age, much of our personal information is now kept on our computers. Fortunately, Emerson Publications also has a Microsoft Word version available that is much easier to update.

To purchase the electronic version of All They’ll Need To Know, click on the following Emerson Publications link.

http://www.emersonpublications.com/index.php?pr=All_Theyll_Need_to_Know

Once you receive your booklet via download, I encourage you to complete it soon, and then let your spouse or other loved one know where it will be kept. Since the booklet will contain some of your most sensitive information, you should select a keeping place that is safe and secure. Plus, be sure to completely erase the electronic version from old computers before you sell, trade or discard them.

It is also important that you review the information in your All They’ll Need To Know booklet at least annually to make sure all information is current. Outdated records can be just as confusing as no records at all.

###

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FORECASTS & TRENDS E-LETTER
By Gary D. Halbert
August 25, 2009

“Death Panels” Aside, End-of-Life Planning Is Important

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. The “Death Panel” Controversy

2. Untimely Death – An Unpopular Subject

3. Most Survivors Are Unprepared

4. Getting Your Affairs in Order

5. Leaving a Written Record

6. Special Offer for My Readers

7. Conclusions – Be Prepared

8. Personal: Central/South Texas in Record Drought

Introduction

You’d have to be living on a desert island lately to not be aware of the “Death Panel” controversy surrounding the health care reform bill. Former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, first made the news with the assertion that a panel of bureaucrats would have the power to make life and death decisions regarding the rationing of the limited supply of health care. Thus, the theory goes, anyone not deemed “worthy” of treatment could be denied expensive drugs or medical treatments.

As discussions about Death Panels spread like wildfire, liberals and their mainstream media lapdogs howled at this accusation. Palin, usually a favorite target of the loony left and liberal media, initiated such a national furor that the provisions discussing Medicare reimbursement for end-of-life counseling have been dropped, or so we are told.

So far, I have refrained from commenting too much on the ever-changing health care reform proposals, although it has been so tempting since there is so much information and mis-information about the various proposals already in the news and on the Internet. Suffice it to say that you simply can’t add the care of 46 million uninsured individuals to the existing number of health care providers and not create shortages (rationing) at some point.

This week, however, I would like to point out that the Death Panel discussion may be having an ancillary positive effect, no matter which side of the health care debate you land on. I have seen numerous articles and Internet blog discussions about how Palin’s (and many others’) remarks have increased interest about the importance of end-of-life planning, which is a positive benefit from my point of view.

I will also revisit several important end-of-life financial planning issues that I have covered in the past that everyone should consider, just in case the unthinkable happens. I will also tell you how you can obtain a very helpful resource entitled, “All They’ll Need To Know” that will help you prepare for the time when you will no longer be around to make your wishes known.

Untimely Death – An Unpopular Subject

Much of the recent end-of-life attention has centered on the need for a “living will,” which the MedicineNet.Com website defines as “… one form of advance medical directive…pertaining to treatment preferences and the designation of a surrogate decision-maker in the event that a person should become unable to make medical decisions on their own behalf.” Both I and members of my staff have had to deal with end-of-life issues with terminally ill parents, so we know the value of this service first-hand.

However, you shouldn’t stop there. Living wills are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to planning for survivors. There are many financial, legal and family issues that should be addressed prior to death or becoming incapacitated to help take some of the pressure off of a surviving spouse or other loved ones.

No one likes to talk about death, and many people put off planning for this contingency for that reason. Most young people think that death is a long way away, so they do nothing in the way of planning. Yet people of all ages are killed every day in accidents. The survivors of premature deaths are usually the hardest hit, because the death comes as much more of a surprise. That’s why it’s very important to plan for the possibility of an untimely death, even if you are young and healthy.

Also note that in this E-Letter, I will refer to the “financial partner” as the person who primarily handles the family finances, and the “non-financial partner” as the one who is usually not aware of all of the financial details.

Unprepared Survivors

In the financial services business, we have more than our fair share of widows and widowers who come to us without a clue as to what kinds of investments they and their late spouse owned, how much was invested, or how and where the assets are held. They are not alone. I have read in the past that over 90% of survivors are not fully prepared for an untimely death.

This isn’t surprising given how many families handle their financial affairs. In many cases, one spouse is in charge of the checkbook, investments and most importantly, filing of important papers. The other spouse is often minimally involved, signing on the dotted line when necessary and generally knowing where important records are, but not familiar with the details.

Unfortunately, the non-financial partner is sometimes that way by choice. I have talked to many couples where the husband or wife will say that the finances are the other partner’s responsibility, and they don’t care to know anything about them. In other cases, the financial partner intentionally keeps the other partner in the dark. This is especially prevalent with single individuals, who are often reluctant to share their financial information with someone else, even a family member.

Add to this lack of knowledge the shock and grief that accompanies an untimely death and you have a recipe for a financial disaster. And then it gets worse: Widows and widowers are often preyed upon by unscrupulous scam artists who offer help in time of need, but end up taking advantage of bereaved survivors whose judgment may be clouded by sorrow.

Yet, most of these problems are almost totally preventable. Just by taking a little time to document the financial details that pertain to your family can save hours of searching, not to mention the emotional strain coming from being thrust into the financial role without any preparation.

Gather and Organize Your Information

My first bit of advice may sound too simplistic, but it is to gather your financial information into one place: a file cabinet, bank safe deposit box or other suitable storage medium. It is amazing to me how many different places financial information is kept in many families. Some have part of their information at their office, other parts at home, some in a file cabinet, some in a dresser drawer, some in all of the above, etc., etc. There are times when survivors find important documents only by accident, and sometimes many years after death.

There’s no wonder why many survivors have a hard time figuring out what their financial situation is, because they are having a hard time finding all of the information, much less sorting it out. An article I recently read (http://www.unclaimedassets.com) estimated that more than 25% of life insurance benefits are not paid because beneficiaries didn’t know a policy existed. How sad!

When deciding where to store your important financial information, be careful about using bank safe deposit boxes. In some cases, banks will freeze access to safe deposit boxes upon notification of the death of the holder. This can be true even if the box is jointly owned with right of survivorship. Therefore, access to any important paperwork kept in the safe deposit box could be significantly delayed. If it is necessary to keep original documents in a safe deposit box, you should make copies of them to access if death occurs when banks are closed or access to the box is restricted.

Getting Your Affairs in Order

Once you have gathered all of your financial materials together in one place, it’s time to review them and get them in order. By getting them in order, I don’t mean alphabetizing them or putting them in nice neat file folders. What I mean is that you should review your overall financial situation and make sure that it reflects your current and long-term plans. Specifically, I would recommend that you do the following:

1. Update your will. If you don’t have a will, get one ASAP. It is also very important to update your will periodically. Estate laws change periodically and differ from state to state. I recommend that you consult a competent attorney who specializes in estate planning for this, even if your estate is not expected to be large enough to trigger an estate tax.

I do not recommend using do-it-yourself resources to do your will because they can never tailor a document to fit all of the intricacies of most families, and this is especially true when it comes to blended families. Plus, since estate planning law changes frequently, websites and books will not always notify you when your document needs to be revised, but a good attorney will.

2. Make sure all of your assets are titled correctly. The way assets are titled has an effect on how they transfer upon your death. For example, a bank account held by two people as “joint tenants” transfers differently than if it were jointly owned with “right of survivorship.” However, consult with your attorney regarding titling issues as there are some risks involved when naming other owners to your accounts.

In addition, it is important to keep your information current and updated. For example, if you have recently married, you may want to add your spouse to the account, unless it is intended to be separate property in community property states. Or, you may have remarried and want to remove an ex-spouse from the title of an asset.

If you have established trusts as part of an estate plan, it will be important to make sure that any assets that are part of these trusts are also titled correctly. Trusts are a key element of estate plans, and you will need a good attorney to help you with this.

3. Make sure contractual beneficiary designations are current. Life insurance, annuities, retirement plans and IRAs can all be transferred contractually by naming a beneficiary. This means that the proceeds are transferred outside of the will and need not go through probate. However, this makes it even more important to keep these beneficiary designations updated.

If you have recently married, or if one or both parents are deceased, you will need to replace parents or other family members as beneficiaries of your insurance policies. Just as important, if you have divorced, you may want to remove your ex-spouse as beneficiary, unless your divorce decree requires otherwise. It is not uncommon for insurance proceeds to be paid to an ex-spouse just because a person never got around to changing the policy beneficiary.

Under most retirement plans, the current spouse is required to be the beneficiary of death benefits, but this is not always the case for IRAs. Therefore, you will also want to make sure your IRA beneficiary is current. It is also important to name contingent beneficiaries should the primary beneficiary predecease you.

4. Make sure you have a “financial power of attorney.” A financial power of attorney simply empowers a trusted individual to manage your financial affairs should you become incapacitated. It takes effect at such time that you can no longer handle your own business affairs, and ceases upon your recovery or death.

In addition to the financial power of attorney, it is important to note any automatic payments you may have set up to be withdrawn from your checking account. If deposits are no longer made into the account, these automatic withdrawals could bounce, possibly affecting utilities, insurance coverage, debt payments, etc.

If you pay your bills via the Internet, then it is also important to make that known, as well as the user ID and password for your financial power of attorney designee or survivor to use to access your banking information and pay bills as they become due.

5. Make your wishes known. This piece of advice is obviously not limited to financial issues, but it is vitally important to make your wishes known when transferring financial holdings or any other asset with significant value upon death. While I have noted above how many financial instruments can have joint ownership with right of survivorship, or carry the ability to name a beneficiary, there are other items of value that may not be able to be transferred as easily, such as family heirlooms, antiques, valuable collections, personal items, etc.

In those cases, it is imperative that you state your wishes clearly in either a will or living trust. I think this is especially true today when there are so many “blended families” made up of children united by remarriage of the parents. What may be a family heirloom to one child could be a valuable commodity at the local pawnshop to another. It happens.

Another very important item to consider in this process is the disposition of financial assets. Whether those financial assets are stocks, bonds, investment or security accounts, or real estate, it is important for the financial partner to leave instructions as to how they should be handled upon death.

We often get calls from widows who are now trying to sort through the family investments and determine what they should do with them. Sometimes these callers are in a near-panic trying to make decisions about assets they know little or nothing about. Had the financial partner left clear written instructions, this confusion could be avoided. Thus, it is critically important for the financial partner to consider the level of sophistication of the non-financial partner, and leave written instructions for the disposition of assets accordingly.

Along this line, I am sad to report that survivors are often targeted by brokers and insurance salesmen and even bankers who offer financial help, but are really out to liquidate all assets and put them into products that will generate commissions or fees for them. From my experience, it is rare that every single investment should be liquidated upon the death of one partner, yet we often hear from survivors who have been given this very advice.

Therefore, an important part of getting your affairs in order should include the knowledge that your survivors will likely be targeted by the financial services industry and others, so you should leave very specific instructions as to how each asset should be handled.

6. Note all important contacts. There are some who successfully go through all of the prior steps in getting their affairs in order, only to fail to make a list of important contacts for their surviving partner. This list should contain the names, addresses and phone numbers of all important contacts. From a financial perspective, these should include your bankers, brokers, insurance agent, attorney, accountant, and financial and investment advisors. You should also include user names and passwords for websites where you have made any financial or investment transactions or have accounts.

This list is important because while the surviving spouse may be able to find all of the insurance policies and account statements, he or she may be totally lost as to how to proceed from there. Having a complete list of contact information will be very comforting during this time of great emotional stress for the survivors.

Write It All Down

Once you have all of your affairs in order and organized where they can be found, it is important that you document all of this in a concise manner. This documentation will serve as a guidepost for your survivors to let them know what assets you have, where they are located and how they should be treated. It is not enough to just tell the other partner about these issues and hope they remember. As the old saying goes, “a short pencil is better than a long memory.”

There are various methods of documenting everything your survivors will need to know. The simplest is a letter to the surviving partner detailing where all of the important papers are and how they should be handled. However, it is sometimes hard to think of everything to put into the letter, and a letter that does cover everything may be so long that it’s overwhelming.

Others keep a summary file folder along with their other important papers that contains copies of statements for assets, special instructions, important contacts, etc. The summary file approach is usually easier to update than rewriting an entire letter to address changes.

I don’t recommend either of these approaches. I have always recommended a more detailed method of keeping track of your assets and leaving detailed instructions for your loved ones when you are gone. There are various products on the market for doing so. However . . .

Back in 2005 I ran across one of the most useful and thoughtful financial tools I have ever seen to help organize all of the important items necessary to pass on to loved ones in case of an untimely death. It’s a booklet entitled ALL THEY’LL NEED TO KNOW from Emerson Publications. I was so impressed with this planning tool that I negotiated the right to reprint them and offered them to my clients and E-Letter subscribers.

To put it mildly, the response was HUGE! We mailed out thousands of booklets to clients and readers, many of whom had their own stories to tell about how a previous death showed them the need for such a resource.

All They’ll Need To Know provides checklists that cover virtually every piece of information you would need to pass on to surviving loved ones. This format is superior to a letter, in that it allows you to simply enter information into a template. You can even provide information on who you want to receive your special personal possessions, and even details about the funeral service you would like to have. Believe it or not, these small things are sometimes some of the most stressful decisions that survivors must make.

We still have a very limited supply of these printed booklets available, free of charge, on a first-come, first-served basis. Just complete our online request form to get your own copy while they last.

As a practical matter, the printed booklet has limitations in that personal preferences and financial information change over time, especially for younger individuals. Thus, mark-outs and erasures are common, which can also lead to confusion. Plus, in our electronic age, much of our personal information is now kept on our computers. Fortunately, Emerson Publications also has a Microsoft Word version available that is much easier to update.

I have managed to negotiate with Emerson Publications on the electronic version of the All They’ll Need To Know booklet so that my clients and readers can purchase it at a discounted price of only $16.99. I am delighted to be able to share this with you, as this is something we all need and can make use of.

To obtain your discount on the electronic version of All They’ll Need To Know, click on the following special Emerson Publications link. This web page has been specially designed for my clients and readers so the discount is automatically incorporated. Note that neither I nor my firm receives any part of the purchase price of this software, nor are we compensated in any other way. Here’s the link:

http://emersonpublications.com/index.php?pr=ATNTK-Halbert&nosessionkill=1

Or, if you prefer, you can request one of our remaining printed copies of the booklet by either giving us a call at 800-348-3601 or by completing one of our online request forms. There is absolutely no charge for the printed version, but the supply is limited. When they’re gone, they’re gone and we will not be reprinting them.

Once you receive your booklet in the mail or via download, I encourage you to complete it soon, and then let your spouse or other loved one know where it will be kept. Since the booklet will contain some of your most sensitive information, you should select a keeping place that is safe and secure. Plus, be sure to completely erase the electronic version from old computers before you sell, trade or discard them.

It is also important that you review the information in your All They’ll Need To Know booklet at least annually to make sure all information is current. Outdated records can be just as confusing as no records at all.

Conclusions

As I stated at the beginning of this article, I wanted to keep my comments non-political and generally focused on basic end-of-life financial matters. There are many other estate planning and family considerations to be made in addition to the above items, including deciding guardianship of minor children, setting up and maintaining trusts, establishing a succession plan for sole proprietors, funeral expenses, etc. However, all of these are far beyond the scope of this short E-Letter, and most require the services of a qualified attorney and CPA.

Suffice it to say that there are many financial, legal, and family issues to be considered upon a person’s death. These issues can either be dealt with prior to death through careful planning with qualified professionals, or left to bereaved survivors who will have to face these issues during a period of great stress and turmoil.

If you are reading this E-Letter, it is likely that you are the financial partner in your family. If so, I suggest you carefully consider the suggestions I have given and take steps to inform and protect your loved ones upon your death. I also encourage you to order the All They’ll Need To Know booklet and complete it with the help of your non-financial partner. This will help him or her see the importance of becoming involved in the family finances.

While the subject matter of this week’s E-Letter may be less than cheerful, it is nonetheless important, especially in terms of long-term financial and estate planning. We all know that none of us are guaranteed to see tomorrow, so pre-death planning is an important consideration for anyone who wants to make it easier for their surviving loved ones.

That’s all on that subject for now. I hope this helps.

Personal: Central/South Texas in Record Drought

As you may have heard, the central and southern parts of Texas, where my family and I live, are in the grips of the worst drought on record. During 2009, we have received only a fraction of the rainfall we normally receive, and this comes on the heels of a greatly reduced year in 2008. You can see from the following link that the drought is “exceptional” (ie – worst ever) in this part of Texas, with no end in sight: http://www.ndmc.unl.edu/DM/MONITOR.HTML

Long-time clients and readers will recall that we live outside Austin on Lake Travis, arguably the most pristine, picturesque and clearest lake in this part of the country. It is 65 miles long with depths up to 200 feet, and 120 feet at the deepest point where we live. The lake provides water supplies for Austin and other surrounding areas. The lake is now down 50 feet from normal and is dropping at the rate of more than two feet per week. It is a real hike over rocks to get to our boat dock, which we move further out as the water level drops.

Adding to the drought, we have had a record heat wave this summer. As of today, we have had over 60 days of 100+ degree heat this summer. Everyone in this region of Texas is under mandatory water rationing which is on-track to get even worse, as there is no meaningful rain in the forecast. I am struggling to keep our grass and landscape alive on our five acre property. The good news is, some weather forecasters believe that “La Niña” could bring some major drought relief to Texas sometime this fall, and at least the days are getting shorter.

Other than the drought, things are all well and good with the Halbert family. The kids are back in school now; my son is a sophomore engineering major in college and earned an academic scholarship at the end of his freshman year; my daughter is a Senior in high school this year and was awarded “student of the year” honors last year by the school faculty and administration.

As always, I am most grateful for my loving family, my many loyal clients and to all of you who faithfully read these weekly E-Letters. Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

Very best regards,

Gary D. Halbert

SPECIAL ARTICLES:

Brookings “Experts” Admit Stimulus a Bust:

http://www.aim.org/briefing/brookings-experts-admit-stimulus-a-bust

Buy-and-hold strategy losing grip on investors

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-trading25-2009aug25,0,2266089.story

Why Obama Appointed Bernanke to a New Fed Term

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1918422,00.html

Forecasts & Trends E-Letter is published by ProFutures, Inc. Gary D. Halbert is the president and CEO of ProFutures, Inc. and is the editor of this publication. Information contained herein is taken from sources believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed as to its accuracy. Opinions and recommendations herein generally reflect the judgement of Gary D. Halbert, Mike Posey (or another named author) and may change at any time without written notice. Market opinions contained herein are intended as general observations and are not intended as specific investment advice. Readers are urged to check with their investment counselors before making any investment decisions. This electronic newsletter does not constitute an offer of sale of any securities. Gary D. Halbert, ProFutures, Inc., and its affiliated companies, its officers, directors and/or employees may or may not have investments in markets or programs mentioned herein. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. Reprinting for family or friends is allowed with proper credit. However, republishing (written or electronically) in its entirety or through the use of extensive quotes is prohibited without prior written consent.

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ProFutures, Inc.
11719 Bee Cave Rd Ste 200
Austin, Texas 78738

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I rarely leave home without a book or something to read. You never know when you’re going to have to wait in line, or in an appropriately named “waiting room.” Since I hate wasting time, it’s a great time to catch up on my reading. I read a whole chapter of a book while waiting in line at the motor vehicle division one day. Sure made the time pass more quickly with something to occupy my mind.

I recently upgraded to an iPhone and with all of the applications available, you can be entertained (or educated) anytime or anywhere.  I recently located a Kindle app so I can download books and read them right on my phone.   What a great way to save a trip to the book store or library and also save a tree!

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In playing ball, or in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only 2 things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing. -Hank Aaron

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