Chapter 18: Providing Income for Your Final Years
Estate Planning and Retirement

Americans are living longer than ever, and that often means that we face unprecedented decisions about how our assets and estates should be arranged to provide us maximum comfort and care in the often-difficult years near the end of life. Traditional estate planning focused on our family and survivors, but today’s estate plans must take into account the opportunities and potential problems of extended life and the high costs associated with it.

America is getting older. Because of the baby boom and other demographic changes, the number of Americans over age 65 will double over the next 40 years. Many of them will have serious health problems, and 14 million will have Alzheimer’s disease. By 2050, the elderly will number 67 million, 22% of the population.

These changes have spawned a whole new legal specialty called “elder law.” This book isn’t the place to discuss the whole panoply of elder law issues—another book in this series, The American Bar Association Legal Guide for Older Americans covers that subject in detail—but estate planning makes up a significant component of legal concerns for those of retirement age, and we briefly discuss some important considerations here.

In today’s complex environment, decisions you make in writing your will or trust can affect your pension or retirement plan, your insurance purchases, even where you choose to live in retirement. Most lawyers recommend that you try to coordinate retirement planning, planning for educational expenses of children and grandchildren, and estate planning.