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How to Prepare for Retirement and Beyond

As a baby boomer, you are part of a generational wave of nearly 74 million people who are nearing or have already reached retirement. As important as it is to help care for aging parents and help adult children build families and careers, it’s equally important to make sure you’ve got a plan for your own future.

A little preparation now can make all the difference years down the road. A great place to start is making sure your estate plan is up-to-date. That plan you put together years ago is most certainly outdated—relationships develop, children grow up and the value of your assets has likely changed.

Review these four key elements of your estate plan on a regular basis.

1. Create or Update Your Last Will and Testament or Revocable Trust

These documents are the cornerstone of your estate plan. They ensure your assets will be distributed exactly as you intend. Your will covers assets that are titled in your individual name. Assets pass outside the will if they are jointly titled or have a beneficiary designation. It is imperative that you review all of your assets to make sure they pass pursuant to your current wishes. Failure to make changes or updates to your will may result in disinheritance or financial hardship for loved ones who depend on you.

2. Review Your Beneficiary Designations

When you establish life insurance or retirement plans, you are asked to name beneficiaries of these accounts who will receive the assets upon your death. It is important to regularly review these beneficiary designations to ensure that your assets pass to the appropriate loved ones.

3. Create or Update Your Power of Attorney for Health Care and Living Will

You should have a health care power of attorney to appoint your spouse, a trusted friend or family member to make medical decisions on your behalf in the event you are unable to make such decisions yourself. Your health care agent or attorney-in-fact will work with your doctors and other health care providers to make sure that you get the medical care you wish to receive. A living will is a type of advance directive that gives you the opportunity to formalize your wishes as to prolonged health care in the event you are in a terminal condition.

4. Create or Update Your Power of Attorney for Financial Matters

Regardless of the size of your estate or your family circumstances, you should have a financial power of attorney. You may appoint your spouse, a trusted family member or friend as your agent to handle all financial transactions on your behalf in the event you are unable to do so.