Financial Advisor Brian Raleigh explains how you can proactively protect your family in the case of a sudden tragedy.

Cary, NC – September 21, 2012 – Each and every one of us at some level has dealt with the tragic loss of a loved one, or has watched a person we care about deal with the pain and suffering of a long term disability. Death is inevitable and (according to studies by AARP, Met Life and GE Financial) disability affects one in two Americans over the age of 65 on a long-term basis. With these unpleasant realities so certain, estate and disability planning in America should be well designed and well developed, enabling families to avoid the hardship associated with having a poor plan or no plan at all.

Brian Raleigh, Founder of TruWealth Strategies in Cary, North Carolina, recently discussed three things that every American over the age of 65 should be considering about their estate and disability planning:

• Lawyers can create great legal estate planning documents, but if your assets are not “funded” into the trusts – or if you have documents that are poorly defined in a disability situation, you can end up with a very IN-effective plan. Here are some significant problems to look out for:

1. If you have a trust and none of your accounts are tied to it, the trust will not help your estate avoid probate.  A well-prepared legal document can help your family avoid the cost of probate, (AARP reports average probate costs annually are 3-5%) but if your bank and investment accounts are not held in the name of your trust, it will not help.
2. It is also important to make sure your real estate is tied through newly created deeds to transfer the property into the trust.

• Long-term care can wipe you out financially.  Newly enforced Filial Responsibility laws may end up costing your kids their savings to pay your nursing home bill. This may be hard to believe, but that is the new reality of healthcare.  With home health care aides costing $15-30 per hour and Assisted living facilities costing from $4,000 to $8,000 per month in many parts of the country, nursing homes can cost well over $100,000 per year.  Developing a long-term care plan is critical.  There are a variety of ways to use leverage with specific financial products to help you protect your hard earned retirement savings beyond traditional long term care insurance.  Being proactive and planning for these future tragedies can spare your loved ones the stress of trying to “figure it out.”

• Divide and BE CONQUERED.  All too often financial advisors rely just on financial solutions to solve a client’s long-term care risk.  Likewise, lawyers look to their legal documents to solve the problem.  The best advice is to seek out a “team approach”.  A well-prepared financial plan addressing death and disability, designed in tandem with coordinated and well-drafted legal documents, will yield you the very best results.  Two professionals working “independently” can actually cancel out the effectiveness of one another’s work. Be proactive by insisting that the advisor(s) and lawyer(s) you trust work collaboratively.

For more information on how Brian Raleigh can help, please visit www.truwealth.us

About Brian Raleigh:

Brian began as an advisor in November of 1995 and spent more than eight years where he often ranked in the top 1 percent in his company. In 2004, he became an independent advisor and formed his own firm, TruWealth Strategies in Cary, NC.

In addition to keeping his clients satisfied, Brian’s proud to be finishing up a book. Keeping with his sports background, the book is titled, “Rounding Third and Heading for Home.” It’s due out this summer and discusses mistakes people can’t afford to make when they retire. He also reveals strategies on how to lower taxes, manage market risks, and create a consistent income stream in retirement that never runs out!

Brian obtained his LUTCF in 1999, with a focus on Estate and Business Planning. He is also a member of the Better Business Bureau and National Ethics Bureau. Brian is an active member in the Raleigh Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (RAIFA), where he served on the board for four years, and is a member of NAIFA the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors since 1997.