Navigating Your Later Years For Dummies
1st Edition
Published on 11. January 2021
176 pages
978-1-119-81015-5 (ISBN)
Description
Make your later years your best! As many folks live into their 70s, 80s, and 90s, they have more choices than ever before to make their later years fulfilling. With the AARP's Navigating Your Later Years For Dummies, Portable Edition, you discover the many options you have for living independently, making end-of-life decisions, and getting the best healthcare as you advance in years. No one makes these types of decisions alone, so you also get expert advice on how to discuss your choices and plans with loved ones to help them understand your outlook. Thinking about your later years may be hard, but it doesn't have to be scary. This practical guide gives you advice on how to
- Downsize your home and distribute your worldly goods to loved ones
- Decide whether to stay in your home or move to a retirement community
- Create wills, trusts, advance directives, and living wills
- Determine when it's time to let someone else chauffeur you around town
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Carol Levine
Navigating Your Later Years for Dummies
Book
02/2021
Wiley
€9.19
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Person
Carol Levine is a Senior Fellow at United Hospital Fund in New York. She writes frequently about aging, health, long-term care, and family caregiving.
AARP is the U.S.'s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people to choose how they live as they age.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Foolish Assumptions
- Icons Used in This Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Chapter 1 Thinking about the Big Picture and the Future
- Planning for the Future Starts with You
- Creating a Plan for the Future Now
- Discovering How Your Options Are Changing
- Money is a factor
- Legal reasons
- People want change
- Meeting Your Changing Needs
- Location, location, location
- Timing and flexibility
- Getting Professional Advice
- Chapter 2 A Personal Inventory: Past, Present, and Future
- Looking at the Present - and the Future
- Healthcare needs
- Family, friends, and professionals
- Personality characteristics
- Attitudes about money
- Creating a Plan Based on Your Profile
- Chapter 3 Fond of the Familiar: Staying in Your Home
- Staying at Home in Your Community
- Dealing with Two Major Hazards
- Preventing falls
- Preventing burns
- Modifying a Home
- Categorizing types of home modifications
- Checking out accessibility
- Finding a contractor
- Getting help paying for home modifications
- Seeking Help at Home
- Allocating tasks to family
- Searching for services
- Finding help for other chores
- Putting technology to use
- Chapter 4 Downsizing for Now and Later
- The Emotional Aspects of Downsizing
- Downsizing and Home Renovations
- Getting Started
- Putting together important papers
- Sorting and decision making
- Donating or selling items
- Making the Move
- Chapter 5 Assisted and Independent Living and Other Group Settings
- What Is Assisted Living?
- Knowing other terms for "assisted living"
- Getting to know what assisted living offers
- Checking out healthcare services
- Finding more information on assisted-living facilities
- Evaluating the Cost of Assisted Living
- Choosing from the menu of cost plans
- Asking questions to create a monthly budget
- Beyond the Brochure: What to Look for When You Visit
- Making notes about the common areas
- Checking out the residential units
- Investigating continuing care
- Independent Living and Other Options for Group Living
- Independent living for seniors
- Affinity or niche communities
- Cohousing arrangements
- House sharing
- Group homes
- Chapter 6 Getting Around: Transportation Options
- Judging Whether Driving Is Still Safe
- Watching for warning signs of unsafe driving
- Starting the conversation
- Making Your Car Fit You
- Increasing safety with new technology
- Choosing a new vehicle
- Modifying vehicles
- Knowing When It's Time to Give Up the Keys
- Finding Alternatives to Driving
- Public transportation and paratransit options
- Private options
- Chapter 7 Unraveling the Rules of Medicare and Medicaid
- The Distinction between Medicare and Medicaid
- Looking at Medicare Basics
- Are you eligible for Medicare?
- What's included in Original Medicare
- What you get with Medicare Advantage plans
- Prescription drug coverage
- Durable medical equipment coverage
- Home healthcare services
- Medicaid Ground Rules
- Are you eligible for Medicaid?
- What services Medicaid offers
- How Medicaid works with home- and community-based programs
- Medicaid managed long-term care
- Chapter 8 Financial Matters: Money Management and Wills
- Managing Money
- Opening joint bank accounts
- Granting financial powers of attorney
- Where There's a Will . . .
- Taking inventory of your assets
- Considering types of wills
- Choosing the executor
- Taking the final steps
- Settling the Estate with Probate
- Chapter 9 Choosing Good Medical Care
- Checking on the Special Medical Needs of Older Adults
- Identifying common chronic conditions
- Dealing with multiple ailments
- Finding the Right Specialist to Manage Care
- Considering the need for a geriatrician
- Finding a geriatrician
- Navigating Hospitals
- Where to go for emergencies and non-emergencies
- Being admitted to the hospital
- Planning for a hospital stay
- Polypharmacy: Too Many Drugs?
- Using caution with certain drugs
- Getting medications right
- Chapter 10 Understanding the Different Roles of Nursing Homes
- Beginning with Nursing Home Basics
- Defining nursing homes
- Moving from a hospital to short-term rehab
- Comparing nursing homes for a long stay
- Visiting Nursing Homes
- Checking off important points
- Noting policy details
- Responding to Residents' Problems in Nursing Homes
- Chapter 11 Getting the Healthcare You Want (and Avoiding What You Don't Want)
- Talking about Future Healthcare Decisions
- Realizing the importance of advance planning
- Making wishes known with advance directives and living wills
- Dealing with the Rules of Advance Directives
- Finding the forms for advance directives and living wills
- Putting your wishes down on paper
- Choosing a healthcare proxy
- Adding do not resuscitate (DNR) orders
- Keeping your advance directive accessible
- Choosing Physician Orders for Life- Sustaining Treatment (POLST)
- Understanding Care Options for Serious Illness: Palliative Care and Hospice
- Palliative care
- Hospice
- Chapter 12 Ten (Plus Six) Resources to Help You Navigate Your Later Years
- Checking Out Federal Programs
- Medicare and Medicaid
- Other federal agencies
- Getting Information through State and Local Programs
- Turning to Community-Based Organizations
- Index
- EULA
