A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Retirement

A funny thing happened on the way to retirement: A recession. And it's derailing many of my estate planning clients' retirement plans. Here in Florida, with home values anemic and stock portfolios leaner, many of my Baby Boomer clients say they're sticking with their jobs for now. Some of my already-retired clients are trying to rejoin the nine-to-five set.

A recent report by the U.S. Labor Department confirms that they are part of a greater trend: Since the recession began, the number of people over age 55 still working has actually increased, despite increased overall unemployment rates.

If you're putting off retirement or coming out of retirement, you'll want to know if and how your Social Security retirement benefits will be impacted. This information is available at the SSA website's report, How Work Affects Your Benefits.

Any significant change in your assets and income can have a dramatic ripple effect on your estate plan, too. Do your intended distributions still reflect your financial reality? Is one of your beneficiaries now in greater economic peril than before, and perhaps in need of more consideration? If you have long-term care insurance, have you been keeping up with the premiums, or do you now need to think about other kinds of planning? These are the kinds of issues you should revisit with your elder law estate planning attorney.