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AICPA offers guide on end-of-life decisions

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2009 – It doesn’t matter if you are 35 or 75: If you have dependents, own property or a business, you need to figure inheritance and succession into your financial plans.

The American Institute of CPAs offers direction in A Guide to Financial Decisions: Implementing an End-of-Life Plan, available free of charge.

“The need for a guide like this was reinforced during my own personal circumstances involving my parents’ passing,” said Ted Sarenski, CPA/PFS, chair of the AICPA PrimePlus ElderCare Task Force, which developed the publication with the Personal Financial Planning Executive Committee. “Before my father died, he used to ask me about pension-plan options, Social Security and IRA withdrawals. My eldest sister, who helped take care of our mother, would ask questions about the proper course of action.

“The guide is meant for a wider group than just aging parents and their children,” Sarenski said. “The end of life does not discriminate according to age.”

The ElderCare Task Force wrote the guide with four audiences in mind:

• The sandwich generation
• Active retirees
• Younger families who decide to be proactive about the unexpected
• Families with special needs, including those with disabled members or military personnel

A Guide to Financial Decisions: Implementing an End-of-Life Plan, published in concert with the Institute’s 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy program, covers an array of critical topics, including planning for yourself; dependents; your property and assets, including business ownership, retirement accounts, and long-term and disability insurance; and your estate, which covers overall estate planning, wills and living trusts.

A chapter on government programs delves into Social Security disability benefits, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ benefits. A glossary defines over a hundred relevant legal and financial terms, durable power of attorney, intestacy and variable annuity, among them.

The guide, produced in cooperation with the Michigan Association of CPAs and Hospice of Michigan, is available on the AICPA's Web site. Additional resources are available on the AICPA’s 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy Web site, www.360financialliteracy.org/.