"No one here gets out alive." Jim Morrison

Sorry to disappoint.  This isn't going to be a discussion of Jim Morrison and I'm sure when he made this statement, he wasn't talking about end of life planning.  But the statement is very true.  No one gets out alive.

All your life you plan for the future or someone plans for you when you're young.  By the time you're in high school you're doing the planning.  College?  Trade school?  The military?  Once the career path is started, there's planning for your first house, a bigger car, your kids, their education and your retirement.  Life moves on, one plan after the other until, if you're lucky, all those plans work out and the retirement plan that was put into place is functioning as it should.  You're retired.  You're taking it easy and, suddenly, all planning stops.  Why is that?  Do you think you're going to continue in retirement for eternity?

No, sad to say, you're going to die.  Well, yes, but there's no need to plan for that.  Plan or no plan, no one gets out alive.  True, but we don't disappear or blow up on a certain date and that's that.  Some will die peacefully in their sleep or in a quick accident, but far too many will have a long and lingering death.  And some of those will linger in a mental state that makes it impossible for them to make decisions or communicate with caregivers.  What then?  What's the plan?

You can't stop planning when you reach retirement.  You have to keep the plan going as long as you are above ground.  What decisions do you want made if you can't make them?  Who do you want to make them?  In these days of medical miracles and longer lives, it's absolutely essential to consider what you want at the end of your life.  And then you need to write it down or create a living will.  Make sure the person you select "to pull the plug" is someone who can actually do it.  Don't put that chore on someone who can't let you go.  Maybe your spouse or children aren't the best to nominate for this position.  Whoever it is, talk to them before their services are needed and let them know what your wishes are and when to take action.  Don't leave your end of life planning to others.

You can consult with attorneys or find forms on the Internet to help you figure out what may need to be done and who best to do it.  http://www.caringinfo.org/files/public/ad/Tennessee.pdf is a good place to start.  If you're not in Tennessee, there are forms for every state.  This will give you an idea of what to think about and what to discuss with your family and friends.  And you can prepay your funeral expenses and even write your own eulogy.  But don't put it off for too long.  Although no one gets out alive, not many of us know when we're going.

Save for your child's retirement not her college education

Saving for your child's retirement might seem backward.  Isn't the child supposed to get a good job and save for his own retirement?  Yes, that's the way it was.  But I know a lot of people who don't believe in the old work plan of 50 hours a week in a job your don't particularly like in the hope of living long enough to enjoy a fabulous retirement.  There are a lot of ifs in there.  If the child can remain employed, if the job continues to exist, if the retirement plan provided by the employer still exists at retirement and if the child is still in good enough health to enjoy her retirement.

What if your child is happiest working in a small non-profit that doesn't pay a large enough salary for retirement savings?  What if the employer is a small business that doesn't offer a retirement plan?  What if your child doesn't make enough money to save for retirement?  What if your child is diagnosed with an illness that makes full time work impossible?  There are a lot of ifs in this paragraph as well.

Everyone wants to think the future will be bright and bad things will happen to the other guy and sometimes that's true.  I suggest that saving early and letting the money earn for your child is the best plan.

The longer money is invested the more it grows.  $10,000 invested for 45 years at 8% (an average for the stock market in the past) would grow to $319,204.  The earlier your child can begin saving for retirement the better.

Having $10,000 in an IRA by the end of college will allow your child to have something for retirement no matter what course his life takes.  And if she is able to invest more in the IRA over the years, so much the better.  Having at least $10,000 in an IRA by the age of 21 will allow your child the most freedom in deciding a course in life while still having a good retirement.  If $10,000 is all the child is ever able to save, retirement income may still be meager but meager is better than nothing.

You may not be convinced, and still want to save for a college education, which is still a good plan.  But consider the IRA.  Once your child has earned income, the entire amount of of gross income can be invested in an IRA up to $5,500 annually.  Investing in a ROTH IRA would mean all distributions would be tax free in the future.  The more your child invests in an IRA when she is young, the more she'll have for retirement when she's older.

Many people aren't able to save for retirement at all and others only begin saving in their 40s.  For a college education there are scholarships, grants and low interest loans.  The student can also work a part-time job or live in his parent's home to save money for college.  There are no scholarships, grants or low interest loans for retirement and although working and living with family are options for the old as well as the young, no one wants to work through retirement.  Although generations sharing a home isn't a bad plan for everyone to save money.

Consider looking at your child's retirement before their college education and see if you can't start them off right for the end of life as well as for the beginning.