House Rules! If you don’t know the house rules then you are gambling with your families future. Know the House Rules! Learn more in the Elder Law Report.
Greg McIntyre:
House rules. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a Vegas casino or you’re just living day-to-day. There are house rules. That’s what this show’s about. It’s about knowing the house rules, beating the house rules. I guarantee you if you play these slots, and you play these different machines, that you will lose eventually and the house will take your money. Same with income tax system. Same with our gift tax, and estate tax structure. The same with any rules system where you don’t know the rules, yet you continue to play.
Greg McIntyre:
The system that will live under in the United States of America, it’s a great system, but there are rules. We’ll call those the house rules. So we’re going to talk about those rules in this episode, straight from Vegas. So, tune in.
Greg McIntyre:
Hello. This is Greg McIntyre with McIntyre Elder Law, helping seniors protect their assets and legacies. Yes, we just got back from Vegas. Got back from Vegas, we had a convention over the weekend and our seminar over the weekend, and really learned a lot while we were there. Now it’s back to the grind and back to the work. What did I learn about Vegas?
Greg McIntyre:
We’re going to call this show House Rules, or Beating the House. Because not only do you have to gamble in a casino, if you gamble. I did not, I don’t gamble with my money. But if I did, the house is stacked against me. The odds are I’m going to lose. There’s better odds at winning in a casino then you avoiding longterm care if you’re over 65 right now. Everyone over 65 is going to need some type of … Everyone over 65 has a 70% chance of needing some type of longterm care. That means in-home, assisted living, or nursing home care. Those are huge odds.
Greg McIntyre:
The odds are in the favor of your house, not your favor. So, whether you’re in a casino in Vegas like I was when we went to this conference. The conference center was in the Mandalay Bay, or you’re just in the world, living your every day life with your family. You still have rules, you still have house rules. There are tax rules, there are Medicaid look-back periods, three years for assisted living, five years for nursing home care. You need to work to protect assets outside of that period. Even though we have a Medicaid crisis planning department that can help you protect assets even within that period, in the crisis period when you’re struggling to pay for longterm care, or protect assets during that period and pay for longterm care. We can help there.
Greg McIntyre:
Again, if you know what the house rules are, it’s easier to setup your assets ahead of time. That’s what we’re here for. You look around the world, and it’s chaos right now. There’s a lot of things going on. A lot of things going on. I would say, the gamble that you make is not being prepared, is not planning, is ignoring the house rules and thinking you’re still going to win. That’s what keeps Vegas in business, are the people who keep playing even though they know the house rules are against them, and they’re generally not going to win consistently over time.
Greg McIntyre:
Things that estate planning elder law attorneys, our firm, can help offer to help you beat the house rules are starting simple with foundational planning. General durable powers of attorney, financial powers of attorney, which gives someone else, someone you choose not someone the court chooses for you like in a guardianship case, which you would be left with if you didn’t have that document. Right? So those are the house rules there.
Greg McIntyre:
Your spouse, for instance, would be frozen out of assets if you didn’t have that general durable power of attorney in place. Also, I want to be able to appoint who I want to make my healthcare decisions. I have six children. I guarantee you it’d take them from here to Sunday to agree on anything. I don’t want to be laying there while they try to figure out what the right healthcare decision for me is. I want to be selfish there and appoint my wife first, and maybe my oldest son second. That’s how ours are arranged right now. So that it’s no gamble for me. It’s a sure thing that one person’s appointed to make the right decision for me.
Greg McIntyre:
That HIPPA authorization is within that healthcare power of attorney, so we can pull medical records. Right? For me, or I can pull them for my wife, for a number of reasons. To get a second opinion, to check out billing, just because I want to see the medical records. There’s a number of reasons, but you want to have those documents in place. Living wills, wills. Don’t gamble. The state has already chosen a will for you. It’s called the statutes of intestate succession. So, we all trust that the state’s going to pass laws to take care of you, right? No. You have the ability to make those … to go against the house there, and make your own rules with your will, and say exactly who you want to handle your estate if you pass on, and how you want your assets to pass on. That’s fundamentally American. Okay?
Greg McIntyre:
Those are the house rules, and you need to take advantage of those. So don’t just depend on the state. Be proactive. Take care of your hard earned money and property. If you want to look at protecting your hard earned money and property, let’s look at deed protection. Like lady bird deeds or life estate deeds, or one percent deeds as some people call them. Let’s talk about those things. You can generally get with me or one of our attorneys, and have a 30 minute to an hour long conversation. Really, we can figure most things out in that period of time, or at least we can start to get a really good plan together and we can get on the same page. Take the time out. You deserve it. You’ve worked hard your entire life for what you have. You deserve to have great estate planning and legal planning in place for you and your family, and your hard earned money and property, and your hard work for your entire life.
Greg McIntyre:
Some people save and scrimp, and work so hard their entire life. They don’t want to spend a dollar or dime on legal or professional services. That is a mistake. That is a mistake. We are here, we know the rules. We are here to help you know what the house rules are, and to help you survive the way you want to, and your assets survive. For you to do more than survive, thrive. We want you to thrive. We want to help you do that.
Greg McIntyre:
If there are tax implications to transfers or to things that are … your estate plan that you need to know about, we want to inform you. We want to maximize your taxable exemptions. We want to let you know what those are. Trusts do a great job of protecting assets as well. Irrevocable trusts, revocable trusts do a great job of keeping you in control of assets and avoiding probate. That might be right for you. Irrevocable trusts do a great job of avoiding leans and probate, and protecting assets, and making available to you options like longterm care Medicaid.
Greg McIntyre:
Let’s talk about those plans. Irrevocable trusts are a great place to put a house and other real estate. Let’s talk about those implications and how a trust might work for you. Again, I think the only gamble is turning a blind eye, not looking at what’s going on in the world, and not realizing that you’re in that casino and that the odds are stacked against you, and to keep playing the game, man.
Greg McIntyre:
You keep playing the game over and over again without getting with a professional like myself, who’s an estate planning and elder law attorney, and asking about the house rules. Asking about those rules and, “What tools are there that could help me and my family?” I’m Greg McIntyre with McIntyre Elder Law, helping seniors protect their assets and legacies, and we would love to help you and your family. If you would like a consult with us, please give us a call, 704-749-9244 or go online to mcelderlaw.com. That’s mcelderlaw.com, to learn more. Have a great day and know the house rules.
Greg McIntyre:
All right, this is a partnership agreement between Brent and myself. [inaudible 00:09:30]. All right, there it is.
Stephanie:
Congrats, man.
Greg McIntyre:
That’s awesome, that’s awesome.
Stephanie:
Congrats, seriously.
Greg McIntyre:
All right, Stephanie. Are you the queen of Wheel of Fortune?
Stephanie:
I am.
Greg McIntyre:
You are the queen of Wheel of Fortune?
Stephanie:
I am, I am.
Greg McIntyre:
Yeah.
Stephanie:
[inaudible 00:10:06]
Greg McIntyre:
Vanna White said, “Come on over.”
Stephanie:
[inaudible 00:10:12]
Speaker 3:
Join us for Wheel of Fortune 4-D.
Greg McIntyre:
4-D. Are you comfortable?
