14: What Women Need to Know About Caregiving and Elder Law with Cathy Sikorski

Today's guest is Cathy Sikorski. She is a practicing attorney in elder law. At the same time, she has personal experience being a caregiver for elders and not-so-elders. Her bestselling book, Who Moved My Teeth?: Preparing for Self, Loved Ones and Caregiving, combines her 25-plus years of legal and practical experience into a guide for preparing yourself or your loved ones for the complicated future of healthcare and caregiving. Initially a small-town general practice attorney, Cathy was initially driven to hone her skills just as a person taking care of the elderly, but quickly realized that elder law is legal practice unto itself. Her work as a caregiver, then, led her to embrace elder law as a profession. Elder law is a relatively young legal practice that was established only in 1994 because "the issues" surrounding the practice "are becoming so much more prevalent in everyone's life. How do we take care of Mom and Dad as they get older? What are their choices?" Listen in and learn how having an elder law attorney can help you, alongside your other lawyers (i.e. estate), a financial advisor, to plan and prepare for retirement. Cathy also offers some best practices and hard truths about being a caregiver. Key Topics: An introduction to Cathy and her eight separate experiences as a caregiver (2:01) What's elder law all about and how did it shape Cathy's other work as a caregiver? (4:08) What areas does an elder law attorney cover? (06:03) How these attorneys also aid their clients' spouses, especially on the financial side (8:56) The difference between elder lawyers and estate lawyers and what to know about wills (10:53) Why your different lawyers, financial advisor, and accountant all need to collaborate (14:15) What conversations do you need to have with aging family members today? (15:47) "Please check every darn beneficiary designation that you have." (18:58) Considerations around of your spouse's IRAs, 401(k), and other retirement accounts (22:07) Cathy on her life as a caregiver (26:03) Visit takebackretirement.com for a free caregiver contract. Who can become a paid caregiver? (31:12) The importance of having a support group as a caregiver (33:13) How to contact Cathy (35:06) Three action steps to take today (36:06)   You can reach out to Cathy at https://cathysikorski.com or send her an email at [email protected]   If you like what you've been hearing, we invite you to subscribe on your favorite platform and leave us a review. Tell us what you love about this episode! Or better yet, tell us what you want to hear more of in the future. [email protected]   You can find the transcript and more information about this episode at www.takebackretirement.com.   Follow Stephanie on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.  Follow Kevin on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.