What is an assisted living community?

An assisted living community is a safe and secure environment where seniors can go to live a relatively independent lifestyle but also receive support with certain daily activities. These activities may include bathing, dressing, medication administration, mobility and more. Our trained staff members are on hand to help you perform these tasks safely while still respecting your independence.

Our assisted living communities also provide excellent accommodations for seniors, as well as an active and social environment where seniors can meet other people in the same stage of life.

 

How is assisted living different from a nursing home?

Assisted living does not provide advanced, round-the-clock medical care, such as treatment for specific conditions like advanced Alzheimer’s. Skilled nursing homes, on the other hand, are designed to house and assist individuals who have health conditions that require constant monitoring and round-the-clock availability of medical personnel.

You may not know which level of care you or your loved one needs. That’s not a problem. Our assisted living communities can do an assessment to determine the level of care needed for your situation.

When is it time to move to assisted living?

It can be difficult to decide on the right time to make the move, and the right time varies for each person. Generally, assisted living is ideal for those who need some help in their daily lives, but don’t require advanced medical care.

If you or your loved one finds it challenging to perform daily living tasks, has mobility issues, needs access to medical care, or wants to live in a place that offers social activities with other like-minded seniors, it might be time to try assisted living. At each of our communities, trained staff members can help make the transition easier.

The more you know about assisted living, the better decision you can make.

 

What is the cost of assisted living? Does Medicare pay for it?

Costs vary widely depending on what region you live in, as well as your care situation.  At Brookdale, a senior only has to pay for the care services that he or she needs, which can help decrease costs.

Medicare and other federal programs typically do not pay for assisted living. Most likely you will use personal funds, assets or long-term care insurance to put towards payment. Learn more in Financial Considerations.

What can a new resident bring with them when they move in?

While different assisted living communities have different guidelines, our residents are welcome to bring personal belongings and furnishings to make their new space feel more like home. We encourage our residents to feel comfortable and at ease in their accommodations, which includes personalizing the space.

How big are the rooms? Can couples live together?

Our assisted living communities offer a variety of room sizes and styles to fit your particular needs. The styles vary between communities, but floor plan options include studio apartments and one, two or three bedroom apartments. All apartments have private bathrooms, and some even have kitchenettes. Couples usually can live together, but it is best to check with the community first.

Do residents need their own car?

It’s definitely not required. We provide scheduled transportation services so seniors can attend appointments, run errands, etc. without getting behind the wheel. But if a senior is still able to drive, many of our communities allow residents to have cars.

Are pets allowed?

Most places do allow small pets! It’s best to check with each individual community, but there’s a good chance a pet-friendly community is in your area.

Can a senior be denied?

Our top priority is a senior’s health. If a senior is denied it’s because we believe a senior needs more care than an assisted living community can provide. However, we try to welcome as many individuals as we can.

What if a resident doesn’t remember to take their medications?

No problem! We have trained staff members who can assist seniors in taking medication. If you are in need of this service, just let the nursing staff at the community know and they can gladly accommodate this need.

How do I know whether residents are well taken care of?

When you are selecting an assisted living community, settle on a place that’s established and with a good reputation. Many of our communities have received “Best of the Best” awards for their excellent service. And if you go with a Brookdale community, you can feel assured that it meets our high level of standard.

Once a senior joins a community, make sure family and/or friends regularly visit and check on the senior. Also, develop relationships with the staff, if possible, and maintain consistent communication with them. That makes it easier to keep tabs on the care that a resident is receiving. And, monitor your loved one’s behavior and ask specific questions about the amount of attention they receive from caretakers.

 

For more information, visit:  https://www.brookdale.com/en.html

Private Retirement – A Californians Right to Exempt Assets

California was just named the #1 Judicial Hellhole in the nation by NIFB.  Unfortunately, while asset protection has become one of the hottest topics and business advocates are hungry for solutions, the term “asset protection” has become taboo, and there is a major vacancy of advisors, expertise and education in the area of “exemption planning”.  We are often perplexed with everyone scampering for solutions, and then they step over their basic exemption right for a private retirement.

What is a Private Retirement Trust?

A Private Retirement Trust, or PRT, is an enforcement of your right to convert non-exempt assets to “exempt” assets for your retirement. It’s a special Trust, that protects a Plan funds, that protects your Plan distribution and benefits, that protects your rights for a secure retirement – so that your wealth can be kept intact to help you secure a safer and more secure retirement.

When we teach clients, advisors and CPAs about these rights, the response is almost always the same: “Why didn’t I know about this?”

The answer is unfortunately because someone was promoting “Asset Protection” which is an extremely complex area, fraught with landmines and with limited advisors who know what they’re doing. Furthermore, such planning is usually utilized when under duress (when under attack) and defaults to “creditor evasion” and construed under fraudulent transfer (conveyance) rules that may incur penalties or even jail time for a violator.

Mass Education vs. Mass Marketing of the Private Retirement Trust

Recently, there have been articles written by self-proclaimed consumer advocates, mostly attorneys promoting their own services and that you can’t plan properly without them, warning against the mass-marketing of exemption rights, specifically the California private retirement plan or Private Retirement Trust.

But the pundits are completely missing the point, the intent is not to mass market, which are concerns usually reserved for tax-savings strategies, but to mass educate. Almost every client or advisor comes through our door knows nothing about asset protection, private retirement, or exemption planning, yet ALL Californians have the right to protect assets, as provided to all its residents under state law. The pundits are correct in one main item, that any plan needs to be properly set up with experts who know this specific field. You shouldn’t have any advisor, including a CPA, who is not familiar with the subject of Asset Protection, exemption rights, or private retirement plans, set up your planning or your defense will be weakened and perhaps forfeited. But that doesn’t mean you can learn and be educated on your rights under state law.

Exemption Rights vs. Asset Protection planning

So how does a Private Retirement Trust exemption fit within other Asset Protection planning solutions? Here are the basics:

1. Buy Liability Insurance –
   1. Will the insurance pay? Will it be enough?
   2. Does it keep you from going to court? Will you have sleepless nights? Yes.
2. Gift away assets
   1. Some advisors use Estate Planning strategies to solve Asset Protection planning needs which conflict. Why? Because if you irrevocably gift away assets, they are not yours anymore, they are outside your Estate.
   2. So here’s the hard questions: Are you aware you are giving up full control? Are you ok with that? If not, the strategy doesn’t match the need, which usually means the “plan” won’t succeed.
3. Transfer assets:
   1. Fraudulent conveyance – clawback.
   2. Unintended Tax triggers
4. Hide Assets – hide the nut. Move offshore.
5. Exempt Assets
   1. Exemptions
   2. Retirement

Protecting Your Rights

So back to the commentators suggesting PRTs shouldn’t be broadcast. We feel it should. And actually by disparaging the practice of broadcasting the PRT right, they’ve helped us get the word out. We’ve had more calls and inquiries from interested Californians, so we actually appreciate the stimulus by the consumer advocates – thank you!

Protecting Your Rights – that’s our job

Shouldn’t all Californians be aware of all their rights to protect assets and wealth? Shouldn’t they be educated on all aspects of all plans available to them to solve their needs and issues? Don’t advisors have the responsibility to inform their clients and the general populous on their rights? A better question is would they be liable if they didn’t, and you lost wealth because of it? Hmmmm.

Our belief is the PRT is one of the greatest opportunities to protect private assets for a greater future and all Californians need to know what they don’t know. So we’ve invested in writing about the Private Retirement Trust planning in our books, we’ve created PRT University where we teach other advisors how to properly administrate such plans, and we’ve invested in social responsibility campaigns

Source: https://www.trust-cfo.com/californians-rights-asset-protection-retirement/

All plans require 3^rd party administration to protect retirement plan integrity.  But it’s particularly important for Private Retirement Trusts.  Why?

1 – because you are allowed to fund your private assets into your own PRT plan and direct them when and how you want, there needs to be an arm’s length layer of protection to help honor the asset protection benefits that you receive as the plan beneficiary.  Its common sense – you can’t administrate your own assets and expect to receive the layer of creditor defense awarded to a legitimate plan.

2 – because California state law says you have to!

A Major Lack of Expertise

Unfortunately, there are not many administrators that understand how to admin private assets.  Qualified plan TPAs are geared toward investment management platforms with financial companies like John Hancock, Transamerica, Mass Mutual, etc.

A true PRT Administrator is geared toward business and seeks to help maximize the protection of “active” and “complex” private assets like private business stock or member interest, that are allowed in a PRT, as well as to help maintain cash flows to a successful business or private investment portfolio, to optimize ROI (return on investment), which includes minimizing costs.

Don’t become “BAD” Case Law

There is nearly 200 legal case examples of successes and failures and the difference is black and white –  a successful Private Retirement plan is one where there was proper and adequate administration that made the plan “legitimate”.  Failed cases all had no or poor administration, the defense was lost and assets were forfeited to creditors and irretrievable.

Conclusion: if anyone recommends or sets up a private retirement plan for you and does not provide or advocate critical administration support services, RUN AWAY, OR YOU COULD BECOME BAD CASE LAW!

We believe that ever person should have a custom designed Private Retirement Plan and we wrote about here. If you want to find out exactly what requirements are needed to maintain proper administration, click here to find out more…

Source: https://www.trust-cfo.com/no-administration-you-dont-legitimate-retirement-plan/

Funding Your Retirement with Your Business Stock

While other retirement plans prohibit private business interest funding, a Private Retirement Trust^SM (PRT^SM) allows the funding of any appreciating private asset, including business stock and member interests and/or any appreciating income-producing business assets, in order to help make up for the often massive retirement savings shortfall left from other plans.

• What qualifies?  C-Corp, S-Corp stock and LLC/LLP Member Interests, revenue agreements and accounts receivables, consulting or commission contracts, and more.

Your Business as an “Exempt” Retirement Asset

When you fund your business to your Private Retirement Trust^SM, you don’t have to sell or gift transfer away your assets.  All you are doing is “recharacterizing” your stock or interests from “non-exempt” to “exempt” and retaining a beneficial interest, and thereby securing the following “true” asset protection benefits:

• Your equity interests are immediately protected from creditors, both bankruptcy and lawsuit, as an exempt retirement asset.  WARNING: if not properly planned, inside creditors may still be able to access business assets for its liabilities.  It’s critical to employ a defensive strategy backed by an integrated shareholder’s or operating agreement.
• All distributions from a PRT^SM maintain continued creditor protection if properly administrated, so your Corporate dividends and LLC distributions can be protected against seizure even after you receive them.
• All death benefits paid from a PRT^SM are fully exempt for beneficiaries. So in the event of a premature death a PRT^SM becomes a safe-haven to ensure that your business values are fully transferred and protected for your family and heirs.

What does this mean to you?  By working in a safer planning environment, you can keep focused on being productive to grow your business with less worry about unknown and uncontrollable risks of loss.  It also allows you the ability to utilize risk management strategies that can actually help maintain cash flows and recapture lost opportunity costs.

Capturing Owner’s Equity while Honoring Business Commitments

One of the unique aspects of a PRT^SM is that unlike all other retirement plans, the trustee can pledge or offer assets to help support other business obligations.  So while a business needs to meet commitments for bonding-surety and bank lending arrangements including personal guarantees, a PRT^SM can indemnify those obligations while protecting the remainder owner’s equity from unwanted outside creditors.

Cash Flow Enhancement

A secondary but equally potent benefit of a PRT^SM is the ability for it to accept as well as make Plan/Trust Loans.  Again unlike all other plans that have prohibitive transactions against loans, a PRT^SM is not limited to its capital allocations and by virtue improves cash flow planning opportunities.

Accelerated Asset Protection – a 10x multiple

Probably the most powerful strategy in all of asset protection is the PRT Accelerator^SM, which is using future business revenues to secure against current business/asset equity.  By funding a Promissory Note (loan) to a PRT^SM against future profits, the PRT^SM can lien current assets as collateral and own equity as a secured interest.  The result is typically around a 10-1 ratio of asset security to dollar outlaid year one, thereby accelerating asset protection.

Using PRT^SM funds to fuel Business Growth…and Enhance Returns

While we don’t favor the term “Be Your Own Bank”, the fact is a that a PRT^SM can legitimately invest directly or loan funds to a profitable business and recapture lost opportunity costs that plague other retirement plans.  If properly structured the PRT^SM can leverage its assets and offer low-cost funds to invest in a higher ROI business, and create a capital and tax arbitrage for improving long-term gains.  With proper guidance, this enhanced return can be strategically used to offset other revenue risks and wealth-eroding risks like inflation.

The bottom line is that it is good business for a PRT^SM to invest in a successful business either as a shareholder/member, or as an investor and/or lender.  There are no limits to funding, but options should be analyzed to ensure maximum capitalization and asset protection.

Finally, Avoiding the Tax Trap of Passive Retirement Plans

One of the things you don’t get for funding a PRT^SM is a tax deduction for funding your private business interests to a PRT^SM.  And guess what, you don’t want it.  That’s right, while everyone is promoting tax deductions for “passive” investments, that is a negative for the PRT^SM because it triggers negative tax consequences on inherently tax-favored “active” assets like your business or real estate.

The Bottom Line – Build Your Business, Just Do It Protected for Your Retirement

If you can build your business the way you want but do it safer and smarter, aren’t you better off?  You can protect your principal and ensure maximum capitalization, both of which translate into greater asset values and more net benefits to you and your family, for a more comfortable and less stressful lifestyle.

Conclusion

The PRT^SM is certainly one of the most powerful risk management strategies a successful business owner can employ to protect their world without disrupting their plan or cash flows. It requires oversight by an expert in the area who understands how to administrate such a plan and accommodate you as the plan participant and beneficiary.  And more importantly, it demands an advisor that can explain benefits in simple terms so you can understand your options and know your decisions are in your best interests.

A Call to Action for California Business Owners

This is a reminder that the Private Retirement Trust^SM is an exemption right afforded to all resident of California and must be funded prior to any legal recourse or issues.

Source: https://www.trust-cfo.com/exempting-business-stock-private-retirement-trust/

When is a PRT NOT Appropriate?

As with any strategic planning where you try to keep your money from outside interests, planning can become overly aggressive, whether driven by an advisor or a client that takes good advice and bastardizes it on their own. These abuses are arsenal for attackers who can then claim that the planning was done for ulterior motives, and not for the true intent of the planning for which it was established.

A “plan” usually succeeds when it was found to honor the primary purpose of planning (“good case law”). The failure of a “plan” is usually determined by a fact pattern in which a plan was used as a shelter to hide funds from the grasp of unwanted creditors, but was not able to otherwise prove a true need, i.e. “bad case law or not appropriate”.  However, one should note that there is a gray area.  Even where it may be that a debtor had good intent, their plan may fail because they could not prove legitimacy due to lack of documentation or administration support. This error leaves the final decision to a judge and will likely end with you as the loser.

The protocol of “intent” is particularly acute with the implementation of a Private Retirement Trust^SM because it’s tertiary wealth preservation benefits are so potent. Many times attackers will try to use lack of intent as a reason to unwind a plan and stake their claim.  However, unlike most planning that requires a debtor to prove intent, a PRT^SM falls under exemption law, which dictates it’s up to a creditor to prove “lack of intent.”  So a PRT^SM participant at least has a leg up if they can truly legitimize their retirement planning purpose.

The Primary Planning Purpose of a PRT^SM is for Retirement

True and primary intent of a Private Retirement Trust^SM is to make up an existing retirement savings shortfall by funding private assets to a private plan. In order to legitimately resolve an income gap and reduced lifestyle at retirement a PRT^sm can be used to fill that retirement gap.

Retirement Must Be Primary, but not Exclusive

First, a Private Retirement Trust^SM is supported under California statute CCP (Code of Civil Procedure) 704.115. An attacking creditor’s attorney won’t be able to challenge the legitimacy of the law.  Instead they will be left with trying to attack its planning intent.  Second, it has been determined under both federal and state case law that “retirement must be the primary, but not exclusive, purpose of the plan”.  So as long as retirement is the overriding purpose for the “Plan”, the receipt of other benefits is acknowledged as contingent and purposeful.

When is it NOT Appropriate to set up a PRT^SM?

Basically, the answer is if the primary purpose is NOT for retirement, and usually includes one of these two scenarios:

• Creditor Evasion: when someone calls in and says “I want a PRT^SM”.  Our response is “what happened?”  The bottom line is if you are intending to use a PRT^SM as a defensive strategy against existing creditors without any consideration for retirement, the plan will fail.  We won’t do it.
• No True Retirement Need: in the case where there are clients that have done a great job accumulating wealth and can meet their retirement objectives, the excess funds should not be funded to a PRT^SMand excess funds would not be protected.   Note that rarely do we see clients that can meet their retirement on an inflationary basis and therefore most cases prove up the shortfall and need for additional funding.

So what tools are used to validate the legitimacy of a PRT^SM?

After review of all good and bad case law we have determined a path of success to both honor the true intent of a PRT^SM and avoid the trappings of failed plans.  Here are the required components to ensure proper Plan design and assure maximum Plan defense:

• PRT^SM Diagnostic – inventory all estate assets, apply any current exemptions, and identify assets legitimate for retirement;
• PRT^SM Analyzer – calculates the income gap at retirement based on quarantined assets, and then calculates the savings shortfall that determines the amount of needed retirement funding.
• PRT^SM Accelerator – applies the legitimate assets against the shortfall and then calculates the future funding needed to make up the remainder shortfall, if any.
• PRT^SM Assessment Report – compares retirement planning improvements created from recommended PRT Plan funding, and summarizes all other Plan benefits based on the validated funding amounts.
• PRT^SM Benchmark Tracker – tracks actual returns and asset values as compared to the Plan, and accounts for excesses and shortfalls against the PRT^SM “cone of uncertainty” to improve actuarial likelihood of plan success.

Each one of these steps is critical to the validation process and finely tuned into a patent-pending system to ensure maximum performance and avoid any abuses.  Any modification of these steps will leave a PRT^SM Plan weaker if and when tested.

Asset Protection is a by-product of Private Retirement, not the primary objective

Unfortunately, most attorneys are geared toward legal defense (asset protection) strategies and do not understand the intricacies of retirement or exemption planning. They have a tendency to put the cart before the horse and play the “asset protection” card first.  We have worked diligently to help educate our PRT^SM Attorney Subscribers to understand that a Diagnostic exemption planning review will help start the conversation with private retirement as the goal, and asset protection is simply one of the many benefits and results of a legitimate Private Retirement Trust^SM Plan.

To find out more details about the PRT^SM Planning System, click here…

Source: https://www.trust-cfo.com/you-shouldnt-do-a-prt-if-not-appropriate/