Answers For Elders
Answers for Elders is the North Star in Navigating Senior Care. Our content is designed to Empower Seniors and their Families through the Daunting Journey of Aging. Featuring our host, Suzanne Newman and top industry providers across the USA, together, we support, coach and assist seniors, caregivers and their families in finding the best independent solutions in world of aging, with a comprehensive line-up of topics covering Health & Wellness, Life Changes, Living Options, and Money & Law.
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Episodes
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Recipe for Disaster: Downloading Legal Documents
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
The value an estate planning attorney brings you, vs. just downloading documents yourself online, is a discussion Andrea Lee frequently addresses. They are who will advocate for you. If you're a senior, an estate planning attorney or an elder law attorney is worth their weight in gold. Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to talk about the benefits of hiring an elder law attorney.Andrea says, “Number one, it's extremely important when you're preparing estate planning documents to ensure they're exactly properly done. The laws are cons...
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Being Your Support System, Not Paperwork
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Elder law attorney Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to clarify the steps an executor of the family estate has to take after a senior loved one passes.“When someone steps into that role of power of attorney, loving daughter or son or good friend, whomever that is, there are so many different hats that they wear when they act as an advocate for their loved one. Many people misunderstand the steps that have to be taken care of after someone passes away. And there's there's a little bit of confusion about, hey, I was a power of attorn...
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Parents Moving In With You? Things To Think About
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
With multi-generational housing on the rise – aging parents moving in with their adult children — this segment looks at the complex issue from the child's point of view. Elder law attorney Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to talk about expectations and approaches.Andrea says, "There's obviously many ways this can be set up... And the big question that we always want to advise is sitting down and formulating a plan of what that would look like, not just structurally, but emotionally. If mom and dad were to live in there, if mom and...
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Moving In With Your Adult Child? Things To Think About
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Since COVID, there has been a 40% increase in multi-generational housing: either senior parent or parents have moved in with their children, or kids who can’t afford to live on their own have moved back home again. For an aging parent, they wonder: should I sell my house? Should I invest money in my son or daughter's home? Should I move in with them? What does that mean for my overall estate plan, my assets? How does that affect the other heirs if I have other children? Elder law attorney Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to talk a...
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Vetted Experts: National Placement and Referral Alliance
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about providing nationwide assistance for people seeking answers.Daphne says, "When you're looking for someone to help you guide you through this maze of options, ask for referrals in terms of what are other families — and I would specifically ask for, I want to know about your hardest ones. You know, I want to know about the ones that you had to work hard. What was the outcome? And it doesn't have to be all rosy. We're human beings, right? We know that thing...
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5 Tips to Choose the Best Referral Agent
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to share her top five tips for choosing a referral agent, specifically to help you find medical assistance for a senior loved one, or to choose a senior living community for them.Meet face to face.Make sure they can refer you to every available option, not just the ones they have contracts with.They will go with you when you tour facilities.They will stay with you and help during the transition time.Make sure you are comfortable enough to ask questions and share fami...
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Need to Move Mom? How to Do It Right the First Time
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about why and how to choose a referral agent to help with making choices about a senior parent.Daphne says, "When you don't have enough information about making a really serious decision or consequential decision, inevitably what I have found is that people have to make another decision in a very short amount of time. What is the right fit for my mom or dad? I don't want to limit it to just talking to adult children and talking about your mom and dad, but let...
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How to Find the Best Referral Agent
Saturday, February 1, 2025
If you're faced with the daunting challenge of helping a senior loved one find medical assistance after an injury or choose a senior living community to move to, you're not alone. Daphne Davis from Pinnacle Senior Placements in Seattle, Washington joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about finding a referral agent to help answer those questions.Daphne says, "I have 25 years of being able to see some patterns in this industry of housing and care for elders and seniors. What I'm seeing now is a lot of hesitation and people not sure who they can trust. I'm seeing f...
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Single? How to Preserve Assets For Retirement
Thursday, January 30, 2025
If you're single, it's much harder to plan financially in advance for retirement, as there are more options available for married couples. To alleviate worries about finances and aging, or the possibility of an unhealthy retirement where you might face a chronic illness, you may want to research alternative living facilities on your own ahead of time, or prepare irrevocable trusts to preserve assets. Elder law attorney Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to talk about various ways single folks can protect their assets for retirement ...
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Seniors: Exercise to Earn Money for Grandkids' College
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Silver Sneakers is the only fitness program that provides financial rewards for staying fit. Members can grow a college fund for a loved one. So even if a senior is on a fixed income, they can actually provide money for a grandchild's college tuition. It's a great motivator to get exercising — people will often do for others what they won't do for themselves.Jan Sheeley explains, "When they go to either a gym or take an online class seven times a month, they can win $250 that goes into your college fund for a loved one."The program is available through Silver Sneakers, free fitness benefits...
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Track Achievements to See Your Wins
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Jan Sheeley from Silver Sneakers joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders radio show to talk about strategies for making and achieving realistic goals for exercise, in particular to make New Year's resolutions achievable.Jan says, "Tracking things down, writing things down, is helpful. It's the same with fitness. It's the same with food. I'm going to eat one vegetable with every meal. Write down that vegetable. Write down whether you do it or not. I'm going to drink a glass of water with my meal. Write that down. So tracking things, writing them down. Then you know you've got a great ...
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Get Moving, Release Endorphins, For Chronic Conditions
Saturday, January 25, 2025
For people with chronic conditions like arthritis, exercise can be difficult and painful. Jan Sheeley from Silver Sneakers joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders radio show to talk about free resources at Silver Sneakers to help, and also provides some strategies for getting started with moving and exercise.Jan says "We do have online documentation, stories, an actionable items on the website. You go to silversneakers.com, you don't have to be a member. That site is completely free. Anybody can access it. We have a blog that talks about chronic conditions. You can choose which one f...
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How Seniors Can Get a Free Gym Membership
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Jan Sheeley from Silver Sneakers joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders radio show to talk about free fitness benefits available to senior loved ones through their Medicare Advantage program. Silver Sneakers is a free program accessible through certain Medicare Advantage programs. Check the website to see if you are already enrolled in the program. Jan Sheeley is Regional Growth Marketing Manager for Tivity Health and Silver Sneakers. Jan explains, "Silver Sneakers is a free benefit with a medicare Advantage plan. It allows you to go to the gym in our network for free. You have acce...
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Unmarried Couples: Protections and Estate Planning
Thursday, January 23, 2025
A lot of people choose not to get married. They co-habitate, they mix assets, they'll buy a home, and some even have retirement plans. There are many legal protections for married couples, but some of those protections don't extend to individuals who live together, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid benefits. If an unmarried couple decides to live together, they ought to discuss how to protect each other, and consider how do you protect yourself if you choose to live with a partner. Elder law attorney Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne to talk about protections an...
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How Will AI Help Growing Old?
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Dr. Marc B. Cooper sees enormous benefits in using AI to help our senior loved ones, especially in their later age. He joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to talk about the potential of technology, particularly AI, to combat loneliness among the elderly and improve healthcare management in the future. They consider strategies that can be implemented to help elders feel less isolated. They also think about how AI can assist in the mission of The Contemporary Elder Institute.Additionally, they explored the impact of AI on content creation, with Suzanne sharing her experi...
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What’s Life Like As an Elder?
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Dr. Marc B. Cooper joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to continue their talk about aging with purpose and intention. They talk about higher consciousness and self-understanding. They ask how a higher consciousness and self-understanding can impact your life.He writes, "After 80 years on the planet, my life’s been anything but linear. In our Western culture, my adult journey followed a prescribed path for success: college, dental school, a residency in periodontics training, and an advanced degree in immunology. This was followed by two years in the Air Force as a peri...
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What’s the Mission of The Contemporary Elder Institute?
Saturday, January 18, 2025
More about aging with purpose and intention: Suzanne Newman is joined by Dr. Marc B. Cooper on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to delve further into the significance of living with intention and purpose as individuals transition into elderhood. Dr. Cooper highlights the importance of authentic elders in decision-making and the need to redefine aging positively. He describes how to live with intention and purpose.He describes the mission of The Contemporary Elder Institute, how he hopes to accomplish the mission, and what a person needs to be to accomplish it.Marc says, "My intention is fo...
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What's the Difference Between Older and Elder?
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Aging with purpose and intention: Dr. Marc B. Cooper joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders Radio Show to discuss the evolving role of elders in society, particularly as the population over 65 continues to grow. Suzanne Newman shared her personal experience of being downsized, which led her to establish Answers for Elders. Both Suzanne and Dr. Cooper emphasized the importance of storytelling and legacy for baby boomers, who control a significant portion of wealth. They discussed the need for elders to guide younger generations and the value of inquiry in fostering personal and socie...
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Special Needs Trusts: Plans and Considerations
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Elder law attorney Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne to talk more about special needs trusts, comparing first party special needs trusts and third party special needs trusts.Andrea provides an example of a third party special needs trust: "Let's say I am a parent of a disabled child, and my disabled child does not have assets. Maybe they're on Medicaid, maybe I support them, but they don't have their own money. I might draft a will, and in my will give my two healthy kids their distribution outright, and then for my disabled child, I in my will might create a special need...
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Do You Need a Special Needs Trust?
Thursday, January 16, 2025
So many of us have a loved one that may have special needs, a disability. Maybe a spouse has just been diagnosed with dementia and needs care, and they're afraid of losing their house or their money. If you're in that situation, or maybe your parents are, or a child that has special needs, this episode will be important. Elder law attorney Andrea Lee from Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne to talk about special needs trusts and how people can protect their own resources.Andrea explains, "A first party special needs trust is a special needs trust that is created using an individual's own r...
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Tour Senior Communities to Find the Best Fit
Saturday, January 11, 2025
We don't spend enough time finding out everything we need to know. Have you got your legal paperwork done? L.E. "Ellie" Brown from Chateau Retirement Communities joins Suzanne to talk about how to find resources for seniors that many people don't even know exist.Ellie says, "I think there's a cottage industry for everything we need in this. It is out there. But here are some of the ideas. There are companies that will literally come in as a real estate company, and help you move to senior living. It will box everything up, put some to sale for an estate, sell some they'll get rid of, all ba...
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Top 3 Ways to Help Declining Loved Ones
Saturday, January 11, 2025
L.E. "Ellie" Brown from Chateau Retirement Communities joins Suzanne to share how families can best support their senior loved ones. Ellie shares her top three tips for getting through the transition when a loved one starts struggling:1. Communication. I see that most families are not as open as they could be. If you have siblings, be on the same page. All noticing different things.2. Have that initial conversation with your loved one, as soon as possible. Hearing from them, learn their wishes. Hopefully you're discussing this early enough to be able to honor their wishes.3. Start doing you...
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Facing Denial: Dad's Not Fine, He's Declining
Saturday, January 11, 2025
What signs of aging are of concern as we're supporting our senior loved ones? L.E. "Ellie" Brown from Chateau Retirement Communities joins Suzanne to talk about the warning signs and facing up to the various dynamics of denials, not just from ourselves, but also our loved ones.Ellie shared her personal, family experiences with warning signs. She says, "For my mom, her health was clearly in decline. She wasn't recovering as quickly from colds. She was seemingly depressed at times. So that was a sign to me. Not as vibrant anymore. Then I started hearing about falls, which — she was minimizing...
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Our Parents Fib About Their Health, and What To Do About It
Saturday, January 11, 2025
L.E. "Ellie" Brown from Chateau Retirement Communities joins Suzanne to talk about how to best support our senior loved ones, particularly as they get older and might need to consider senior living. Ellie works with families every day, and shares common situations that she encounters as families try to help their loved ones. Ellie is Vice President Sales - Strategic Market Analysis, Branding & Sales Leadership for Chateau Retirement.Ellie finds that a lot of families are facing similar challenges, obstacles, stereotypes about senior living, and misinformation. "It could be as simple as the ...
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Maintain Your Car, Maintain Your Estate Plan
Saturday, December 7, 2024
People sometimes put their estate documents in a file and forget about it. Elder law attorney Steve Waltar joins Suzanne to talk how to keep your estate plan documents current.Steve explains, “If you buy a car, would it be wise to never, ever maintain it? Of course not. Would it be okay to never fuel it? So that's my analogy, a good car. You would take a look at it, you'd keep it maintained, you keep it fueled. It's going to run most efficiently. "So as a rule, we say people ought to come in every five years, or if there's a change, they come to us. But I've had enough clients say, Steve, I...
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Wills and Trusts Are Not Tires, You Can't Shop Prices
Saturday, December 7, 2024
How do you make updates to your estate plan? Elder law attorney Steve Waltar joins Suzanne to talk about dos and don'ts.Steve says, "Let me first start by saying what you should not do. You should not take out your original will and start crossing off, oh, this person's dead now, this is the new name. You start scratching things up — and there's been cases on this, fights on this, because sometimes you make changes to who gets what, and they will sometimes throw out the will and say, Oh, you obviously intended to throw it out. So, a much better strategy, of course, it's meet with an attorne...
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Your Legal Documents: Are Kids Unequal?
Saturday, December 7, 2024
With a new year arriving, it's time to consider reviewing and updating legal documents. Elder law attorney Steve Waltar joins Suzanne to talk about when to update estate plans.Steve says, "The $64,000 question: Hey, when should I update my estate plan, or how do I know? It always depends, right? That's what an attorney says, it depends. I think it's wonderful to to to check in with the attorney annually. As a rule, we tell clients every five years, you should come in to kick the tires. Because by then your goals may have changed. Your assets have certainly changed. It might even be your wis...
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10 Years in Jail for Breaking New LLC Law
Saturday, December 7, 2024
Elder law attorney Steve Waltar joins Suzanne to talk about the Corporate Transparency Act, a new federal law made to thwart money laundering, but has overreaching implications for owners of new and existing small businesses and their legal agents across America.Steve explains, "This law is for anyone that created a business in 2024, and there are some exclusions. Nonprofits, the really large corporations are out of it, but it's LLC, it's corporations, things like that. And basically you have to report the entity. So if you're the agent — like a law firm, we help people incorporate — within...
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Seeing Caregivers Celebrated and Heard
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Kitty Norton, director of the film Wine, Women, & Dementia, joins Suzanne to talk about reactions to her documentary.Wine, Women, and Dementia premieres November 2 on PBS. Watch at PBS Online or download the PBS App to stream from your favorite devices. Check your local PBS Member Station for air dates and times in your area. See a list of upcoming local broadcasts here.* Hear more podcasts with Kitty Norton* Hear more podcasts about caregiving and caregivers* Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks
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Kitty's Top Tips for Caregivers
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Kitty Norton, director of the documentary Wine, Women, & Dementia, joins Suzanne to offer her best advice for caregivers.Wine, Women, and Dementia premieres November 2 on PBS. Watch at PBS Online or download the PBS App to stream from your favorite devices. Check your local PBS Member Station for air dates and times in your area. See a list of upcoming local broadcasts here.* Hear more podcasts with Kitty Norton* Hear more podcasts about caregiving and caregivers* Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks