When You Absolutely Positively Have To Put It Off Until Some Other Time
We Also Scream To Avoid Planning
Don’t worry, be happy
Ain’t got no cash, ain’t got no style
Ain’t got no gal to make you smile
Don’t worry, be happy
‘Cause when you worry your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
So don’t worry, be happy
“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”—Bobby McFerrin
Did Your Parents Raise A Sluggish Sloth Or A Competent Character?
When you get home at night, do you leave the lights off? Does the thrill of bumping into things, falling down the stairs, and stepping on awkward items appeal to your adventurous spirit? Do you favor a life of anxiety? Do you look forward to high blood pressure, poor digestion, experiencing that creepy feeling of dread? Are you opposed to happiness and contentment? Do you embrace chaos and upset? Or do you seek Peace of Mind®?
Would you be surprised to learn that there are two paths to Peace of Mind™? The first path involves effort, work, dedication, stick-to-it-iveness, dauntless spirit, reasonable focus on accomplishment. Path #1 is where you find volunteer firemen, blood donors, the folks you can count on.
More popular is Path #2. The second path requires ignoring your own obvious needs and the needs of those around you. Ignorance is Bliss! Stick your head in the sand. If you cannot see it, it cannot hurt you. Gee, I wonder if the crowds at those new marijuana dispensaries are on Path #1 or Path #2…
Unfortunately, you were brought up by folks who chose the first path. Work, love, dedication, achievement. All those uncomfortable things that get in the way of TV binge watching. Consuming YouTube cat videos. Absorbing bargains galore on the home shopping networks. Golly, your folks made it very difficult for you to live the sweet couch potato life.
How can you get beyond your inbred desire to deliver? Vanquish your drive to survive? Squash your sense of responsibility? Unraveling habits of a lifetime can be difficult, but, as they say, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but whether you can have your cake and eat it too!
Olympic athletes train for years to hone their skills to a razor edge of perfection. You have worked for years to reach your goals, raise your family, do a great job at work, and be a valued member of your church, community, team, euchre tournament. You are an Olympian of the American Dream. A Medal of middle-class Gold hangs from your neck. Your world celebrates!
But now the looming spectre of estate planning looms like a hideous hobgoblin. You feel an inner urge to get this done…see it through. Will power is not enough. Fanatical focus will fail. How can you run away from the dreadful demons of trusts, wills, and powers of attorney? Is resistance futile? Is an Estate Plan inevitable? How can you escape?
Super easy! Barely an inconvenience. With the following professional excuses, you can put off facing the facts almost indefinitely. You are welcome!
Warm Up To Provide Peak Performance
“Everyone Has The Will To Win But Very Few Have The Will To Prepare To Win.”
—Vince Lombardi
Olympians and professional football players getting ready for the “big game” share a secret. All elite athletes know that mental and physical preparation is key. Can you escape your future-planning responsibilities without focused training? Of course not!
Follow the protocol. Stand in front of a full-length mirror. Hands on hips. Throw your head back. Suck your gut in. Stick your chest out. Draw and deep breath, then…
Loudly And Firmly Proclaim These Statements Three (3) Times:
- Only Nerds Want To Retire Comfortably
- Financial Security Is Bad. And Impossible
- I Want To Die Broke, Splurging My Last Nickels
- On Long-Term Care
- I Look Forward To Nursing Home Poverty
- My Spouse Can Look Out For Herself. Or Himself.
- My Kids Don’t Need Money And Would Waste Any Inheritance Anyway
Excellent! And now for a cleansing breath… Your body tingles. Your mind expands. You have looked forward all week to this installment. The moment of truth has arrived. Excellent
Excuses. Decisive Defenses. And now, Effective Evasions to frustrate and deflect any attempt at making you look ahead.
LifePlanning™ Is Unnecessary And A Total Waste Of Time & Money Because:
Firetrucks have sirens because loud noises are great! Whoever is yelling must be winning…
So let’s get loud. As follows:
Number One: Raise your voice and strongly state: “LifePlanning™ is Stupid, Superfluous, and a…”
Number Two: Quickly follow with one of these Negative Nuggets:
#10 … Waste Of Time Because It Is Overkill!
All I want is a simple will! All these fancy schmancy papers would be great for Thurston Howell the 3rd or maybe multimillionaire Bruce Wayne. You have to understand, we are working folks who managed to save a little. Paid off the house. Contributed to the 401(k). And here you are dumping all this confusing paperwork on us. Sure, I like to go deer hunting, never miss it. But you’re trying to get me on an African safari shooting elephants! Fishing for bluegill, perch, bass, and the occasional muskie is the best. But you want me to chase down the great white whale Moby Dick. Sorry! It is all just too much. Simple is best. Mom and Dad had a will. Gramma and Grampa had a will. And that’s fine by me!
Totally agree! Simple is best. That’s why you simply put blocks of ice in the icebox to keep your perishables from perishing. Newfangled refrigerators, who needs ‘em? Simple is best. That’s why you have always refused to have flush toilets in your house… ever hear of an outhouse that backed up? Ever need a plunger in a privy? Of course not. Who needs all that confusion? Besides, it is good for the kids to pump the handle when they want water… and we even brought the handpump into the kitchen… in my day it was out in the yard.
Yes, simple is best. Mr. Ford made the Model T in every color anyone could desire: black. Who needs windows on the sides, anyway? Some poor deluded folks actually have windows that go up and down. And cars that blow warm air around in the winter. And cool air in the summertime. Gosh that is just too much! Simple is best. Next thing you know, you’ll want special belts or something to protect passengers in a crash. Or balloons that pop out of nowhere so you don’t go through the windshield. That stuff is not for you! Simple is best.
Folks next door got this talking picture box. Like the movies, but at home. Almost as big as the movies. Just awful how confusing it is. Simple is best. Our 1935 Zenith Stratosphere 1000Z radio receiving set burnt out its tubes a few years ago. But it still looks good and besides, I couldn’t find Little Orphan Annie on the dial anymore. Simple is best.
And do not get started on modern medicine! With their highfalutin’ cardiac bypasses, pacemakers, cataract eye operations and penicillin. Humph. Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was good enough for Granny and it’s good enough for me. Simple is best.
So let your friends buy cars with wind-up windows, air conditioning, air bags, crumple zones and upholstery that survives little kids. You don’t need a garbage disposal. Or indoor plumbing. Or an electrical refrigerator that makes ice cubes. Cell phones, cable boxes, streaming TV services, big screen TVs, flat screen TVs, gas stoves, microwave ovens, running water. So complex! You are very simple.
Are you against airbags in your car if it means your spouse doesn’t fly through the windshield? Are you against LifePlanning™ if it means your spouse is not left in nursing home poverty? Does it matter if you are the one going through the windshield? Left in poverty?
Are you opposed to indoor plumbing and central heat? Are you opposed to doing what must be done to get benefits that you value?
Albert Einstein was a very smart fellow. And he did not like things that were too confusing or complicated. And this is what he said:
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Simple is good. But is it still good if you lose your savings, house, cottage, independence?
#11 … Waste Of Time Because I Will Spend It All Anyway!
Do you know anyone who goes to the payday lender? Anyone who heads to the casino as soon as their Social Security money shows up? How many people do you know that, as soon as they pay off one installment contract, run right out and get into another one? Can you imagine buying groceries on a credit card? Can you imagine buying groceries on a credit card when you don’t pay off the balance each month? Can you imagine paying 26.5% interest on last night’s dinner?
Did you hate paying off the mortgage? Do you wonder how some people don’t seem to care how much money they owe? Some of your co-workers used to complain about how they always had more “month than money”. Did you ever think, “Hey knucklehead, maybe if you weren’t always buying the latest and greatest doo-dad, gee-gaw, or watchamacallit, you’d have more money than month.”? Did you ever think anything like that?
Since everyone always has saved enough money to pay for long-term care, there is no need for any government long-term care program. So Medicaid is bad and wrong. It is just like Social Security. Everyone always has saved enough money to pay for their retirement. There’s is no need for any government retirement income program.
But wait! Social Security is different! You paid in. With every paycheck, the government skimmed off 15+% FICA (employer and employee) to pay for Social Security. So getting some return on your Social Security taxes is OK!
Help me out here… Is Medicaid different? Did you ever get a paycheck where you didn’t pay federal and state income taxes on every nickel you earned? Does the government run Medicaid for free? Did you somehow skip out on paying for Medicaid? With every paycheck. And Social Security check too?
Why are you opposed to getting something back for all the dollars you paid in? It is OK to get Social Security because you paid taxes for it. But it is bad to get long-term care Medicaid because you paid taxes for it?
There are lots and lots of Medicaid programs – dozens of them. Most Medicaid programs provide for our fellow Americans who have very little. But there is a slice of Medicaid, middle-class Medicaid, that pays for long-term care. For all Americans. Even you.
For most Medicaid programs, you have to be broke. Middleclass Medicaid lets you keep your house, up to $700,000. And your stuff, no limit on value. And your “motorized vehicle”, also no limit.
So, Medicaid is bad and you hate it. You hate it so much that you will spend all your money. Then, sell the house and all your stuff, spend all that too. And then wind up on Medicaid anyway. Sounds like a plan to me! Good luck with that.
#12 … Waste Of Time Because Medicaid Won’t Work When I Need It!
Medicaid nursing homes, long-term care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and anyone else who provides Medicaid care are just the worst! If a facility accepts Medicaid, the place smells bad, the staff is rude, the management is poor, and the care is awful. God forbid that you or a loved one is ever condemned to a Medicaid facility or is forced to receive Medicaid services. Great excuse!
Gee, I wonder what percentage of skilled nursing facilities accept Medicaid? 10%? 30% 50%?
Actually every skilled nursing facility accepts Medicaid. All of them. 100%. Do you have enough money to pay $10,000 – $15,000 per month for skilled care? For an average of 3 years. With a good chance of 5 years? Is it ridiculous to think that nursing homes would like to get paid when you go broke? Are you opposed to caregivers getting paid? Do nursing homes get everything for free?
Not so fast! Everybody knows that there are very few “Medicaid beds”. You know, the ones that they seal with plastic. So the bedbugs cannot escape. Just a few Medicaid beds.
Funny thing, though. About 70-80% of long-term, skilled nursing facility residents are paid for by Medicaid. How did that happen? Maybe because all beds are Medicare-certified. And all Medicare beds can be paid with Medicaid dollars.
#13 … Waste Of Time Because Every Other Attorney Must Be Doing This!
Medicaid is for poor people (meaning people without any money or stuff). And you have money and stuff, so Medicaid is not for you! Logical! Makes sense!
Question: How long will you have any money or stuff if you are paying $10-15,000 per month for long-term care?
Are you opposed to not going broke? Is it ridiculous to think that you (or your loved one) might get better care if your lifesavings had not melted away like a snowflake on a hot griddle? Are you against paying for the extra services you want?
You get a shower a week in a long-term care facility. How often do you shower now? Are you against paying some of your hard-earned savings to get a shower more frequently?
If your long-term care “insurance” (also known as Medicaid) paid for the $10-15,000 cost of basic services, and, if your lifesavings were intact, would you choose to spend some of those savings to make your days more pleasant? Do you want to be poor? Is poverty more noble? Is it honorable to spend down a lifetime of work in a matter of months? Does it make sense to believe that the government knows best? Is it foolish to plan for your future?
#14 … Waste Of Time Because If This Worked, Every Other Attorney Would Be Doing This!
Yesterday I was looking in the mirror. I felt depressed. I said to my bride of 15 years, “Honey, when I look in the mirror I see an old, fat, bald guy, and it depresses me. Honey,” I said, “I need your help.”
“Oh?” said the love of my life, “How may I be of service?” “Honey,” I replied, “I need a compliment. Looking at this fat, old, bald guy in the mirror here is bringing me down. I really feel the need for some compassion, a compliment would sure make me feel better!”
“Well,” said my soulmate, “Your eyesight is damn near perfect!”
Since I have been wearing glasses since the 8th grade, my wife’s compliment was exactly what the doctor ordered. I felt better immediately. So, when I ask you, “Is it ridiculous to think that you are not getting older, you are getting better?” Remember this little love tale of mine. And draw your own conclusions.
And the hits just keep on coming! More great excuses are on their way!
Here’s a sneak preview of the next fabulous five excuses to avoid planning:
#10 … Waste Of Time Because It Is Overkill!
#11 … Waste Of Time Because I Will Spend It All Anyway.!
#12 … Waste Of Time Because Medicaid Won’t Work When I Need It!
#13 … Waste Of Time Because Every Other Attorney Must Be Doing This!
#14 … Waste Of Time Because If This Worked, Every Other Attorney Would Be Doing This!
Is Now A Bad Time For A Real Solution?
Perhaps you already have all the answers. Maybe this is no problem at all. Possibly you do not believe in the passage of time.
Your habits and values have earned you peace of mind and financial security. LifePlanning™ is the easy part. You worked for the peace that only comes with financial security. What is most important, legal documents? Avoiding probate, is that the best you can do? Is family about inheritance? Or are the deeper things most significant?
Is any of this easy? Do you want to get lost in the overwhelming flood of claims and promises? Or would you like straight answers?
Well, here you are. Now you know. No excuses. Get the information, insight, inspiration. It is your turn. Ignore the message? Invite poverty? Or get the freely offered information. To make wise decisions. For you. For your loved ones.
The LifePlan™ Workshop has been the first step on the path to security and peace for thousands of families. Why not your family?
