We at MSAA are proud to introduce the latest edition of The Motivator, which is available now in both print and digital editions! This edition’s cover story is “Planning for Your Future.” This story defines the legal and financial decisions and documents you may need to consider when planning for your financial future, particularly if you are living with a chronic condition.
Read an excerpt from the cover story here:
For individuals with a chronic illness, or those with a family member with a chronic illness, advance planning becomes even more vital and more specified. Extra attention needs to be given to the typical symptoms and progression of one’s disease. As most of our readers know, multiple sclerosis (MS) is unpredictable. With relapsing forms of MS, it can flare up and leave someone unable to function for weeks or months at a time. Often, but not always, the relapse may remit and allow the individual to return to his or her full activities. For individuals with progressive forms of MS, one’s disease may advance at a slow pace, without flare ups, while others may experience a more aggressive form of the disease. Additionally, the symptoms of MS vary greatly, from numbness, visual changes, reduced mobility, and pain, to depression, cognitive problems, and overwhelming fatigue.
As noted throughout this article, these specific symptoms and anticipated disease progression will need to be taken into consideration when creating important legal documents that serve to: specify medical directives; appoint people to handle one’s legal, financial, and medical decisions; allocate how one’s estate is to be distributed, having family or other benefactors who may bequeath you money include a special needs or so-called supplemental needs trust for oneself; and even provide emergency medical information as well as temporary guardianship of a minor in the absence or temporary disability of a parent.
Continue reading the cover story for this issue of The Motivator on MSAA’s website and learn more about how to ensure that you and your loved ones are protected through careful legal and financial planning.
