EXIT RIGHT

A financial adviser offers practical advice to baby boomers about leaving a legacy and protecting assets in old age.

Many baby boomers facing the inevitability of aging and death seem to be largely unprepared financially and emotionally. Hazewski, a financial adviser who’s also a boomer, wrote this brief yet authoritative guide “to help you understand the fundamental factors that determine whether you will grow old with dignity or difficulty.” This isn’t a guide to investments or accumulating wealth, though; rather, the author addresses the vexing financial and legal issues that individuals often overlook until it’s too late. On the financial and legal side, Hazewski turns his attention specifically to living wills, advanced directives, last wills and trusts. On the practical side, he also talks about the need for long-term care and the importance of making one’s final wishes known to family. “We should never be afraid to share thoughts about our final arrangements with family,” he says. “As awkward as it may seem, it can be done if addressed openly and without emotion.” The writing is clear and concise, and the book’s structure makes it engaging and easy to read. Each chapter begins with a vignette dramatizing a particular scenario related to certain financial or health issues one faces in old age. Hazewski then offers his personal commentary on every scenario, provides a discussion of the broader topic and closes the chapter with a number of “lessons.” The author assembled the scenarios from his experiences with a number of clients, so the realism of the stories helps make Hazewski’s counsel all the more relevant. At times, it seems the author focuses a bit too much on the requirements for Medicaid, giving the impression that many seniors may eventually run out of the money needed to pay for health expenses. Still, Hazewski covers enough other bases that boomers and their families should benefit from the information he shares.

Imparts basic, well-targeted knowledge while not burdening readers with an overwhelming amount of detail.