Benefits of senior placement services | Opinion

Sep. 27--Editor's note: This is the third in a series of columns about seniors and their finances with information from local experts in the field and experiences of people dealing with financial hardships in their later years.

"With a senior placement counselor who is doing his or her job properly, running out of money should be a rare occurrence," says Michael Brodie, head of Michael Brodie Senior Placement, Inc., in Coral Springs, which helps people seeking independent or assisted living. "It is important to help a person find a community that is affordable long term. A person going into assisted living is already making a choice to use the community's services rather than private duty aides at their own home -- a much more expensive option.

He works with clients to ensure that if they are spending down assets, they will not run out under normal circumstances.

"Typically, I will set out a financial plan that is well above their life expectancy. It is very rare for me to be confronted with calls to move a placed client due to running out of money, because I do my job professionally and with integrity," he said.

However, it can happen. A person can suffer health reverses in assisted living, which would then increase their level of care charges to match the services needed. People do find they are suddenly paying hundreds of dollars more than they had hoped. And if a person truly lives beyond that financial horizon, then it is also possible that they will find their assets dwindling away, he said.

"Before that happens, I ask them to call on me to help them find a more reasonably priced community -- for example, one that includes all care in their base price," Brodie said. "I also connect them with Medicaid support, and guide them to a community which accepts Medicaid finances. As a rule, by this time several years have gone by and their health needs have changed probably more than their finances."

Some people opt for an independent living facility. That is a choice -- certainly not the least expensive choice for persons who are able to live independently -- but a choice that provides convenience, quality of life and some security for independent seniors.

Assisted living is often less expensive than independent living, usually with smaller apartments or rooms, and even the dreaded semi-private accommodations.

"I don't like to see that as an option for persons who want and are deserving of privacy, but the most important thing is care and security for clients for the long term," he said, adding he has helped clients move from independent living with aides they could no longer afford or even from assisted living that had gotten too expensive into communities where they could safely sustain the rent.

"I also sometimes get calls from people who simply cannot afford assisted living, and I direct them to nursing homes so they can receive regulated and licensed care in a safe environment," he said. "Sometimes that is their only option."

Brodie said he often fields calls from people seeking inexpensive rental housing. For subsidized housing, there are wait lists longer than five years in Southeast Florida.

"I try my best to connect them with inexpensive, but market rate, apartments. None of that is part of my business but people appreciate the time and advice given," he said.

Rhea and Dave Weiss, of Boca Raton, turned their funds over to a financial planner years ago who put them into annuity policies. The result has been successful. The planner uses the proceeds to take care of all bill paying from their funds, relieving them of this responsibility. They say they are satisfied with the arrangement.

Mort Mazor is a veteran living in Boca Raton.

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