I have been thinking recently about retirement. No, not for me. I am not planning to retire any time soon, for a couple reasons. First, I love doing what I do helping folks with estate planning, elder care and special needs problems while providing employment for some mighty good people in our office. Second, I have determined that if I work until age 70 before taking Social Security retirement, my check will be 32% higher than if I begin drawing at age 66 (and over 50% higher than if I start drawing early retirement at age 62). Then, if I die before my wife, she will be able to draw my larger amount for the rest of her life. (Come see us if you want help figuring out the best retirement strategy for your future.)
There are many other considerations when thinking about retirement. Some people may become physically unable to continue working. Some may be thrust into a position of caregiving for a spouse or other family member. And some just get tired of doing what they have done for so long and desire to spend more time with grandkids or take on a full-time hobby (any golfers or gardeners out there?). We help many clients review their retirement needs and long-term care and estate planning goals in order to make the retirement years as fulfilling as possible.
It’s our dogs. They are both coming up on retirement. You may have met Gus, my certified Therapy Dog, and Madine, my daughter Melanie’s Skilled Service Dog, on the staff page of our website (www.ElderLawMS.com/staff/gus and www.ElderLawMS.com/staff/Melanie-Courtney). Gus is 11 years old and Madine is 9 years old. In a prior Musing, I told of how Gus no longer dances when we go to visit nursing homes or children’s groups because of his aging hips. He is just slowing down. A day out for visits to some nursing homes at Christmas took a toll, and he lay out and slept the rest of the day after returning home. Sounds like some other old men I have known. He has earned it through a long life of good work, and he has a family at home who can tolerate his quirks (every time we begin to say grace at the dinner table, that is his signal to come and begin noisily lapping water from his bowl beside the table until we say “Amen. Gus, stop!”). So it may be with me in my later years.
Madine, however, is facing an imposed retirement. You see, Canine Companions for Independence (www.cci.org) is the oldest and most experienced service dog placement organization in America. They have developed some work protocols through decades of observation and experience placing service dogs with persons with disabilities. By the age of ten, service dogs have been working for the handler around 8 years and are often beginning to lose some of the earlier youthful energy and focus that suited them particularly for that work. Therefore, CCI generally tries to retire those dogs from service at around age ten. In November we and Melanie went to the Southeastern Regional CCI campus in Orlando to participate in the in-person interview for a “successor” service dog. They found that Melanie is still able to handle and benefit from a dog, so she is on the list for a new dog that will – as the old saying goes – take Madine’s space but not her place. Later this year (Madine will turn ten in November), we will return to Orlando to work with other 2-year-old service dogs and come home with a new pup. Madine will then move from Melanie’s room to our bedroom and will become a pet – a dog without a daily job for the first time in her life. And who knows – maybe she will want to take up therapy dog work as a hobby. After all, she doesn’t care much for golf!
Contact the Law Office of Courtney Elder Law today, for further questions and concerns on this matter.