Does your aging parent have a pet?  Since Americans own close to 170 million dogs and cats, chances are pretty good that they do.  And if you are in charge of caring for an elderly parent, chances are also pretty good you are helping with the pet as well.

Here are some tips on helping elderly parents care for their pets from Forbes.com:

A frail parent caring for an active dog is a disaster waiting to happen.  Make arrangements to have a dog walker take your parent’s pooch out a couple of times a day.

Pets make a great contribution to elderly people’s health and well-being, and we should return the favor.  If your parent is incapable of taking their pet to the vet for regular check-ups, see if there is a home-visit vet in the area or take the pet yourself.  It is important to watch for signs of illness or aging in your parent’s pet and take action to keep it healthy

If your parent has a problem remembering to take their medications or even eat regularly, they are probably not taking proper care of their pet so you may need to supervise.

Does your parent have to move to a retirement home?  Look for one that takes pets.  If there is not one in the area, then at least find one that allows visits and take your parent’s pet often to see them.

And most importantly, if you are not a “pet person” but your parent is, respect that bond and do what you can to allow them to continue to enjoy it.  Having a pet around to provide your aging parent with good company and unconditional love is a true gift, and may even relieve you of some of the burden of caring for your elderly parent.

Need more useful tips on retirement planning for aging parents?  Contact our California retirement planning law firm.

Earlier this year Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA), which imposes stricter IRS filing requirements on those who have overseas assets of more than $50,000.

While CPAs and tax advisors still await direction from the IRS on compliance, those taxpayers who must now abide by the new FACTA rules should be aware of the additional reporting they will need to do to comply.  And in some cases, it may be duplicate reporting.

For example, if you have more than $10,000 in an offshore bank account, you were already filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts with the IRS.  If you have more than $50,000, you will have to report it separately on your 2010 return.

If you own foreign real estate, you will also need to file a new FACTA form in addition to the IRS forms you may have already been filing if the real estate was held by a foreign corporation or partnership.  And, if you have a family villa outside the U.S. that is owned by several family members, the property must be valued and if that value exceeds the $50,000 limit per person, it will need to be reported to the IRS.

If the new FACTA reporting rules have your head spinning, don’t worry.  Contact a California asset protection attorney to learn what the new rules may mean for you and your estate.

New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman has introduced a bill that would require employers with 10 or more employees that don’t offer 401(k) plans to automatically enroll their employees into an IRA.

The Automatic IRA Act would not force workers to participate, but would require them to proactively opt out if they did not want to make contributions, which as proposed would be three percent of their wages.  The contribution would be funneled to a Roth IRA unless the participant chose a traditional IRA.  Employers could elect to choose a provider for their employee IRA accounts, or leave it up to individual employees to choose their own provider.

Congressman Richard Neal, D-Mass., introduced a similar bill in the House last week.  The Automatic IRA proposal was developed by scholars from the Heritage Foundation and the Brookings Institution, and is supported by the AARP.  The non-partisan Retirement Security Project says the proposal could raise net national savings by nearly $8 billion annually.

A lack of planning has spurred Congress into action, and for many Americans it is no doubt a good idea to put a plan in place that at the very least makes them think before they choose not to plan for retirement.

However, a much better strategy is to plan for your own retirement yourself, and your first step is consulting with a knowledgeable California retirement planning attorney to customize a plan that fits your life now and what you want it to be in the future.

Here’s a bit of lucky news on Friday the 13^th:

According to a report this week on U.S. News & World Report’s website, there is a place you can retire on less than $1,500 a month and live on or near the ocean, eat out often and well, keep connected to your world with reliable Internet service and not even need to learn a foreign language because everyone speaks English.

The place being touted is Belize, formerly known as British Honduras.  This small country is located in Central America, bordered on the north by Mexico and the west by Guatemala.  The climate is tropical, with both wet and dry seasons, and the population is around 350,000.  The Belize Barrier Reef is the second longest in the world and the longest in the Western hemisphere.

Labor is cheap – the retired couple profiled in the U.S. News article have both a maid and a gardener who visit once a week.  They live on the ocean in a home they built two years ago, eat out 3-4 times a week, and barbecue filet mignon and lobster at home.  They do this all on the husband’s Social Security income; the wife’s Social Security goes into their savings account.

The U.S. News post was authored by Kathleen Peddicord, author of How To Retire Overseas—Everything You Need To Know To Live Well Abroad For Less. Sounds like a great beach read.

If you want to learn more about planning well to live well in retirement, contact our California estate planning law firm.

If you’re like most Baby Boomers, your working life is probably vastly different than that of your parents (OK, your dad’s, most likely).   One or both of your parents probably labored for the same company most of their working lives, while Boomers usually have 4-5 significant stints at different companies.

So it stands to reason that your retirement is likely to be different as well.  But exactly how different?  If you are a Baby Boomer, your retirement will probably be:

Longer – thanks to technology and medical advances, we’re living longer than our parents’ generation.  If you retire some time in your 60s, there is a pretty good chance you may live up to another 30 years in retirement.

More Expensive – Boomers’ parents grew up during the Depression and learned early how to live frugally.  Most did not retire to the Riviera or spend a lot of time traveling to and from vacation homes.  Our expectations for our retirement are higher, and we’ll need more financial resources to satisfy those expectations.

Funded by Savings – pensions are scarce commodities these days; most Boomers will retire on personal savings, investments and Social Security.

If your retirement planning does not take these realities into account, it’s time to examine it more closely.  Consulting with a California estate planning attorney about retirement will help ensure you enjoy the retirement you want and deserve.