After you retire, you should continue to make plans so that you will be ready in case anything happens.
Everyone knows that it takes a lot of planning to retire properly. You must make sure that all of your finances are in order. You also should make sure that you have completed everything you need to receive Social Security benefits, when you want to start them and to enroll for Medicare.
It might be tempting to stop planning after retirement. However, there is still some planning left to do, as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog explained in "Post-Retirement Planning: A Checklist for Seniors."
Retirees need to plan for emergencies and the possibility of no longer being able to handle their own affairs. They need a general durable power of attorney, a health care power of attorney and a living will.
Fortunately, those documents are easy to get from elder law attorneys. However, just getting those documents is not quite enough.
If something happens to a retired person, the people designated to help immediately need to be able to step into their roles. That means all the information necessary for them needs to be gathered into one place. This information includes a list of financial, investment and digital accounts. It also means that the legal documents need to be stored in the same place. Finally, a trusted friend or family member should be told where to find everything, if needed.
Talk to an elder law attorney, if you have questions about what you need to do to plan after you retire.
Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (March 20, 2018) "Post-Retirement Planning: A Checklist for Seniors."