(NAPSI)—If you or someone you care about is among America’s more than 74 million baby boomers, you may be glad to know of a helpful new book. It was written by a go-to resource for crisis financial planning, who frequently receives referrals from nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and home health agencies for clients in need of last-minute financial planning assistance. The easy-to-read book, “The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement” by Hans E. Scheil, CFP^®, can help you avoid a financial planning crisis in the first place.

The Problem

All too many people count on Social Security as their main source of retirement income but it doesn’t really go very far—less than $1,500 a month in current dollars, on average. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) estimates you’ll need between 70 and 90 percent of your pre-retirement income to maintain your standard of living when you stop working. In addition, your age has a big effect on your Social Security benefits. If you were born between 1943 and 1954, the Social Security Administration says, you can get full benefits at age 66. This full retirement age will gradually rise toward 67 for those born after 1954. Claiming benefits too early can mean permanent reductions to your income. What’s more, according to 2015’s “Medicare & You,” from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, at least 70 percent of people over 65 will need long-term care services and support at some point in their lives.

Know What To Ask

According to Scheil, there are three questions you should find the answers to if you’re helping a family member navigate retirement:

• Does the elderly family member need power of attorney?
• Do you know the family member’s existing policy benefits, including long-term care insurance, Medicare Supplements, Medicare Part D prescription drug plans and so on?
• Will you have to take over the family member’s finances?

Scheil’s 40-year career—as well as his personal involvement caring for his mother, father and grandmother in their later years—provided hands-on experience that he’s now sharing. The book, which rose to be the No. 1 best seller in Amazon’s Retirement Planning category, is published by Tupelo Press and sold through amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. It’s an in-depth, easy-to-understand guide to retirement and long-term care to assist retirees and their families through the most difficult financial complexities they will likely face.

It also includes many items that are important for a successful retirement, as well as the details of Social Security and Medicare, long-term care, post-retirement investment strategies, tax reduction strategies and more. Easy-to-understand chapter summaries, charts, reports and sample documents help the reader gain a better understanding of each retirement planning topic. Each chapter also provides an in-depth analysis of each topic through real-life examples from Scheil’s own practice.

A Lawyer’s Letter

As one reader, an attorney who counsels clients in elder law and estate planning, put it, “I find the Guide to be a valuable resource. After reading the first chapter, it is clear that Hans has a wealth of personal and professional experience in the area of planning for living in retirement. Each chapter includes a summary that brings closure and deeper understanding to the topics discussed. I plan to purchase additional copies for our practice and will recommend the Guide to my older clients as well as family members who are assisting them.”

Learn More

For more information, go to www.cardinalguide.com.