Services include

• Consult with businesses, such as private bankers, realtors, estate planners.
• Provide seminars through HR managers for employees having to deal with parents requiring lifestyle assistance.
• Lecture, half day, full day and evening workshops, brown bag events.
• Books provided at volume discount.

Seminar:

MOVING MOM AND DAD: 
What to Do Now to Maximize Security and Peace of Mind

I.    Looking at the Big Picture
II.   The Needle in the Haystack
III.  Sidestepping the Pitfalls of Moving
IV.  Decorating, Downsizing and Moving to a Smaller Space.
V.   I’m not Ready Yet!
VI.  Changing Your Life as Your Life Changes

Speech Topics

I. Looking at the Big Picture:
How families can make the right choices during times of change.

• Must I move from the family home?
• Staying in Your Home: safety a key Issue
• Reason to stay, reasons to move and the fear that surrounds them.
• Emotional issues for families surrounding the move; interdependence, six emotions
• Understanding the emotional dynamics between parents and their children when making the decision to move
• Procrastination and how to handle it- roadblocks
• Consequences of not planning or making the move are not real to seniors and their families
• Communication versus expectation
• Children’s motives- what they mean, what they say
• Do we have to parent our parents?
• What parents can do for themselves and for their children
• What children can do for themselves and for their parents

II.   The Needle in the Haystack:  
Finding the right retirement community.

• The ten most important questions to ask
• Profiles of the sixteen different types of seniors who move into retirement communities
• Finding the right fit and understanding how communities differ; the impact those differences will have on your future
• Planned adult community; independent retirement community
• Continuing care retirement community, with or without equity
• Life care community; assisted living community
• Freestanding Alzheimer’s facility; skilled nursing facility; six-and-under board-and-care

III. Sidestepping the Pitfalls of Moving:  
Important steps to ensure a smoother move.

• Organizing, packing, and coordinating the move
• Finding the right mover
• The move itself; the financial, physical, and emotional components
• The ABCs of list making
• How to decide what to keep and what to get rid of
• Why this move is different from moving other ages
• Downsizing and designing for a smaller space

IV. Decorating, Downsizing and Moving to a Smaller Space:
If you don’t love it, loose it!

• Downsizing without a breakdown; it can be a positive experience
• Letting go
• What you need, what you want, what will fit
• Lift the burden of “stuff”
• A room looks smaller empty—how to visualize
• The five myths of downsizing
• Floor
• Color of Walls and what to put on them
• Lighting
• Furniture
• Windows
• Knickknacks

V. I’m not Ready Yet!
Eight components to not being ready.

• Fear
• Denial
• Change
• Downsizing
• The move
• Liking where you live
• Emotional
• Attitude

VI. Changing Your Life as Your Life Changes:
Keeping control of your life as you age.

• Financial, physical, social
• Relationships—children, relatives, and friends
• Living situations
• Caregivers
• Living with the consequences of your choices
• Working with a realtor or contractor when selling your home—how to maximize your profits, avoid catastrophes, and cope with difficulties
• How experts can make a difference—retirement specialists, insurance agents, financial planners, attorneys, and aging organizations

Format: Each speech runs about forty five minutes to one hour with a Q&A at the end. The seminar is two parts, two and one half to three hours morning and afternoon with two coffee breaks and a lunch break. Each participant will receive copies of Donna’s books.

Please contact us for pricing and fees. References available.