Misconceptions about Veteran Pensions: Finance Advice with Steve Sexton

Steve Sexton, the Entertainer’s very own financial expert, hosts a radio show each week called “Winning In Life.” Steve is the President of Sexton Advisory Group and is involved with many local charities as well. On his radio show he provides listeners with the most crucial advice in all areas of financial planning. In addition to financial advice, Steve welcomes guest speakers on the show to talk about other life topics such as health, charity, travel and much more. The radio show airs every Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. on KCBQ 1170 AM.

On this week’s episode, Steve welcomed guest speaker Stuart Furman to the show. Stuart is an elder law attorney focused on long term care issues. He is also on the board of the Visiting Nurses Association in California. In their discussion, Stuart and Steve filtered out the misconceptions about qualifying for veterans’ benefits.

The first topic that the two experts jumped into is the issue about the Aid & Attendance benefit, which is a pension for non-service connected injuries. In order to qualify for this pension, you did not have to be fighting in the war. The pension is for anyone who served as active duty in the military for 90 days and at least one of those days was during a war period or conflict. There are different tests for qualifying, which most people aren’t aware of, such as age and employment, medical need,  income and more.

Most people are misinformed about how to qualify for V.A. pensions.  One of the most popular misconceptions that Stuart explains is the $80,000 rule of thumb, which he says is actually beyond the normal determination for pensions. One thing he stresses most is the importance of being very conservative when applying for a pension because the process can be quite lengthy, thus it is highly beneficial to do it right the first time.

“Does a person have to be in assisted living in order to apply for a pension?” This is one of many questions answered on this week’s show. Most people believe that you can only qualify for pensions if you are in assisted living or a long term care facility. Stuart says otherwise. He explains more in depth about how the pension works in nursing homes, opting out of the V.A., roadblocks to having a viable long term care plan, and more.

To listen to the entire show, visit www.winninginliferadio.com.

For those who want to contact Stuart directly, Steve advises listeners to contact him at Southern California Legal Center or email him at [email protected].