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Do you have good friends? Think about the quality of your relationships with relatives as well as with other people you know well. Do you feel comfortable calling on them for help? If you haven't done so, you should find ways to build positive, trusting relationships with people who live near enough to get to you when you need them. Because chances are that at some point, you will need them.

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​Why it Matters

As spry and healthy as you might be today, most people eventually need someone to take care of them, physically and/or emotionally. The caregivers might be your grown children, other family members, friends or paid workers. Ideally, they will be people who want to care for you rather than people who begrudgingly feel obligated to do so. And, ideally, there will be enough people in your circle that they can take turns so that none of them feels burdened or resentful about the caregiving. And so that you don’t feel guilty receiving their help.

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What You Can Do

• Develop a network of friends and family, preferably who can reach your home fairly easily, who can help you get to appointments, run errands, and care for you and/or your home.

• Make it as easy as possible for people to be supportive of you. Be a person they can rely on, a person they will want to help.

• Consider developing friendships with younger adults who may be more physically able than your peers to provide assistance. 

• Use the Helpers worksheet to list people you feel comfortable asking for different kinds of help – physical assistance, financial aid, or emotional support. Include contact information and ways that specific people might help you.

• Share the list with a trusted Successor to make it easier for your helpers to contact each other to provide layers of caregiving when you need it.
  
  Filling out the Helpers worksheet should either reassure you of the strength of your support network, or inspire you to develop a network you can rely on.  Having this information readily available will make it easier for you or your Successors to reach out to helpers when needed.

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For more information, read "Who Will Help You As You Age?"
Ready to take action? Select your worksheets here.