This episode delves into the support and services available to veterans through Trusted Companies, a suite of organizations providing healthcare and legal assistance for veterans. Stephen Wolfe, CEO, emphasizes the importance of accessible resources and proactive planning for veterans and their families, ensuring they receive the care they deserve.
• Discussion on the mission and services offered by Trusted Companies for veterans
• Overview of home healthcare services provided at no cost to veterans
• Critical importance of legal documents for older veterans
• Understanding the differences between wills, trusts, and powers of attorney
• Insights into the nonprofit initiatives by Trusted Companies
• Explanation of Medicaid applications and financial support for veterans
• Opportunities for veterans to gain employment as home health aides
• Encouragement for older veterans to seek education about available resources
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm Scott McClain.
My guest today is Stephen Wolfe.
Stephen is the CEO of TrustedCompanies and we're going to get
into what Trusted Companies isall about.
But first of all, welcome tothe podcast, Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thanks, Scott.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Steve or Stephen.
Either way, all right, allright.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Don't call me late for dinner.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
There you go.
There you go.
Steve's a big dude.
He's a big dude.
Not a big dude, not big fatdude, he's like tall big dude.
So that's give you a littlebackground on him.
Yeah, welcome to the one man,one mic studio and the big pink
couch.
What do you think of the bigpink couch?
Good to be here, right, right,it's a big pink couch.
Yeah, oh, by the way, the oneman, one mic studio, sponsored
by willow and palm construction.
Willow and palm Construction,located in beautiful Delray
(00:47):
Beach, florida, willow and PalmConstruction is South Florida's
premier builder.
From driveways to roofs tobuildings, if you need it,
they'll build it.
So you can find them atwwwwillowandpalmcom.
Do people even have to say wwwanymore?
I don't think so.
I don't even say W, I say W,www, like, does it really matter
(01:09):
at this point?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Right, right.
It's like when someone sayswhat's your email, I just say
you know, I don't know, VetsConnection Podcast at Gmail.
Do I have to say com Right,these things, but people still
do it.
They still do it.
All right, Stephen, let's getinto it.
What exactly is?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Trusted Companies.
Trusted Companies is a suite ofcompanies that helps mainly
seniors.
There's Trusted Law Office,which we have an attorney
in-house that owns that.
There's Trusted Care Advocates,which is our nonprofit.
There's Trusted Home CareAgency, Trusted Home Care
Registry.
There's Trusted MetarexaPharmacy and a durable medical
(01:51):
equipment company for walkers,wheelchairs, canes, commodes.
So we try to kind ofencapsulate the senior and help
them with all aspects that theymay run into as they age.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Okay and for the listeners, I know, and you know,
that this podcast is usuallyfor nonprofits and veterans with
interesting stories or veteransthat work for nonprofits, et
cetera.
But Steve was recommended by DrPete from the VA, the West Palm
Beach VA, and if Dr Peterecommends, well then I will
(02:21):
give them an episode.
Dr Pete's a good guy and sothis episode is not a promotion
for trusted companies.
Although Steve is the CEO andfounder, this is going to be
veteran-oriented because they doa lot of stuff.
They do a lot of good stuff forveterans and we're going to get
into that.
So I just wanted to have thatdisclaimer that this is not a,
(02:43):
like you know, because I get alot of people, steve, I'll tell
you a lot of people want to comeon that veterans that own
companies but they're not reallyin the veteran space.
So I have to.
I've had to learn how to say no.
I have a hard time doing that,but you know I had a discussion
and Lex right, lex reached outto me, sure, and then you and I
(03:03):
and her had a call and and youkind of passed, as they say,
passed mustard.
You know what I mean.
You guys do a lot for veterans,so well, that's you know.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That's why we have the nonprofit built for those
people who are in need, or forveterans as well, and we also
have, through the home carecompany, we have a VA contract
to do home care for the vet.
That doesn't cost them a dime,so it's not for profit from the
vet to us, okay.
And and also we're going tohelp the vet all the way around.
(03:33):
If we have a home care patientwho's a vet and he doesn't have
a power of attorney, theattorney will do a pro bono for
them.
We're going to help them out.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We're trying to give back and help out the vets 100%.
How long has Trusty been around?
I've been in business foralmost 27 years.
Companies have evolved overtime and have layered them in.
As I see a need, we create thenext company to solve that
problem or fix that.
The VA to us is fairly new inthe home care space and we
actually got one of the lastcontracts with the VA.
There's a moratorium on homecare contracts in the state of
(04:10):
Florida but we can help through.
Let's say we should be ablewithin the next two months.
We're Clearwater, tampa,broward and right now, for sure,
palm Beach County and IndianRiver County.
So we're spread out a littlebit across the state and we're
open to help any time any vetneeds any, which way they need
(04:31):
it.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And we do need that, like we do.
Sure, you know, as we weretalking before the podcast
started, before I hit thatrecord button, you know there's
a lot of veterans out there thatdon't want to deal with the VA
and they don't want to gothrough whatever they think is
going to be the challenges it isto go through the VA.
I know personally the VA hasreally done a good turnaround
(04:56):
since my first interaction withthem back in like 2000.
And then my second interactionwith them back in like 2018, it
was a whole different place.
So I do know that there hasbeen progress, but some people
avoid it and they go through acivilian company.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, there's a lot of pieces that are still missing
, right when I sat down andtalked with Dr Pete and the
group the coffee hour andwhatnot there's parts of the
legal aspect that they can gettaken care of from the VA A
living will, which is pull theplug or don't pull the plug,
healthcare surrogate make amedical decision for me if I
can't do it myself, and a power,not the power of attorney.
The living will and thehealthcare surrogate they'll do
(05:34):
for them.
Yeah, they won't do the powerof attorney, so you need to turn
somewhere for that.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Why Do you know?
Why?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't know, why I think that their legal channel,
I guess, is maybe they're notgoing to give advice, they're
not going to do anything thatwould stretch their abilities
there.
So in our case we said, well,let's just give the power of
attorney to the vet.
It's not a big deal, come in,the attorney will handle it, the
paralegals will handle it.
Knock it out and it's done.
(06:01):
What's ridiculous is that theseother firms out there are
charging, you know, $400 for apower turn.
It's ridiculous.
Yeah, okay, yeah, we're justgoing to give it to you.
It's a few pieces of paper.
You change the name on it.
Let's go, you need it right.
(06:25):
It's a beautiful thing, andthese are the things talk to us.
We're going to tell you what doyou do about your house?
Maybe you live off of all yourincome, you don't have tons of
assets, but you own a home.
If you pass, that home's goingthrough probate, which is a
nightmare.
It doesn't need to be, and youdon't have to do some complex
legal planning.
We can do a ladybird deed whichgives the house to the
(06:47):
beneficiary when you die, with astep up in cost basis.
It's not a big deal, but peoplejust don't know where to turn
to get this information, andthat's what we want to do.
We want to just spread the word, tell them what's available and
what's out there.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
So let's kind of I have a list of things that you
do, so let's see if we go downthem one at a time and we can
kind of so home healthcare wejust talked about that, but can
you give me a little more detailon how that works?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Sure.
So when someone's in need ofprivate duty like activities,
daily living, a lot of that's asthey age, as we all age, we
need care.
So maybe it's going to be justwith cooking a meal for them or
helping them in the shower ordressing, or getting up out of
the chair or the bed or thatsort of thing, or just doing the
(07:35):
laundry for them, change thebed linens, go to the grocery
store, that sort of thing.
That's where you need a homehealth aide to come in and help
out.
That's where you need a homehealth aide to come in and help
out.
Normally, if you were a non-vetjust in the field and you
wanted to go get home care,you're talking about $30 an hour
today for an aide to come in.
The VA is giving in Palm BeachCounty 45 hours a week free to
(07:59):
the vet.
All he needs to do is bemedically needy.
Forget the financial side of it.
He also needs to be in thesystem.
There are a lot of older vetsthat turned away and do not use
the VA.
So let me just explain.
There's two sides of this.
If they're in the system andthey already use the hospital or
the doctor or something at theVA, then probably within two to
(08:22):
three weeks we can have care intheir house through the case
manager.
If they're not in the systemnow, they got to get an
appointment, go in and see thedoctor, get into the system and
that may take up to three months.
But that's the process and youcan pick any home care company
you want that's VA approved.
You don't have to pick me, I'mjust telling you what's out
(08:43):
there and what's available, andthat's all you know.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So then we get into something you just talked about.
Well again.
Well, let me go back.
If somebody wants to contactyou about home healthcare, like
hey, hey, steve, or whoever theyspeak to, like I heard the
podcast and I'm interested inlike what, how would they
present that to you?
How would like give them?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
They can contact our home care agency directly.
Okay, at 561-770-6030.
Contact us and say I need care.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I'm a veteran.
I'm a vet.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I live in XYZ County or city or whatever it is, and
how can you help me out?
And if I'm not in that areathat they're in let's say
they're in the middle of thestate or something Well, we're
direct them, I'm going to tellthem where to go and how to get
it done.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Excellent.
So let's get into wills, trusts, deeds, living wills,
healthcare surrogates and powerof attorney.
Now that's.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
That's a lot right there, but you're the resident
expert, so give the people alittle breakdown on that, yeah,
I'm going to tell you right upfront, I'm not the attorney,
right, as I'm not an attorney, Icannot own the law firm, sure,
but I am the registered agent ofthe law firm.
So Amanda Chung is the attorneyin the office, okay, but I work
(10:01):
under her umbrella so I cantalk about this, tell you what's
going on, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Like what's the difference?
A lot of people don't know thedifference.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Right.
So here's the thing.
Everyone says, well, I have awill and I'm fine.
The problem is this A will goesthrough probate what the heck
is probate, it's a pain in theass.
(10:27):
It's a pain in the ass.
How does it get released?
The courts have to release it.
So it goes to the courts withthe will.
Now the courts open it tocreditors, they advertise it.
So they all state claim first,get paid first.
Then they release the assets.
In Florida, because we're insenior central, it's a backlog.
You're talking six months totwo years to get through a
probate process.
(10:48):
If you are just probating ahouse, that house cannot be sold
until it gets through probate.
Nobody's going to buy it.
You're stuck.
Okay, that's a will.
So If you do a trust, the trustavoids that.
Why?
Because the trust is going toown everything you own.
It's going to own your house,it's going to own your bank
account, if you have a brokerageaccount, or it's going to be
the beneficiary of your lifeinsurance or whatever it is that
(11:11):
you have.
So when you pass away andthere's no one else, the owner
of those assets is still living.
The trust never dies.
Hence no probate.
Now, whoever you've put incharge of your estate, which
(11:32):
would be the successor trustee,now can execute, liquidate and
distribute, as you've said inthat trust.
So it's really nothing morethan a fancy will, but instead
of it being the John Doe bankaccount.
It's the John Doe revocableliving trust bank account, so it
never dies.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
It's more.
It's not chaotic like probate,is not.
It's all structured for you.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
This is how fast you get your hands on a death
certificate.
We can execute that trust.
Yeah, there is no judges,there's no attorneys, there's no
, none of that.
There's no fees.
It's very, very simple at theend, the upfront.
The only headache of it is isthat you have to retitle the
assets.
We'll do the house rightthrough the courts, but they
have to go.
(12:10):
I can't go to the bank andchange your bank account to your
trust name.
You have to do that right.
So that's the only bit ofheadache.
But we coach and direct andthat sort of thing.
So that's a trust and then thedeed puts it into the trust.
If there's nothing there likelike I have clients you may not
need it.
If you just have a house, maybeyou have an IRA and you have
(12:30):
your pension, you may not needthe trust.
We can do a ladybird deed,which is like adding a
beneficiary to the deed.
If you're leaving it to aperson, your IRA already has
beneficiaries on it.
We don't have to do complexanything.
There's always ways.
We'll talk about each piece and, again, you don't have to use
us to do it.
We're going to educate you andthen it's up to you how and
(12:53):
which way you want to go.
Something that's very important,though, is the power of
attorney.
We don't know when something'sgoing to happen and all of a
sudden we're out of it or Godforbid, a stroke or whatever it
may be and you can't makedecisions for yourself If you
have not appointed someone.
Now you got to, you have to gothrough guardianship, and the
(13:13):
courts might appoint a guardianfor you, and it may not be who
you want.
So get that power of attorneydone.
Say, who's going to handle yourfinancial affairs if you can't
do that, if you're knocked outfrom an accident?
Who's going to handle yourfinancial affairs If you can't
do that?
If you're knocked out from anaccident?
Who's going to say it's okay tofix your ankle, you got to have
a healthcare surrogate and youwant to be on machines for the
rest of your life, like that, Idon't know.
Remember 20, some years ago,that Terry Shiavo case or
(13:33):
whatever.
We don't want that to happen.
So these documents that need tobe done and we can knock them
out in no time.
It's very, very simple.
It's not complex.
It's not like you're walkinginto an Armani suit law firm or
something.
That's not who we are.
You see how I'm dressed now apair of jeans, a t-shirt.
I mean we're not high,highfalutin high power.
(13:54):
It's not who we are.
We're down to earth.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
So some of this, some of these things are free and
some are.
Veterans get a rate like adiscount.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Because not everything like this can be free
.
I like the veteran.
We have to understand that Likecorrect.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
But but the little stuff, yeah, a little.
This little, that's fine, Right?
If I have to go file a deed,there's a cost of filing a deed.
Yes, I can't pay for that Right.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I mean someone's got to put that kind of
counterproductive to yourbusiness.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But but you know, like I said, if we have a vet
who is using the home carebusiness, obviously we're making
something on that home care.
I don't mind throwing thisstuff in.
I want that guy helped out.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, without a doubt , living wills explain all the
plug.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Don't pull the plug Right.
Medical decision you know youcan't make it for yourself.
Do you want to live on thatmachine?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
no, right, okay, yeah , we talked about healthcare
surrogates.
It's people that will come inand now, well, no, healthcare
surrogate is a medical decision.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Okay, you're knocked out, you're on the operating
table.
They find something else wrongwith you.
They can't wake you up to say,hey, can we fix it.
Somebody has to be, has to beable to make that decision to
fix it.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
And that's all.
That's a separate form, that'sa separate separate little
documents, a supportingdocuments.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
living will healthcare have to do with, you
know, pulling the plug or makingmedical decisions?
And then power of attorney isfor financial decisions.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
So let me ask you about power of attorney.
So somebody, the veteran well,because we're speaking on
veterans here is older, it's aworld war ii or korean war
veteran and maybe they're notall like they're.
The faculties aren't all theredue to age or whatever.
For whatever reason, how is apower of attorney?
Can a power attorney beexecuted that way, like if
(15:40):
they're not really?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
if they have lucid moments, right, and we can talk
to them face to face and say doyou want your son, johnny, to be
your power of attorney?
He's going to take care of allyour financial affairs.
I absolutely yes, I do, yes, Ido, okay, okay, right.
But if the guy's like huh what?
And staring in space, no,obviously we can't do it, then
that's why we want to get itdone now difference, difference
(16:03):
between power of attorney andguardianship.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You mentioned guardianship.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well, if you don't have the power of attorney and
the guy's out of it now we haveto do guardianship to appoint a
guardian for him.
A lot of times we can get afamily member appointed, but
you're talking thousands ofdollars to get through the court
system to do a guardianship,whereas the power of attorney,
you know our normal charge for apower of attorney and we're not
(16:29):
selling here, but I'm justtelling you we charge 150 bucks.
Most attorneys are $400 for it.
Okay, meanwhile, for the vet,I'm just going to give it to him
and be like let's go, we needto get this done, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So yeah, that's great .
Speaker 2 (16:42):
If they mentioned, they came off of this podcast
and they heard us.
I'm just giving them a power ofattorney.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
There you go and mention the vets connection
podcast.
There you go?
Yeah, we're going to do thispodcast would pay off one way or
another for the veterans.
I think we talked about it, butagain emphasize why these are
important documents for theveteran to have because we don't
know when something's going tohappen.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Right, health declines and we don't want it to
be too late.
Yeah, right, I mean.
Look, I had a senior tell meone day.
He said, stephen, I hope I getlucky.
And I said what do you mean?
You hit the lottery, orsomething?
He said no, I hope I go to bedand don't wake up Right Because,
(17:25):
or something.
He said no, I hope I go to bedand don't wake up right because
I don't want the other problemsto come along with it.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, and I understand that, but not all of
us are going to get lucky and weget sick and we need documents
behind it.
But even in that respect thegetting lucky thing might leave
the spouse and the family drybecause, it just happened like
it just happened, correct, and II can speak firsthand of that.
my God rest her soul, at 69,just died in her sleep and it
was, I'll just say it.
(17:48):
It was fucking chaos for me andmy brothers.
But she was very young.
Yeah, she was young and she hada brand new house and it was
like this is up in Boston, it'sMassachusetts.
I don't think probate is anydifferent anywhere else.
It all takes time.
Those are the.
It all takes time.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
This is the thing.
Time and money, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
My brothers and I experience it and it could
create hostility amongst thesiblings and the spouse.
If there's a living spouse mymom was single at the time it
can really cause a lot ofinternal problems and some
families don't recover from thatSome families and the bottom
line is this Money changespeople Bad.
(18:27):
This money changes people badmoney changes people.
Things that happen in thesesituations.
You know there might be asibling that's like I want my
money.
I've heard this and I kind ofwent through it.
So this is why I know this isvery, very important stuff can I
address that?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
absolutely so I wasn't going to dig too much
into the weeds, but you broughtthis up, it's super important
here.
So with a will you can only sayhey, this is who gets what,
when, where, why and how done.
Okay, but in a trust we cantalk about Johnny gets 20%, jane
gets 40%, the grandkids getanother 40%, things like that.
(19:01):
Right, we can separate that out.
Or maybe we have a kid who isshunned from the family, let's
call it whatever.
So they used to say well, wehave to leave a dollar.
No, you don't, because thenthat dollar says oh, he meant
$100,000.
There's always a way for themto fight it.
So now we turn around and say Ihave intentionally not provided
for Johnny, for reasons knownto him, or maybe not out of lack
(19:25):
of love or affection.
Johnny's just amultimillionaire and he doesn't
need it, things like this.
Right, but everyone will tellyou I can beat a will and I can
beat probate, because I'm goingto put a beneficiary on
everything I have and that'sfine.
So you pass away and Johnny andJane are splitting everything
50-50.
They each get 500,000 bucks Idon't know because life
insurance, whatever the numberis.
(19:46):
And what happens when all of asudden God forbid.
Johnny dies, you say, well, itgoes to his kids.
Read the sentence before it.
It always says if a child ofmine shall pre-decease me, his
or her share goes to theirdescendants.
(20:06):
It doesn't say anything aboutJohnny dying five years after
you, ten years after you.
Where does it go?
It goes to your wonderfuldaughter-in-law, who we call the
outlaws when Bunny comes to theplay.
Okay, that's one way to look atit.
So now this wonderfuldaughter-in-law remarries
(20:29):
another guy who's got kids andshe's burning the money for
everybody.
That money should have been foryour grandkids.
The trust that we do says thatmoney will always stay in the
bloodline and it won't go to anoutlaw.
Now that's.
If you want that I will dowhatever you want said will do.
But you cannot do that in awill and you cannot do that by
(20:50):
just a beneficiary designation.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You can't Right.
Right, that's good information,because a lot of people don't.
They don't, and I always saythis you always have to think
everything through to the end.
That's my 32 years of lawenforcement.
You look at something, think itall the way through, don't stop
halfway and go.
That's my answer.
Come with different variables,different scenarios, think it
(21:15):
all the way through.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And a lot of people don't do that we're going to
turn over every rock and digdeep.
We burrow down that rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Because it's an emotional time and people aren't
really always thinkingrationally at those times.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
And if they already have these documents in hand but
they're not sure.
If it says what I'm saying,bring it in, we'll look at it.
It's not going to cost you tosit down and talk to me, have a
cup of coffee and we'll look atthe document.
We'll see if it's right, or ifyou want to modify it or change
it, we can do it.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So All right, all right, let's see.
And so the nonprofit.
Let's talk a little about that.
That covers the trusted careadvocates is correct.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Correct.
Yeah, that was built because,I'll tell you, many years ago
probably eight, 10 years ago Icared for a woman in a nursing
home who had nobody.
For 11 years I cared for her.
I used to visit her twice aweek.
I'd bring her some breakfastshe always wanted McDonald's or
(22:15):
I'd send her a pizza if Icouldn't be there.
You know things like that Justbecause she had no one and I
became her power of attorney andI just took to her, okay.
And I realized that there are somany forgotten seniors.
You know kids passed away orthey never had kids, or they
didn't have a good relationshipwith their kids for whatever
reason, and they end up eitherin their home or in a nursing
(22:36):
home or somewhere and they'restuck, so someone has to care
for them, Right, stuck, sosomeone has to care for them,
right.
So trusted care advocates iswe'll send volunteers into the
nursing home, or if someonecan't afford a home health aid,
I'll get somebody in there justto at least get them clean and
do the laundry for them, to givethem the legal documents maybe
that are necessary so they don'tfall apart.
(22:57):
And a lot of that comes probono through the law office.
That's how the trusted careadvocates does it, and then the
home care company.
You know how does it get funded.
We have clients who have no oneand say you know what?
I need a good charity and Iwould love to.
So they put a little bit in orthey go.
Or there's grants from the VA.
There's actually grants,Absolutely so when there's money
like we went over.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
some of the legal documents are at no charge,
right, and you'll determine thatwhen the veteran calls you the
home healthcare we covered thatright.
That, uh, and this is this, canall if you've listened, if
you're listening to the podcast,we're going to give you Steve's
information or or the thecompany's information, and if
you're a veteran, you could calland so say you heard it on the
(23:47):
vets connection podcast, right?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
That's right.
That's right.
I'll tell you, on top of allthis, what people don't
understand Special code.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Vets Connection podcast.
That's all I gotta say.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Say Scott, we got it, that's good.
You know?
An add-on to all this also whatthe law firm does that a lot of
people don't believe they canqualify for.
Believe it or not, the state ofFlorida is the only state that
I can shelter assets and qualifysomeone for Medicaid benefits.
So that's a thing, it's a bigthing.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
That's a thing, right .
So the VA, you know, okay, ifyou're 40%, you can be covered
by the VA medically, and it's upto a certain extent.
And so there's people that arelike, well, if you have VA
coverage, you don't really needMedicaid because the VA is for
the rest of your life.
And then there's people thatare like, well, if you have VA
coverage, you don't really needMedicaid because the VA is for
the rest of your life.
And then there's the veteransthat are like 30%, that will be
(24:37):
on Medicaid, you know, andthat's their disability rating,
right, right For those veterans.
And there are veterans thatdon't want to use the VA and
they want to go with Medicaid.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
So it's well we'll couple the two of them, because
I only do the Medicaid forlong-term care, right, okay,
okay.
But if the VA is giving you 45hours of care, that may not be
enough, right, you know.
So you get six hours a dayroughly for the week.
That's okay, but maybe you needeight or ten hours.
Yeah Well, the VA is going topay for another two to six hours
(25:06):
a day on top of that.
I mean the Medicaid will.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Medicaid will.
Yeah, so you got the.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
VA for 45, and then you have maybe another 20, 30
hours out of Medicaid.
So we combine those two.
Now these people can get aneight or 10-hour shift a day.
We're talking about a vet who's, you know, not doing well.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
This isn't for the 40-year-old, the 50 year old,
this is more the guy who needs.
I mean, he's, he's older nowhe's getting there, you know.
Yeah, they need the help.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So so let's see the Medicaid applications you help.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yeah.
So when you do a Medicaidapplication it's got to be done
through law office, on theumbrella of the law office.
Ok, all of our home care isMedicaid approved.
So when we do Medicaid forsomeone, we can place the care
Medicaid pays us directly.
There's no money out of theirpocket.
Now, in qualifying for Medicaid, people think I can't qualify.
Yes, you can.
(26:01):
The house is exempt.
I can make the IRA exempt.
I got a guy with a milliondollar IRA and he's on Medicaid,
right, okay, there's a way todo that.
Yeah, if there's cash andassets, we can shelter them.
Only in the state of FloridaCan we shelter them legally and
avoid the five-year look back.
That's the key.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Legally, this is all above board.
We're not talking aboutanything that's, you know, like
shady, because, well, I don'tthink that would be good to
announce that on a podcast.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Everything that I do goes through the legal
department of the state ofFlorida.
When we do Medicaid We've beendoing it for over 20 years I
have a Medicaid specialist, theattorney, the paralegals.
It is completely, completelyabove board street.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Right, let me see.
I have a full outline on how tohandle the what-ifs in life via
the legal docs at Medicaid, andhow to structure their affairs.
This is all covered.
This is what you guys will do.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
This is the outline of the map of what's coming
right.
So when I sit with someone, wesay you know what do you have?
You have this in place, that inplace, or you have nothing,
that's fine, whatever.
Then we talk about what do theassets look like?
What's the income look like,what's the family dynamic,
what's going on?
And then we'll say, well, whatif this happens?
(27:17):
What if that happens?
What if I end up here?
What if this with my kids?
We'll go through every what ifthat's out there, because you've
seen them all, yeah.
And then how do we tackle those?
How do we solve those?
Or how do we ward that off?
Look, you're not qualifying forMedicaid today.
If you're walking in the officeand everything's fine, that's
okay.
(27:37):
But if you have a roadmap forit and you have someone to call
or you can tell your kids,contact us if you're out of it,
now, you've got the roadmap,you've got the directions,
that's all it is.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Right, what's the qualifying age for Medicaid?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
62.
62.
Yeah, or older.
Or I have some that have beenyounger, but they have to have a
formal disability and they'rein a nursing home.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
I mean you have early onset Alzheimer's, Some guys in
the late 50s, I mean it happens.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
So if somebody walks in and they're 62 and they're
like, hey, I have VA health careand I have Blue Cross Blue
Shield from my old job, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
But I need more care.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
But I would like more care.
Still eligible for Medicaid100%, all right.
And the veteran, as far as thisgoes, is what is the charge?
Is there a charge for all that?
What's the just as far as thisgoes?
Is there a charge for all that?
Just so they know.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Right.
And if there is, there is no,yeah.
If there's nothing that needsto be done except the
application, meaning there'snothing that has to be explained
.
We're not moving money around.
There are no assets.
Maybe they just live off of agood pension and they have a
house.
Yeah, you know I have to donothing else and they want to
use our home care company.
(28:51):
I'm not going to charge them.
We'll push the applicationthrough for nothing, don't worry
about it, right now, if the guycomes in, he's got a half a
million, a million bucks inassets around and I have to move
and shake and shuffle.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
There's obviously there're going to say Scott or
the Vets Connection podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
This is not a promotion, by the way.
This is the code.
You always see the type in code.
You know I'm a winner.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
That's your code into the speakeasy.
Okay, Exactly.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
And you know there might be veterans and there are
a lot of veterans that want toget that covered fast.
So I'm 60 like I'm 61.
So next week, next year, Imight walk into your office say,
hey, I just want to do theapplication for medicare.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Well, you will get that ball, you won't need it
because for medicaid though formedicaid yeah we wouldn't do it
unless it was a crisis oh okay,see, there you go you do it at
crisis.
Oh, for medicaid, for medicaid.
Okay, you do that at crisis, wedon't need to do anything, but
we will do the legal documentsin advance, because when a
crisis occurs, you may not beable to do it yourself.
Right, our power of attorneyallows whoever you have
(30:02):
appointed to do all of that foryou, okay?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
okay, and that would be whoever it doesn't spouse or
sibling or child or whatevercorrect.
You mentioned in ourconversation possible job
opportunities.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yes, let's talk a little about that so we tried at
one point it's a littledifficult to put this together
we were trying to do vetsassisting vets.
So, if there's a way to, I wouldlove to be able to have
veterans who want to become homehealth aides or certified
nurses assistants and go out andhelp the other vet.
(30:36):
So there's a job there for themfor sure.
Okay, there is a course thatthey have to take.
It's a 40 or 70 hour course.
Not that big of a deal, right,it's a few hundred bucks.
Not that big of a deal, right,it's a few hundred bucks.
But then they become a CNA oran HHA, which is a certified
(30:57):
nurse's assistant or a homehealth aid, and we have worked
like crazy for them.
So they go out to the house andthey're going to help the guy
with the, with a shower ordressing, or cooking a meal for
them, or doing his laundry,change it, or just hanging out
keeping them company while he'sstruggling you know, a lot of
times they don't need help inthe shower or help, but they
need someone.
(31:17):
Yeah, that's it, they needsomeone there.
So if there's a vet that'sinterested, a guy that doesn't
have a job, he's interested inwanting to help out and do
something like that, we can helphim get certified and then he
can work and he doesn't evenhave to work for just us.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
I mean, once you can help him get certified and then
he can work and he doesn't evenhave to work for just us, I mean
once you have your CNA and HHA,you can work for any home care
company out there, right, right,and you guys are willing to
help them out with that, whichis big, absolutely.
Which is big because there's alot of companies that are just
like, oh, you don't have thatcertification yet, when you get
it, come back.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, Well, we're going to direct them and say
this is where you go.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
This is how you get it.
This is what you do.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And some of it's online.
Some of it you have to be there, you take the test.
It's not like rocket science.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Right, you just got to put the work in, put the
hours in and get that stuff doneand then come back and say, hey
, and you'll be like all right.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
And then the nice thing about this is you pick the
work you want or don't take itRight.
Oh, this guy's four hours a day, I'll take it, but I only want
three days a week, whatever itis.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, yeah, all right , I think we covered a lot.
Is there anything else you wantto do?
You think we missed anything,that you want to rehash anything
?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
You know, I just think that the vet so many times
sits back, doesn't know whereto turn, thinks about the V and
then says I don't know and thenthey go.
But I don't want to go out therebecause I don't want to go sit
down and talk to some high powerlaw firm.
You know, just sit down with usand talk, just become educated.
(32:43):
That's what it is.
We educate our kids whenthey're little.
As they grow up, right, thesenior needs to be reeducated on
what's available and whatthey're missing.
So come in, get educated anduse me or don't use me, it's
okay.
Do it however you want to do it, but get the education.
It's free from us, right, whynot?
Speaker 1 (33:05):
And so now the big question how can they get in
touch with you, steve, or yourcompany?
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Sure.
So the main office number theycan get a hold of is
561-998-6039.
It's 561-998-6039.
Or just look us uptrustedcompaniesvip.
Trustedcompaniesvipcompaniesvip, and all the companies will be
(33:32):
on there.
You can scroll across and tapinto them and see them as each
one of the websites and then anynumber that's.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
You see, you will get a hold of me if it's on that
site if you're a veteran andyou're listening to this in, in
any of these situations uhhappening, or you see them
happening.
Well, give them a call, givethem a push on the online, do
something, but yeah, don't sitback and make sure you tell them
you heard us on the podcast.
That's right.
Vets connection podcast scott.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Either or or both scott, I really appreciate the
time today.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Thanks for having me dude, thank you very much.
This was extremely informativeand I love so.
When I do these interviews, wedo kind of a talk prior to and
people want to be on forwhatever reason, and so I kind
of listen to them.
But you never know what you'regoing to get when the podcast
(34:28):
starts.
And I've been fortunate so far.
I've done a good screening andI kind of got this was a little
outside the ballpark because,again, I don't do for-profit
companies, but after you and Italked, I was like you know what
, yeah, this is good, this isgoing to be informative.
And see, I'll tell you, it metand exceeded my expectation on
(34:49):
what we were going to talk aboutinformative-wise.
And maybe there's going to comea time I don't know, maybe five
months from now I might haveyou back on, or if there's ever
a topic that you know, I think,hey, let's get back into that.
I'll definitely bring you backon because it was very
informative.
I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
That's what it's all about.
It's education and information.
There's no sales pitch here.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, exactly, and you reached out.
You sat down with a veteransgroup.
There's these groups thatgather.
There's different veteransgroups around South Florida and
I know around the country thatget together and it's good.
You know, there's a lot ofcamaraderie in these groups and
some go for coffee, some go forlunch.
(35:32):
That's how Steve got introducedto me in the podcast, was he
took his time to go out and talkto this group of veterans at
their coffee meet, you know.
And, like I said, if Dr Petewas impressed then, well then I
said okay, yeah, you're going toget through the gate.
You made it through the gate.
And again, steve, this was areally really good and
informative episode.
And again, steve, this was areally really good and
informative episode.
And one more time how can theyget in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Trustedcompaniesvip or 561-998-6039.
Call us.
We'll be able to get anythingtaken care of for you.
We'll help you out.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
All right, and if you need it, use it.
Here it is, it's right thereand well.
Again, steve, thank you verymuch and, as I always say, we
built another bridge today.
This is a very informativebridge, and I say I build these
bridges because I think there'sa lot is why I started this
podcast is to get otherorganizations to work with each
other, get veterans to crossthat bridge over to you know,
(36:39):
your company or that helps them,or another nonprofit.
I think today was a veryinformative episode and, as I
would say also, listen to theend is a good public service
announcement concerning 988 and211.
And it's very informative forthe veterans, the veterans
family members and civilians ingeneral.
(36:59):
And if you like this podcast,share it.
Tell a friend about it.
If you didn't like it, well,thanks for listening for 38
minutes, but I think if youlisten this long, I think you
liked it.
So, again, as I always say,you'll hear me next Monday with
the new episode.
Thank you very much.
All right, steve.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm Scott McClain.
My guest today is Stephen Wolfe.
Stephen is the CEO of TrustedCompanies and we're going to get
into what Trusted Companies isall about.
But first of all, welcome tothe podcast, Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thanks, Scott.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Steve or Stephen.
Either way, all right, allright.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Don't call me late for dinner.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
There you go.
There you go.
Steve's a big dude.
He's a big dude.
Not a big dude, not big fatdude, he's like tall big dude.
So that's give you a littlebackground on him.
Yeah, welcome to the one man,one mic studio and the big pink
couch.
What do you think of the bigpink couch?
Good to be here, right, right,it's a big pink couch.
Yeah, oh, by the way, the oneman, one mic studio, sponsored
by willow and palm construction.
Willow and palm Construction,located in beautiful Delray
(00:47):
Beach, florida, willow and PalmConstruction is South Florida's
premier builder.
From driveways to roofs tobuildings, if you need it,
they'll build it.
So you can find them atwwwwillowandpalmcom.
Do people even have to say wwwanymore?
I don't think so.
I don't even say W, I say W,www, like, does it really matter
(01:09):
at this point?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I don't think so.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Right, right.
It's like when someone sayswhat's your email, I just say
you know, I don't know, VetsConnection Podcast at Gmail.
Do I have to say com Right,these things, but people still
do it.
They still do it.
All right, Stephen, let's getinto it.
What exactly is?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Trusted Companies.
Trusted Companies is a suite ofcompanies that helps mainly
seniors.
There's Trusted Law Office,which we have an attorney
in-house that owns that.
There's Trusted Care Advocates,which is our nonprofit.
There's Trusted Home CareAgency, Trusted Home Care
Registry.
There's Trusted MetarexaPharmacy and a durable medical
(01:51):
equipment company for walkers,wheelchairs, canes, commodes.
So we try to kind ofencapsulate the senior and help
them with all aspects that theymay run into as they age.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Okay and for the listeners, I know, and you know,
that this podcast is usuallyfor nonprofits and veterans with
interesting stories or veteransthat work for nonprofits, et
cetera.
But Steve was recommended by DrPete from the VA, the West Palm
Beach VA, and if Dr Peterecommends, well then I will
(02:21):
give them an episode.
Dr Pete's a good guy and sothis episode is not a promotion
for trusted companies.
Although Steve is the CEO andfounder, this is going to be
veteran-oriented because they doa lot of stuff.
They do a lot of good stuff forveterans and we're going to get
into that.
So I just wanted to have thatdisclaimer that this is not a,
(02:43):
like you know, because I get alot of people, steve, I'll tell
you a lot of people want to comeon that veterans that own
companies but they're not reallyin the veteran space.
So I have to.
I've had to learn how to say no.
I have a hard time doing that,but you know I had a discussion
and Lex right, lex reached outto me, sure, and then you and I
(03:03):
and her had a call and and youkind of passed, as they say,
passed mustard.
You know what I mean.
You guys do a lot for veterans,so well, that's you know.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That's why we have the nonprofit built for those
people who are in need, or forveterans as well, and we also
have, through the home carecompany, we have a VA contract
to do home care for the vet.
That doesn't cost them a dime,so it's not for profit from the
vet to us, okay.
And and also we're going tohelp the vet all the way around.
(03:33):
If we have a home care patientwho's a vet and he doesn't have
a power of attorney, theattorney will do a pro bono for
them.
We're going to help them out.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We're trying to give back and help out the vets 100%.
How long has Trusty been around?
I've been in business foralmost 27 years.
Companies have evolved overtime and have layered them in.
As I see a need, we create thenext company to solve that
problem or fix that.
The VA to us is fairly new inthe home care space and we
actually got one of the lastcontracts with the VA.
There's a moratorium on homecare contracts in the state of
(04:10):
Florida but we can help through.
Let's say we should be ablewithin the next two months.
We're Clearwater, tampa,broward and right now, for sure,
palm Beach County and IndianRiver County.
So we're spread out a littlebit across the state and we're
open to help any time any vetneeds any, which way they need
(04:31):
it.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
And we do need that, like we do.
Sure, you know, as we weretalking before the podcast
started, before I hit thatrecord button, you know there's
a lot of veterans out there thatdon't want to deal with the VA
and they don't want to gothrough whatever they think is
going to be the challenges it isto go through the VA.
I know personally the VA hasreally done a good turnaround
(04:56):
since my first interaction withthem back in like 2000.
And then my second interactionwith them back in like 2018, it
was a whole different place.
So I do know that there hasbeen progress, but some people
avoid it and they go through acivilian company.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Well, there's a lot of pieces that are still missing
, right when I sat down andtalked with Dr Pete and the
group the coffee hour andwhatnot there's parts of the
legal aspect that they can gettaken care of from the VA A
living will, which is pull theplug or don't pull the plug,
healthcare surrogate make amedical decision for me if I
can't do it myself, and a power,not the power of attorney.
The living will and thehealthcare surrogate they'll do
(05:34):
for them.
Yeah, they won't do the powerof attorney, so you need to turn
somewhere for that.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Why Do you know?
Why?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't know, why I think that their legal channel,
I guess, is maybe they're notgoing to give advice, they're
not going to do anything thatwould stretch their abilities
there.
So in our case we said, well,let's just give the power of
attorney to the vet.
It's not a big deal, come in,the attorney will handle it, the
paralegals will handle it.
Knock it out and it's done.
(06:01):
What's ridiculous is that theseother firms out there are
charging, you know, $400 for apower turn.
It's ridiculous.
Yeah, okay, yeah, we're justgoing to give it to you.
It's a few pieces of paper.
You change the name on it.
Let's go, you need it right.
(06:25):
It's a beautiful thing, andthese are the things talk to us.
We're going to tell you what doyou do about your house?
Maybe you live off of all yourincome, you don't have tons of
assets, but you own a home.
If you pass, that home's goingthrough probate, which is a
nightmare.
It doesn't need to be, and youdon't have to do some complex
legal planning.
We can do a ladybird deed whichgives the house to the
(06:47):
beneficiary when you die, with astep up in cost basis.
It's not a big deal, but peoplejust don't know where to turn
to get this information, andthat's what we want to do.
We want to just spread the word, tell them what's available and
what's out there.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
So let's kind of I have a list of things that you
do, so let's see if we go downthem one at a time and we can
kind of so home healthcare wejust talked about that, but can
you give me a little more detailon how that works?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Sure.
So when someone's in need ofprivate duty like activities,
daily living, a lot of that's asthey age, as we all age, we
need care.
So maybe it's going to be justwith cooking a meal for them or
helping them in the shower ordressing, or getting up out of
the chair or the bed or thatsort of thing, or just doing the
(07:35):
laundry for them, change thebed linens, go to the grocery
store, that sort of thing.
That's where you need a homehealth aide to come in and help
out.
That's where you need a homehealth aide to come in and help
out.
Normally, if you were a non-vetjust in the field and you
wanted to go get home care,you're talking about $30 an hour
today for an aide to come in.
The VA is giving in Palm BeachCounty 45 hours a week free to
(07:59):
the vet.
All he needs to do is bemedically needy.
Forget the financial side of it.
He also needs to be in thesystem.
There are a lot of older vetsthat turned away and do not use
the VA.
So let me just explain.
There's two sides of this.
If they're in the system andthey already use the hospital or
the doctor or something at theVA, then probably within two to
(08:22):
three weeks we can have care intheir house through the case
manager.
If they're not in the systemnow, they got to get an
appointment, go in and see thedoctor, get into the system and
that may take up to three months.
But that's the process and youcan pick any home care company
you want that's VA approved.
You don't have to pick me, I'mjust telling you what's out
(08:43):
there and what's available, andthat's all you know.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
So then we get into something you just talked about.
Well again.
Well, let me go back.
If somebody wants to contactyou about home healthcare, like
hey, hey, steve, or whoever theyspeak to, like I heard the
podcast and I'm interested inlike what, how would they
present that to you?
How would like give them?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
They can contact our home care agency directly.
Okay, at 561-770-6030.
Contact us and say I need care.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I'm a veteran.
I'm a vet.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I live in XYZ County or city or whatever it is, and
how can you help me out?
And if I'm not in that areathat they're in let's say
they're in the middle of thestate or something Well, we're
direct them, I'm going to tellthem where to go and how to get
it done.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Excellent.
So let's get into wills, trusts, deeds, living wills,
healthcare surrogates and powerof attorney.
Now that's.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
That's a lot right there, but you're the resident
expert, so give the people alittle breakdown on that, yeah,
I'm going to tell you right upfront, I'm not the attorney,
right, as I'm not an attorney, Icannot own the law firm, sure,
but I am the registered agent ofthe law firm.
So Amanda Chung is the attorneyin the office, okay, but I work
(10:01):
under her umbrella so I cantalk about this, tell you what's
going on, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Like what's the difference?
A lot of people don't know thedifference.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Right.
So here's the thing.
Everyone says, well, I have awill and I'm fine.
The problem is this A will goesthrough probate what the heck
is probate, it's a pain in theass.
(10:27):
It's a pain in the ass.
How does it get released?
The courts have to release it.
So it goes to the courts withthe will.
Now the courts open it tocreditors, they advertise it.
So they all state claim first,get paid first.
Then they release the assets.
In Florida, because we're insenior central, it's a backlog.
You're talking six months totwo years to get through a
probate process.
(10:48):
If you are just probating ahouse, that house cannot be sold
until it gets through probate.
Nobody's going to buy it.
You're stuck.
Okay, that's a will.
So If you do a trust, the trustavoids that.
Why?
Because the trust is going toown everything you own.
It's going to own your house,it's going to own your bank
account, if you have a brokerageaccount, or it's going to be
the beneficiary of your lifeinsurance or whatever it is that
(11:11):
you have.
So when you pass away andthere's no one else, the owner
of those assets is still living.
The trust never dies.
Hence no probate.
Now, whoever you've put incharge of your estate, which
(11:32):
would be the successor trustee,now can execute, liquidate and
distribute, as you've said inthat trust.
So it's really nothing morethan a fancy will, but instead
of it being the John Doe bankaccount.
It's the John Doe revocableliving trust bank account, so it
never dies.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
It's more.
It's not chaotic like probate,is not.
It's all structured for you.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
This is how fast you get your hands on a death
certificate.
We can execute that trust.
Yeah, there is no judges,there's no attorneys, there's no
, none of that.
There's no fees.
It's very, very simple at theend, the upfront.
The only headache of it is isthat you have to retitle the
assets.
We'll do the house rightthrough the courts, but they
have to go.
(12:10):
I can't go to the bank andchange your bank account to your
trust name.
You have to do that right.
So that's the only bit ofheadache.
But we coach and direct andthat sort of thing.
So that's a trust and then thedeed puts it into the trust.
If there's nothing there likelike I have clients you may not
need it.
If you just have a house, maybeyou have an IRA and you have
(12:30):
your pension, you may not needthe trust.
We can do a ladybird deed,which is like adding a
beneficiary to the deed.
If you're leaving it to aperson, your IRA already has
beneficiaries on it.
We don't have to do complexanything.
There's always ways.
We'll talk about each piece and, again, you don't have to use
us to do it.
We're going to educate you andthen it's up to you how and
(12:53):
which way you want to go.
Something that's very important,though, is the power of
attorney.
We don't know when something'sgoing to happen and all of a
sudden we're out of it or Godforbid, a stroke or whatever it
may be and you can't makedecisions for yourself If you
have not appointed someone.
Now you got to, you have to gothrough guardianship, and the
(13:13):
courts might appoint a guardianfor you, and it may not be who
you want.
So get that power of attorneydone.
Say, who's going to handle yourfinancial affairs if you can't
do that, if you're knocked outfrom an accident?
Who's going to handle yourfinancial affairs If you can't
do that?
If you're knocked out from anaccident?
Who's going to say it's okay tofix your ankle, you got to have
a healthcare surrogate and youwant to be on machines for the
rest of your life, like that, Idon't know.
Remember 20, some years ago,that Terry Shiavo case or
(13:33):
whatever.
We don't want that to happen.
So these documents that need tobe done and we can knock them
out in no time.
It's very, very simple.
It's not complex.
It's not like you're walkinginto an Armani suit law firm or
something.
That's not who we are.
You see how I'm dressed now apair of jeans, a t-shirt.
I mean we're not high,highfalutin high power.
(13:54):
It's not who we are.
We're down to earth.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
So some of this, some of these things are free and
some are.
Veterans get a rate like adiscount.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Because not everything like this can be free
.
I like the veteran.
We have to understand that Likecorrect.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
But but the little stuff, yeah, a little.
This little, that's fine, Right?
If I have to go file a deed,there's a cost of filing a deed.
Yes, I can't pay for that Right.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I mean someone's got to put that kind of
counterproductive to yourbusiness.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But but you know, like I said, if we have a vet
who is using the home carebusiness, obviously we're making
something on that home care.
I don't mind throwing thisstuff in.
I want that guy helped out.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, without a doubt , living wills explain all the
plug.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Don't pull the plug Right.
Medical decision you know youcan't make it for yourself.
Do you want to live on thatmachine?
Speaker 1 (14:47):
no, right, okay, yeah , we talked about healthcare
surrogates.
It's people that will come inand now, well, no, healthcare
surrogate is a medical decision.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Okay, you're knocked out, you're on the operating
table.
They find something else wrongwith you.
They can't wake you up to say,hey, can we fix it.
Somebody has to be, has to beable to make that decision to
fix it.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
And that's all.
That's a separate form, that'sa separate separate little
documents, a supportingdocuments.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
living will healthcare have to do with, you
know, pulling the plug or makingmedical decisions?
And then power of attorney isfor financial decisions.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
So let me ask you about power of attorney.
So somebody, the veteran well,because we're speaking on
veterans here is older, it's aworld war ii or korean war
veteran and maybe they're notall like they're.
The faculties aren't all theredue to age or whatever.
For whatever reason, how is apower of attorney?
Can a power attorney beexecuted that way, like if
(15:40):
they're not really?
Speaker 2 (15:42):
if they have lucid moments, right, and we can talk
to them face to face and say doyou want your son, johnny, to be
your power of attorney?
He's going to take care of allyour financial affairs.
I absolutely yes, I do, yes, Ido, okay, okay, right.
But if the guy's like huh what?
And staring in space, no,obviously we can't do it, then
that's why we want to get itdone now difference, difference
(16:03):
between power of attorney andguardianship.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
You mentioned guardianship.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well, if you don't have the power of attorney and
the guy's out of it now we haveto do guardianship to appoint a
guardian for him.
A lot of times we can get afamily member appointed, but
you're talking thousands ofdollars to get through the court
system to do a guardianship,whereas the power of attorney,
you know our normal charge for apower of attorney and we're not
(16:29):
selling here, but I'm justtelling you we charge 150 bucks.
Most attorneys are $400 for it.
Okay, meanwhile, for the vet,I'm just going to give it to him
and be like let's go, we needto get this done, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So yeah, that's great .
Speaker 2 (16:42):
If they mentioned, they came off of this podcast
and they heard us.
I'm just giving them a power ofattorney.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
There you go and mention the vets connection
podcast.
There you go?
Yeah, we're going to do thispodcast would pay off one way or
another for the veterans.
I think we talked about it, butagain emphasize why these are
important documents for theveteran to have because we don't
know when something's going tohappen.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Right, health declines and we don't want it to
be too late.
Yeah, right, I mean.
Look, I had a senior tell meone day.
He said, stephen, I hope I getlucky.
And I said what do you mean?
You hit the lottery, orsomething?
He said no, I hope I go to bedand don't wake up Right Because,
(17:25):
or something.
He said no, I hope I go to bedand don't wake up right because
I don't want the other problemsto come along with it.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, and I understand that, but not all of
us are going to get lucky and weget sick and we need documents
behind it.
But even in that respect thegetting lucky thing might leave
the spouse and the family drybecause, it just happened like
it just happened, correct, and II can speak firsthand of that.
my God rest her soul, at 69,just died in her sleep and it
was, I'll just say it.
(17:48):
It was fucking chaos for me andmy brothers.
But she was very young.
Yeah, she was young and she hada brand new house and it was
like this is up in Boston, it'sMassachusetts.
I don't think probate is anydifferent anywhere else.
It all takes time.
Those are the.
It all takes time.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
This is the thing.
Time and money, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
My brothers and I experience it and it could
create hostility amongst thesiblings and the spouse.
If there's a living spouse mymom was single at the time it
can really cause a lot ofinternal problems and some
families don't recover from thatSome families and the bottom
line is this Money changespeople Bad.
(18:27):
This money changes people badmoney changes people.
Things that happen in thesesituations.
You know there might be asibling that's like I want my
money.
I've heard this and I kind ofwent through it.
So this is why I know this isvery, very important stuff can I
address that?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
absolutely so I wasn't going to dig too much
into the weeds, but you broughtthis up, it's super important
here.
So with a will you can only sayhey, this is who gets what,
when, where, why and how done.
Okay, but in a trust we cantalk about Johnny gets 20%, jane
gets 40%, the grandkids getanother 40%, things like that.
(19:01):
Right, we can separate that out.
Or maybe we have a kid who isshunned from the family, let's
call it whatever.
So they used to say well, wehave to leave a dollar.
No, you don't, because thenthat dollar says oh, he meant
$100,000.
There's always a way for themto fight it.
So now we turn around and say Ihave intentionally not provided
for Johnny, for reasons knownto him, or maybe not out of lack
(19:25):
of love or affection.
Johnny's just amultimillionaire and he doesn't
need it, things like this.
Right, but everyone will tellyou I can beat a will and I can
beat probate, because I'm goingto put a beneficiary on
everything I have and that'sfine.
So you pass away and Johnny andJane are splitting everything
50-50.
They each get 500,000 bucks Idon't know because life
insurance, whatever the numberis.
(19:46):
And what happens when all of asudden God forbid.
Johnny dies, you say, well, itgoes to his kids.
Read the sentence before it.
It always says if a child ofmine shall pre-decease me, his
or her share goes to theirdescendants.
(20:06):
It doesn't say anything aboutJohnny dying five years after
you, ten years after you.
Where does it go?
It goes to your wonderfuldaughter-in-law, who we call the
outlaws when Bunny comes to theplay.
Okay, that's one way to look atit.
So now this wonderfuldaughter-in-law remarries
(20:29):
another guy who's got kids andshe's burning the money for
everybody.
That money should have been foryour grandkids.
The trust that we do says thatmoney will always stay in the
bloodline and it won't go to anoutlaw.
Now that's.
If you want that I will dowhatever you want said will do.
But you cannot do that in awill and you cannot do that by
(20:50):
just a beneficiary designation.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
You can't Right.
Right, that's good information,because a lot of people don't.
They don't, and I always saythis you always have to think
everything through to the end.
That's my 32 years of lawenforcement.
You look at something, think itall the way through, don't stop
halfway and go.
That's my answer.
Come with different variables,different scenarios, think it
(21:15):
all the way through.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
And a lot of people don't do that we're going to
turn over every rock and digdeep.
We burrow down that rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Because it's an emotional time and people aren't
really always thinkingrationally at those times.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
And if they already have these documents in hand but
they're not sure.
If it says what I'm saying,bring it in, we'll look at it.
It's not going to cost you tosit down and talk to me, have a
cup of coffee and we'll look atthe document.
We'll see if it's right, or ifyou want to modify it or change
it, we can do it.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
So All right, all right, let's see.
And so the nonprofit.
Let's talk a little about that.
That covers the trusted careadvocates is correct.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Correct.
Yeah, that was built because,I'll tell you, many years ago
probably eight, 10 years ago Icared for a woman in a nursing
home who had nobody.
For 11 years I cared for her.
I used to visit her twice aweek.
I'd bring her some breakfastshe always wanted McDonald's or
(22:15):
I'd send her a pizza if Icouldn't be there.
You know things like that Justbecause she had no one and I
became her power of attorney andI just took to her, okay.
And I realized that there are somany forgotten seniors.
You know kids passed away orthey never had kids, or they
didn't have a good relationshipwith their kids for whatever
reason, and they end up eitherin their home or in a nursing
(22:36):
home or somewhere and they'restuck, so someone has to care
for them, Right, stuck, sosomeone has to care for them,
right.
So trusted care advocates iswe'll send volunteers into the
nursing home, or if someonecan't afford a home health aid,
I'll get somebody in there justto at least get them clean and
do the laundry for them, to givethem the legal documents maybe
that are necessary so they don'tfall apart.
(22:57):
And a lot of that comes probono through the law office.
That's how the trusted careadvocates does it, and then the
home care company.
You know how does it get funded.
We have clients who have no oneand say you know what?
I need a good charity and Iwould love to.
So they put a little bit in orthey go.
Or there's grants from the VA.
There's actually grants,Absolutely so when there's money
like we went over.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
some of the legal documents are at no charge,
right, and you'll determine thatwhen the veteran calls you the
home healthcare we covered thatright.
That, uh, and this is this, canall if you've listened, if
you're listening to the podcast,we're going to give you Steve's
information or or the thecompany's information, and if
you're a veteran, you could calland so say you heard it on the
(23:47):
vets connection podcast, right?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
That's right.
That's right.
I'll tell you, on top of allthis, what people don't
understand Special code.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Vets Connection podcast.
That's all I gotta say.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Say Scott, we got it, that's good.
You know?
An add-on to all this also whatthe law firm does that a lot of
people don't believe they canqualify for.
Believe it or not, the state ofFlorida is the only state that
I can shelter assets and qualifysomeone for Medicaid benefits.
So that's a thing, it's a bigthing.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
That's a thing, right .
So the VA, you know, okay, ifyou're 40%, you can be covered
by the VA medically, and it's upto a certain extent.
And so there's people that arelike, well, if you have VA
coverage, you don't really needMedicaid because the VA is for
the rest of your life.
And then there's people thatare like, well, if you have VA
coverage, you don't really needMedicaid because the VA is for
the rest of your life.
And then there's the veteransthat are like 30%, that will be
(24:37):
on Medicaid, you know, andthat's their disability rating,
right, right For those veterans.
And there are veterans thatdon't want to use the VA and
they want to go with Medicaid.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
So it's well we'll couple the two of them, because
I only do the Medicaid forlong-term care, right, okay,
okay.
But if the VA is giving you 45hours of care, that may not be
enough, right, you know.
So you get six hours a dayroughly for the week.
That's okay, but maybe you needeight or ten hours.
Yeah Well, the VA is going topay for another two to six hours
(25:06):
a day on top of that.
I mean the Medicaid will.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Medicaid will.
Yeah, so you got the.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
VA for 45, and then you have maybe another 20, 30
hours out of Medicaid.
So we combine those two.
Now these people can get aneight or 10-hour shift a day.
We're talking about a vet who's, you know, not doing well.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
This isn't for the 40-year-old, the 50 year old,
this is more the guy who needs.
I mean, he's, he's older nowhe's getting there, you know.
Yeah, they need the help.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So so let's see the Medicaid applications you help.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yeah.
So when you do a Medicaidapplication it's got to be done
through law office, on theumbrella of the law office.
Ok, all of our home care isMedicaid approved.
So when we do Medicaid forsomeone, we can place the care
Medicaid pays us directly.
There's no money out of theirpocket.
Now, in qualifying for Medicaid, people think I can't qualify.
Yes, you can.
(26:01):
The house is exempt.
I can make the IRA exempt.
I got a guy with a milliondollar IRA and he's on Medicaid,
right, okay, there's a way todo that.
Yeah, if there's cash andassets, we can shelter them.
Only in the state of FloridaCan we shelter them legally and
avoid the five-year look back.
That's the key.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Legally, this is all above board.
We're not talking aboutanything that's, you know, like
shady, because, well, I don'tthink that would be good to
announce that on a podcast.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Everything that I do goes through the legal
department of the state ofFlorida.
When we do Medicaid We've beendoing it for over 20 years I
have a Medicaid specialist, theattorney, the paralegals.
It is completely, completelyabove board street.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Right, let me see.
I have a full outline on how tohandle the what-ifs in life via
the legal docs at Medicaid, andhow to structure their affairs.
This is all covered.
This is what you guys will do.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
This is the outline of the map of what's coming
right.
So when I sit with someone, wesay you know what do you have?
You have this in place, that inplace, or you have nothing,
that's fine, whatever.
Then we talk about what do theassets look like?
What's the income look like,what's the family dynamic,
what's going on?
And then we'll say, well, whatif this happens?
(27:17):
What if that happens?
What if I end up here?
What if this with my kids?
We'll go through every what ifthat's out there, because you've
seen them all, yeah.
And then how do we tackle those?
How do we solve those?
Or how do we ward that off?
Look, you're not qualifying forMedicaid today.
If you're walking in the officeand everything's fine, that's
okay.
(27:37):
But if you have a roadmap forit and you have someone to call
or you can tell your kids,contact us if you're out of it,
now, you've got the roadmap,you've got the directions,
that's all it is.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Right, what's the qualifying age for Medicaid?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
62.
62.
Yeah, or older.
Or I have some that have beenyounger, but they have to have a
formal disability and they'rein a nursing home.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
I mean you have early onset Alzheimer's, Some guys in
the late 50s, I mean it happens.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
So if somebody walks in and they're 62 and they're
like, hey, I have VA health careand I have Blue Cross Blue
Shield from my old job, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
But I need more care.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
But I would like more care.
Still eligible for Medicaid100%, all right.
And the veteran, as far as thisgoes, is what is the charge?
Is there a charge for all that?
What's the just as far as thisgoes?
Is there a charge for all that?
Just so they know.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Right.
And if there is, there is no,yeah.
If there's nothing that needsto be done except the
application, meaning there'snothing that has to be explained
.
We're not moving money around.
There are no assets.
Maybe they just live off of agood pension and they have a
house.
Yeah, you know I have to donothing else and they want to
use our home care company.
(28:51):
I'm not going to charge them.
We'll push the applicationthrough for nothing, don't worry
about it, right now, if the guycomes in, he's got a half a
million, a million bucks inassets around and I have to move
and shake and shuffle.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
There's obviously there're going to say Scott or
the Vets Connection podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
This is not a promotion, by the way.
This is the code.
You always see the type in code.
You know I'm a winner.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
That's your code into the speakeasy.
Okay, Exactly.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
And you know there might be veterans and there are
a lot of veterans that want toget that covered fast.
So I'm 60 like I'm 61.
So next week, next year, Imight walk into your office say,
hey, I just want to do theapplication for medicare.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Well, you will get that ball, you won't need it
because for medicaid though formedicaid yeah we wouldn't do it
unless it was a crisis oh okay,see, there you go you do it at
crisis.
Oh, for medicaid, for medicaid.
Okay, you do that at crisis, wedon't need to do anything, but
we will do the legal documentsin advance, because when a
crisis occurs, you may not beable to do it yourself.
Right, our power of attorneyallows whoever you have
(30:02):
appointed to do all of that foryou, okay?
Speaker 1 (30:05):
okay, and that would be whoever it doesn't spouse or
sibling or child or whatevercorrect.
You mentioned in ourconversation possible job
opportunities.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yes, let's talk a little about that so we tried at
one point it's a littledifficult to put this together
we were trying to do vetsassisting vets.
So, if there's a way to, I wouldlove to be able to have
veterans who want to become homehealth aides or certified
nurses assistants and go out andhelp the other vet.
(30:36):
So there's a job there for themfor sure.
Okay, there is a course thatthey have to take.
It's a 40 or 70 hour course.
Not that big of a deal, right,it's a few hundred bucks.
Not that big of a deal, right,it's a few hundred bucks.
But then they become a CNA oran HHA, which is a certified
(30:57):
nurse's assistant or a homehealth aid, and we have worked
like crazy for them.
So they go out to the house andthey're going to help the guy
with the, with a shower ordressing, or cooking a meal for
them, or doing his laundry,change it, or just hanging out
keeping them company while he'sstruggling you know, a lot of
times they don't need help inthe shower or help, but they
need someone.
(31:17):
Yeah, that's it, they needsomeone there.
So if there's a vet that'sinterested, a guy that doesn't
have a job, he's interested inwanting to help out and do
something like that, we can helphim get certified and then he
can work and he doesn't evenhave to work for just us.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
I mean, once you can help him get certified and then
he can work and he doesn't evenhave to work for just us, I mean
once you have your CNA and HHA,you can work for any home care
company out there, right, right,and you guys are willing to
help them out with that, whichis big, absolutely.
Which is big because there's alot of companies that are just
like, oh, you don't have thatcertification yet, when you get
it, come back.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, Well, we're going to direct them and say
this is where you go.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
This is how you get it.
This is what you do.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
And some of it's online.
Some of it you have to be there, you take the test.
It's not like rocket science.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Right, you just got to put the work in, put the
hours in and get that stuff doneand then come back and say, hey
, and you'll be like all right.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
And then the nice thing about this is you pick the
work you want or don't take itRight.
Oh, this guy's four hours a day, I'll take it, but I only want
three days a week, whatever itis.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, yeah, all right , I think we covered a lot.
Is there anything else you wantto do?
You think we missed anything,that you want to rehash anything
?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
You know, I just think that the vet so many times
sits back, doesn't know whereto turn, thinks about the V and
then says I don't know and thenthey go.
But I don't want to go out therebecause I don't want to go sit
down and talk to some high powerlaw firm.
You know, just sit down with usand talk, just become educated.
(32:43):
That's what it is.
We educate our kids whenthey're little.
As they grow up, right, thesenior needs to be reeducated on
what's available and whatthey're missing.
So come in, get educated anduse me or don't use me, it's
okay.
Do it however you want to do it, but get the education.
It's free from us, right, whynot?
Speaker 1 (33:05):
And so now the big question how can they get in
touch with you, steve, or yourcompany?
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Sure.
So the main office number theycan get a hold of is
561-998-6039.
It's 561-998-6039.
Or just look us uptrustedcompaniesvip.
Trustedcompaniesvipcompaniesvip, and all the companies will be
(33:32):
on there.
You can scroll across and tapinto them and see them as each
one of the websites and then anynumber that's.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
You see, you will get a hold of me if it's on that
site if you're a veteran andyou're listening to this in, in
any of these situations uhhappening, or you see them
happening.
Well, give them a call, givethem a push on the online, do
something, but yeah, don't sitback and make sure you tell them
you heard us on the podcast.
That's right.
Vets connection podcast scott.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
Either or or both scott, I really appreciate the
time today.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Thanks for having me dude, thank you very much.
This was extremely informativeand I love so.
When I do these interviews, wedo kind of a talk prior to and
people want to be on forwhatever reason, and so I kind
of listen to them.
But you never know what you'regoing to get when the podcast
(34:28):
starts.
And I've been fortunate so far.
I've done a good screening andI kind of got this was a little
outside the ballpark because,again, I don't do for-profit
companies, but after you and Italked, I was like you know what
, yeah, this is good, this isgoing to be informative.
And see, I'll tell you, it metand exceeded my expectation on
(34:49):
what we were going to talk aboutinformative-wise.
And maybe there's going to comea time I don't know, maybe five
months from now I might haveyou back on, or if there's ever
a topic that you know, I think,hey, let's get back into that.
I'll definitely bring you backon because it was very
informative.
I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
That's what it's all about.
It's education and information.
There's no sales pitch here.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, exactly, and you reached out.
You sat down with a veteransgroup.
There's these groups thatgather.
There's different veteransgroups around South Florida and
I know around the country thatget together and it's good.
You know, there's a lot ofcamaraderie in these groups and
some go for coffee, some go forlunch.
(35:32):
That's how Steve got introducedto me in the podcast, was he
took his time to go out and talkto this group of veterans at
their coffee meet, you know.
And, like I said, if Dr Petewas impressed then, well then I
said okay, yeah, you're going toget through the gate.
You made it through the gate.
And again, steve, this was areally really good and
informative episode.
And again, steve, this was areally really good and
informative episode.
And one more time how can theyget in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Trustedcompaniesvip or 561-998-6039.
Call us.
We'll be able to get anythingtaken care of for you.
We'll help you out.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
All right, and if you need it, use it.
Here it is, it's right thereand well.
Again, steve, thank you verymuch and, as I always say, we
built another bridge today.
This is a very informativebridge, and I say I build these
bridges because I think there'sa lot is why I started this
podcast is to get otherorganizations to work with each
other, get veterans to crossthat bridge over to you know,
(36:39):
your company or that helps them,or another nonprofit.
I think today was a veryinformative episode and, as I
would say also, listen to theend is a good public service
announcement concerning 988 and211.
And it's very informative forthe veterans, the veterans
family members and civilians ingeneral.
(36:59):
And if you like this podcast,share it.
Tell a friend about it.
If you didn't like it, well,thanks for listening for 38
minutes, but I think if youlisten this long, I think you
liked it.
So, again, as I always say,you'll hear me next Monday with
the new episode.
Thank you very much.
All right, steve.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!