Our friends in the financial planning arena report that many who were once depending on savings and investments to cover future long term care costs are now adding long term care insurance coverage to their planning mix.  They can no longer rely on so-called safe investments to protect against the catastrophic costs of future long term care.

Many once claimed, “I’d rather invest my money than pay for Long Term Care Insurance premiums,” but reports from the front lines of financial planning now reveal a trend toward upgraded financial strategies in light of current events, meaning long term care insurance protection.

The nation is now painfully aware of possible investment pitfalls and disadvantages with so-called secure investment vehicles. It’s now clear that people cannot depend on investments alone to pay for long term care costs.  So here we are today, and it’s not looking good folks, and we think it will get much worse before it gets better.  No matter who’s in Washington, it will take years, possibly decades, to pay down these trillions in debt and get back to a balanced budget.

The US government website states, “Anybody can need long term care at any time in their life.  Currently, 40% of people receiving long term care services are working age adults, between the ages of 18 and 64.2  Automobile and sporting accidents; disabling events such as strokes, brain tumors, and spinal cord injuries; and disabling illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease are examples of injuries and ailments that can happen to anyone at any age.”

“As people age and our average life span increases, the chances of needing long term care increase. After age 65, an American has more than a 70% chance of needing some form of long term care. In general, the longer you live, the higher your odds of needing long term care. How can you prudently plan and prepare for your future security? In particular, how can you safely prepare to handle long term care?”

“It won’t happen to me,” proclaim those in denial, and this is an understandable reaction And you can  cling to denial, but statistics don’t lie – More than 70% of Americans will need long term care at some point in their lives.

“I’ll wait it out,” say some, believing that their net worth may increase soon, so those folks are willing to wait and learn.  However, experts are projecting that it may take 5-10 years to recover from our 2008 losses losses.  Will your health hold out that long, and will you still be able to qualify for coverage? It’s a gamble, for sure.

“My kids will take care of me,” say others, but experience proves that although family home care is certainly a loving, noble gesture, it rarely works for long in reality.  Familial home care can be expensive, not to mention incredibly stressful.  In our home, where we live with crippling Multiple Sclerosis, we’ve paid thousands for medical devices and personal care items alone in the first half of 2008.

I get no respite. While well-meaning people advise me to get help, we cannot afford it.  In the recent past, I had a minor nervous breakdown from the constant stress, which is why I haven’t blogged lately.  Long term caregiving is challenging at best.  Caring people want to avoid inflicting such hardship and stress on their families.

Then there are those souls who decide, “OK, Now it’s time to get some LTC insurance.”  Hey, good thinking!  If you can afford it, and you know you can keep paying premiums even if the economy worsens, this is definitely the time to insure.  Do it while you’re still healthy, because you won’t be accepted once you show signs of possibly needing care.  These signs are called “pre-existing conditions” in insurance lingo, and these disqualifying signs can show up exactly when least expected, and least wanted, making you unable to enroll.

So, what to do next?

Current events compel us to re-think our financial plans and to take long term care risk off the table while we are still able. For those with resources, Long Term Care insurance is a wise choice in our troubled economy.

Technorati Tags: long term care insurance, Long Term Care

A recent AARP survey examined the public’s perceptions of long-term care costs, including stays in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities as well as in-home visits by a skilled nurse. While six out of 10 Americans claim to be familiar with the costs, only 8 percent correctly estimated the national average cost of a month in a nursing home and just 23 percent knew the cost of assisted-living facilities.

What’s even more shocking is the New York Times discovery that most people  believe that government Medicare will cover their care – Again dead wrong.

“It’s a train wreck waiting to happen,” predicts wheelchair-bound Clayborne Cotton of PrepSmart.com’s Long Term Care Insurance Buyer’s Advocate Alliance, “Sadly, without insurance folks can lose their life savings and burden their families with 24-hour care tasks. They just don’t know the serious risk they’re taking without coverage. Period. It’s such a shame…”

You can research your options through an objective expert at http://prepsmart.com/form/advisory.html 

Just how much of the $100 your physician charges for each 30 minutes goes into her pocket? After paying the bills, she gets less than half. This breakdown, according to Robert Lowes, senior editor at Medical Economics:

$3.50 for malpractice insurance

$3.50 for equipment, repairs, and maintenance

$6 for supplies, including gowns, tongue depressors, and copy paper

$7 for rent and utilities

$11 for office expenses, such as telephones, accounting fees, advertising, medical journals, licenses, and taxes

$28 for secretary, office manager, and medical assistant salaries and benefits

$41 Amount that goes into the doctor’s paycheck

Over the course of a year, this adds up to around $155,000, the annual salary of the average family physician. This number rose just 3.3% between 2002 and 2006, while expenses increased nearly 25% over the same period.

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Need to get a handle on how to protect your assets? Check out njlawblog, a law firm’s site that has a podcast about estate planning, including long term care insurance. It’s a recorded version of a seminar that they gave in 2005.

Buckle your seat belts while you listen to an expert explain about your: Last Will and Testament, probate issues, what happens to your kids, property, annuities, life insurance, pension plans; Estate Planning, tax laws and how to get around them, various trusts, power of attorney, health care power; Long Term Care insurance, why it’s important to your overall estate planning strategies.

While this podcast’s subject may seem a bit boring to some, the fact is that all responsible adults with assets to protect need to learn and implement estate planning. It can save you and your loved ones stress and money in the long run. So, why not check it out, while you have a few minutes to spare?

Part of good estate planning is an appropriate long term care insurance policy. You want to find a broker who is experienced and unbiased. Check with your Buyer’s Advocate to find the best policy for you.

Technorati Tags: property, annuities, life insurance, pension plans, Estate Planning

The Retirement Zone is a particularly important time when it comes to managing risks, because for many, it’s the time they can least afford those risks. This time is especially significant for women who tend to have fewer retirement resources of their own and who are more likely to be on their own at some point in their retirement years.

Retirement planning is all about managing risks, such as the risk of inflation eroding your retirement savings, the risk of a unexpected market downturn depleting your needed assets, the risk of a major illness or disability, or even a longevity risk (the risk of outliving your retirement assets). All planners know the value of consulting a dedicated long term care insurance broker representing several top insurance carriers.

So what you can do to prepare now?

- Seek professional advice.

- Consider your long term care needs realistically. Inevitably, the majority of us will need some sort of long term care at some point. The right long term care insurance plan can help you protect your retirement funds and give you the flexibility in decisions about your future care. The cost of long term care insurance depends on several factors like your age, the benefits you select, the length of coverage, among other factors, so it’s better to act sooner than later.

- Consider life insurance. Take stock of everything you do for your family so you can understand the value of what you provide in addition to your income. Life insurance can help ensure your family will be taken care of and continue to let you be part of their future if you were no longer around.

- Create a cash reserve. Cash reserves are sometimes an overlooked component in the plan. It’s a good idea to set aside cash that can carry you for several years.

- Review your accounts every six to 12 months, and maintain a healthy balance between investments and cash reserves.

- Investigate annuities. An annuity with a guaranteed lifetime payout can help insure you against poor returns on other investments and help protect you against the risk of outliving your assets. As with every potential scenario, there are personal variables, but the combination of delaying Social Security and purchasing an annuity can be a powerful solution to manage longevity and investment return risks.

- Consider a reverse mortgage. If your home is paid up when you retire, and you choose to remain in it, you may consider a reverse mortgage. Reverse mortgages pay you an income out of your equity, and the money doesn’t have to be repaid as long as you live in the home. Upon your death, the loan would be paid out of the proceeds from the sale of your home.

There is no generic, one-size-fits-all solution for retirement planning. Most of us need professional support to create a plan that will maximize and protect retirement assets. Meeting with a qualified financial professional now can help you map your intentions and safely navigate the “Retirement Zone” when the time comes.

One thing we know for sure is that long term care can occur at any age, so this risk is best addressed as the bedrock of every plan.

Technorati Tags: Retirement, risk, Retirement planning, inflation, savings, assets, disability, longevity, long term care insurance, long term care, life insurance, cash reserve, annuities, annuity, Social Security, reverse mortgage

Life insurance is most important if you have dependents, but long term care insurance is matters whether people depend upon you or not – unless of course, you don’t care about the kind of nursing home you may end up in or whether you can receive home care.

And if you are thinking that you are too young to need LTCi, then please think again. There is a significant percentage of young folks who need temporary and permanent long term care. Temporary care can be a result of a severe heart attack, stroke, accident or relapsing/remitting Multiple Sclerosis, to name a few.

Permanent long term care can also be a result of these health issues, but add to the list early onset Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS and other neurological problems. Considering an alarming amount of young Americans are getting “old folks diseases”, like arthritis, heart disease and diabetesbest to purchase long term care insurance while you are still healthy and insurable.

Buying long term care and life insurance policies separately is preferable if you can afford it, even though you can buy them packaged together. You will get better coverage and more benefits with separate policies. Also, if you buy a “package” and you do need long term care, your life insurance benefits will be reduced by the amount of LTCi pay-out benefit pay-out you receive.

So, for the best case retirement scenario, as well as protecting your assets, yourself and your family during your working years, keep funding your 401k and look into getting long term care insurance today.

Technorati Tags: long term care insurance, Life insurance, nursing home, home care, long term care, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS, arthritis, diabetes, insurable, life insurance, benefits, policies, LTCi, assets

For example, for younger folks, if you have more than just one child, the odds are good that at least one of them is going to need braces; both of ours did at $5,000 a pop. If you don’t have a full dental plan, then you need to put money aside which, in some years, might force you to make tough choices about how to allocate your monthly or annual savings allotment. With the increasing chance you will need long term care at some point, be aware that long term care is expensive, believe me, and financial planning must be started early.

The problem is that if you don’t set aside money for things we know are going to happen, we are forced to either borrow (via credit cards or credit lines), or try to finance them out of cash flow or cash in our precious investments. And if the latter happens, dollars to doughnuts your investments will be worth less than when you bought them at the very time you must, must, must sell.

And the same goes for things which only “may” happen, and with these events we all-too-often procrastinate or tell ourselves “It won’t happen to me” stories. Phooey…

You’d be surprised how many people are invested 100% in equities and mutual funds, with no cash, no excess cash flow. This virtually guarantees that they will have to sell assets at some point, which can be a disastrous when you consider that a bad stock market can often last for 6 or 7 years.

When you’re making a savings, investment and asset protection plan, try looking ahead at least five years, asking yourself what you know you’re going to have to spend during that period, and whether you have the excess cash flow to manage those expenses.

But there’s more – What about insurance coverage for those emergencies and catastrophes that can happen to the best of us.

Other important aspects of Know Thyself are your work and life habits. Are you a procrastinator? Are you disorganized? Do you have a short attention span? Do you have high stress periods where you can’t concentrate on anything but your work? Do you go comatose when things go badly with investments?

If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, you shouldn’t be managing your own portfolio. But if you are managing your own portfolio, it should be a super simple portfolio that allows you to invest and rebalance without too much brain work.

At the end of the day, knowing yourself keeps you from making financial plans that, because of your character or situation, are likely to fail.

Most importantly, cover yourself against the unexpected loss which could ruin everything, the likelihood of catastrophic long term care expense. It’s not fun to think about, but it’s essential planning that cannot be put off until tomorrow.

Begin today, please, for your loved ones’ sake.

I recommend you get free, comparitive, long term care insurance quotes through the online, Buyers Advocate Alliance – Just Click Here Now.

Technorati Tags: savings, long term care, financial planning, investments, equities, mutual funds, stock market, insurance, portfolio, financial plan, long term care

To put it even more simply, if the success of your retirement, investment or money management plan depends on you becoming a systematic saver, and you’ve never demonstrated that ability, you’re probably dooming yourself to failure.

Psychologists know that few behaviors can succeed if they conflict with historical patterns supported by deeper beliefs, values and ultimately, your basic identity.

The fact is some of us have the discipline to save and others don’t. A young woman I know of is “a saver”, to the tune of $2,000 a month. She didn’t spend her excess cash but stashed it away for her dream home. Yet I know plenty of young people who’ve lived rent free or nearly rent free at home for years and hardly saved a dime. And these are examples of “root identities” that govern our lower-level “behaviors”.

The Know Yourself rule also applies to your life situation. If you make a financial plan, look down the road and ask yourself if there is anything in your identity, beliefs and values that might stand in the way of you carrying it out. There are periods in one’s life when it is extremely difficult to save a dime, even if the cash stash ethic is deeply ingrained. You can be a pretty good saver when you’re younger, but that changed when children, car loans and a mortgage came along.

Your stage-of-life can affect but not entirely override your identity, beliefs and values.

It was frustrating in our thirties and early forties to find ourselves skipping IRA contributions year after year, and we also delayed planning for eventual long term care needs. This pattern is completely normal but we could have avoided both frustration and a sense of failure if we had taken into account how these typical life events can affect savings and asset protection plans over time.

Now, with children vamoosed and cars paid off, we find there are a few extra bucks heading to retirement savings and [tag]long term care insurance[tag] every month.

One thing I’ve learned is that these plans are not just about me. They’re about how my loved ones will be affected over time by the plans I put in place now.

While it’s well and good to accumulate and grow assets, what matters is protecting these assets against catastrophic losses like long term care due to accident, longevity, disability and conditions like alzheimers, parkinsons, stroke and multiple sclerosis which are very care-intensive and which can drain your financial reserves, causing a tragic burden on your spouse and family.

Knowing thyself is paramount, but don’t forget to filter your thinking through your life-stage, and protect against catastrophic loss from long term care. The long term care loss is a loss which, for a couple, has in fact well over a 70% chance of happening to you.

I recommend you get free, comparative, long term care insurance quotes through the online, Buyer’s Advocate Alliance – Just Click Here Now.

Technorati Tags: retirement, investment, IRA, long term care, savings, asset protection, longevity, disability, alzheimers, parkinsons, multiple sclerosis

Many folks have the idea that they don’t need long term care insurance if they have less than $200K in savings. For instance, the article written at Mcall.com’s Spending Smart blog, financial planners have told folks that they can spend down $200K in a year or so if they need nursing long term care and that they can then get on medicaid.

Well, that’s probably true. However, there are many other reasons one may want to protect their savings of, say, $50,000 or more, as well as any retirement-type income you might be paid in the years ahead.

1) Asset protection for Spouse: If you are married, you will want your spouse to enjoy the same lifestyle to which he or she has grown accustomed. Once you go onto the public dole, your spouse will be subjected to your State’s laws concerning Medicaid and long term care. Your retirement income (401K, pension, investments) if in your name, could be taken to pay back the State. Other assets over a certain amount can be taken for the State’s use, as well. This can leave your spouse in a precarious and less than desirable financial situation.

2) Protect your Home: If you own a home, Medicaid will most likely attach it for future use. Most States allow a spouse to stay in a home until the he/she needs to go on Medicaid or dies, but once your spouse is not living in the home, it can revert to the State. Depending upon your State’s law, once you are on Medicaid, you cannot leave your home to anyone. Your children cannot inherit it and your spouse cannot sell it, if needed.

3) Shorter long term care: It’s rare, but what if you needed long term care for only a year or so? Say you had a stroke or accident and your spouse was not able to be your caregiver. You were recovering, but you still needed to be in a nursing home for awhile, and then an assisted living facility and finally you required some home care. You would spend most, if not all of your nest egg on care and Medicaid would not have stepped in to help with any expenses. By the time you recover, your financial situation would not be so rosy or secure, would it? How would you feel then?

These are just a few of the reasons why it is even MORE important for those of us who have less money to make sure we are insured. The very wealthy can afford to pay out of pocket for long periods of time without it affecting the quality of their care or their family’s financial security. The middle and upper middle class are the ones who definitely need to protect every penny. Insurance is just another way to save a bit of money for the wealthy.

It’s not smart to be “penny-wise” by not buying long term care insurance, when you have family to consider. Paying a few thousand a year is better than possibly putting out 3 or more thousand per month, isn’t it? Of course, LTCi insurance is only worth buying IF you can afford to keep paying the [tag[premiums[/tag].

Technorati Tags: long term care insurance, financial planners, nursing, medicaid, savings, retirement, Asset protection, long term care, 401K, pension, investments, assets, stroke, caregiver, nursing home, assisted living, home care

The majority of boomers‘ health is better than is their financial health. Many might be falsely assuming they will be fit enough to work past age 65. Plus, there is always the looming spectre of long term care.

At 56, Lana Linder knows her savings aren’t enough to enable her to retire in her 60s. She is counting on being strong enough to keep on working past retirement age, and now is the time for her to do her long term care insurance planning.

Now, Linder is a very fit woman. A former professional dancer, she discovered weight training at the age 50, and she regularly goes to a gym to build muscle.

“I got pretty serious about it when I was 50, and I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror,” the freelance filmmaker said. “Once I met a personal trainer who made a custom program for me, I began to see dramatic improvements in my body.”

In a perfect world, Linder would also see dramatic improvements in her savings. But as a freelancer who has always worked in the arts – first theater, then dance and now film – financial planning wasn’t always her priority. At 57, she knows her savings portfolio isn’t healthy enough to enable her to retire in her mid-60s.

“I wouldn’t consider retiring even if I had the money to do so,” she said. “I love what I do, and I hope to be able to do it forever.”

But she’d also like not to worry about her retirement finances.

Linder falls into the same category as 67 per cent of working respondents who told a poll for Investor Group that their health is better than their finances. They may be fit now, but this segment of the population is in no condition to retire, according to the survey. And many said they’d have to rely on good health to allow them to work past retirement age.

The Investor Group poll is typical of the kind of marketing being done by financial services companies world wide. Surveys suggest boomers are financially unprepared for retirement, and advertising designed to alarm them into stashing cash is a far cry from advertising of the 1980s, which depicted fit 50-somethings frolicking on tropical beaches in retirement.

Nowadays, the message is more about whether aging boomers are financially prepared for retirement at all or if they will be forced to spend those twilight years flipping burgers and working as store greeters.

In another survey, 37 per cent of respondents predicted they will not be able to enjoy their current standard of living in 10 years. The question is, “Can you afford to go to the movies in 2017?”

What is most alarming is the baby boomers’ lack of planning for is long term care, and this is planning that must be initiated early enough to take advantage of good health and lower insurance rates.

We recommend insurance quotes from the online Buyer’s Advocate Alliance.

Technorati Tags: boomers, financial, long term care, savings, retire, retirement, long term care insurance, financial planning, retiring, finances, Investor, long term care