* Smoking, Investing and Long Term Care Insurance

It is always prudent to use a specialist when you are researching and purchasing long term care insurance. LTCi can be confusing and products can vary by state. In order to make a bit more money, some financial planners have become licensed to sell long term care insurance. But being licensed to do so does not necessarily make one an expert. I finally found an article on a financial weblog where the author admits to being clueless…

This guy is great. I love a person who knows their limitations. Check out the Free Money Finance article.

Then read the Comments below the article. One person says that it is important to stop smoking before you apply for long term care insurance. She said that smoker’s premium costs can be prohibitive. That may be true, depending upon your budget and the insurance company you are considering. Obesity can also make your premiums higher. So, if you want to keep your premium costs down, it is a good idea to quit smoking and lose those extra pounds ASAP if you are thinking of purchasing long term care insurance.

I’m just guessing that the next Comment was written by a person who is a financial planner trained to invest money instead of asset protection. He says that LTCi is meant for the middle class only. While I agree that the middle class has the most to lose and those with less money couldn’t afford the premiums, it is ludicrous to think that the wealthy wouldn’t also benefit from long term care insurance. Even if you invest you will not make enough profit pay for years worth of long term care - unless you invest millions! Why wouldn’t a wealthy person pay a mere $5000 per year for a LTCi policy, when it could save them over $100,000 (or much more) per year if they need care?

People of wealth are usually pretty smart when it comes to spending money. Saving a few dollars now by not getting insurance could cost you and your family hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future. My husband, Clay, was both an LTCi broker and a stock broker. He did the math for several clients who asked whether it was better to buy long term care insurance or invest the same amount of money in the booming stock market of the late 1990’s. Every time, when factoring in the probability that they could need long term care, he found that it would be better for them to protect their assets with long term care insurance rather than to invest the same amount of money.

So, all you with money to burn - buy your long term care insurance policy, then invest to your heart’s content.

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