The best planning for long-term care is to amass long-term wealth, correct? Not really. If your clients are considering self-funding, you need to walk them through the numbers.
Take, for example, a 65-year-old married female in Texas. By repositioning $100,000 of her assets today, she can create a total pool of $507,819 in 20 years to spend on qualified long-term care expenses. P.S. Those benefits are tax free.
To me, this is a no-brainer!
Why would a client choose to use their own money when they could leverage it with insurance? Why pay full price when you can pay the discount amount? Do you self-insure your car? No, because why pay 100 percent of the costs if you don’t have to?!
Let’s not forget: Self-funding means leaving not much, if anything, to the loved ones left behind.
For a more in-depth conversation around leveraging your assets to fund LTC – Just Ask. Use my calendar link to schedule a time that’s convenient for us to talk.
Spouses share a lot of things – house, cars, kids, bank accounts. Why not long-term care insurance? Yes, spouses can choose a long-term care policy with SHARED coverage, giving them a pool of benefits they can split.
One of the unknowns with long-term care is predicting how long you will need benefits. While the average need for care is about three years, your clients could die before needing care. Or just the opposite, they could have a long-lasting condition, such as Alzheimer’s, and need care for much longer.
Sharing benefits is a great way to hedge bets when deciding on a benefit period. It may make a couple more comfortable with purchasing a shorter duration and can save them quite a bit of money.
On the other hand, a lifetime benefit pool covers both short and long-term risks and ensures both spouses are covered no matter the timeframe of coverage needed. Of course, this is a bit pricier. Your clients will have to consider the risks they’re willing to take – together.
For more information on sharing benefits, JUST ASK. Use my calendar link to schedule a time that’s convenient for us to talk.
Most advisors aren’t experts in long-term care. So it’s understandable if you struggle to explain the concept of linked benefit, let alone convince someone to purchase it. Especially when you’d rather be doing something else. Anything else!
But because long-term care can be so challenging, that’s exactly the reason it’s crucial to take the time to explain all options available. That may mean taking the time to educate yourself first.
Since linked benefit plans combine both life insurance or annuities with long-term care, you might think they’re complicated. However, that is not the case.
Essentially, a linked-benefit policy has three components:
It's an easy conversation to have if you’re a long-term care marketer like me, but not so much if this is not your everyday focus. Avoiding the conversation doesn’t have to be your default plan. If you have questions, JUST ASK! Use my calendar link to schedule a time that’s convenient for us to talk.
Indemnity or reimbursement – that is the question. For long-term care policies, traditional reimbursement policies pay benefits based upon the actual expenses you incur. An indemnity policy, however, pays you a monthly CASH benefit, regardless of expenses incurred.
As you may have guessed by the title, there are three reasons why I love indemnity policies.
Case Study
I know every situation is different, but so many people see the big number on the paper and think a reimbursement is the way to go. Just make sure you have all the facts. If you don’t – Just Ask! Use my calendar link to schedule a time that’s convenient for us to talk.
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