My Comments: While these comments were directed toward advisors like me, they are representative of something that happens to many of us over time. What we are trained to do, and from which we earn a living, changes and we become irrelevant. An example happened in Detroit, once the heart of American car manufacturing. And …
Continue reading Estate Planning is Dead — Long Live Retirement Planning!
We have been hearing that the leading LTC (long term care) insurers have all filed or will soon be filing for sex distinct rates. Up until now, there has been no distinction in the pricing of contracts between male and female. Some companies offered discounts when husband and wife both bought a policy which was …
My Comments: Did you know that, according to the 2012 AALTCI Source Book, 69% of 65-year-old clients who own Long Term Care insurance (LTCi) will make a claim? That is a risk so high that it could almost be considered an inevitability. And yet advisors like myself are reluctant to talk about this with clients …
Continue reading Cost of Long-Term Care Insurance Keeps Rising
When I first started in financial services in 1975, I was hired by a company called American National to sell life and health insurance policies. I was able to earn a living and discovered that not having a regular paycheck was survivable. And fortunately, my wife chose to tough it out with me. Over the …
My Comments: I ran across this article a few weeks ago. With the headline recently that Governor Scott was not going to comply with the directives toward the states and Medicaid, I thought it might be helpful to have a better understanding of the implications. The idea presented below is not a full answer, but …
Continue reading The Medicaid Problem Grows and a (Partial) Solution Emerges
My Comment: Long Term Care insurance is one of those topics agents like myself find difficult to deal with. I learned years ago to talk about life insurance in spite of the fact that the very idea repelled most people. After all, none of want to volunatarily deal with death, much less our own. But …
Continue reading Long-term-care Insurance May Go Way of the Dinosaur
As an opinionated financial planner who considers himself almost an expert on insurance and long term care, I take exception to a few of the assertions in this article. However, my purpose in reposting it here is to trigger questions that anyone planning for retirement should ask. And even those already retired. Keep in mind …
Continue reading Insurers Pair Long-Term Care With Life Insurance To Entice Buyers
A growing number of financial planners and investment advisors are coming to realize that all financial issues cannot be properly addressed solely with a portfolio of securities. As someone who has been licensed to sell insurance for longer than I’ve been licensed to provide investment advice, I recognize that much of what I do is …
MetLife, which has been selling long-term care insurance for 25 years, recently announced that it would no longer sell LTC policies. The decision, apparently, does not affect current policyholders. Meanwhile, John Hancock, another major player in this game, has announced price increases of 40% for many of its existing LTC policies. (Affected policyholders will be …
Continue reading The Cost of Long Term Care Insurance Goes UP
For many readers, the term "Long-Term Care" belongs in a foreign dictionary. Its an obscure concept that has very little relevance to them. At least until one of their parents faces the prospect of assisted living or perhaps something more serious. Or something unexpected and bad happens to you. In the traditional sense, you can …
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