With Halloween just around the corner, everyone’s busy decorating with carved pumpkins, dancing skeletons, witches, ghosts, and goblins. Of course, most people don’t believe in ghosts and goblins. But unfortunately, many also don’t believe in this real life bogeyman: the possibility of a long-term care event that could wipe out their retirement nest egg.
They could be setting themselves up for a frightening retirement nightmare.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that 70 percent of people over age 65 will require some form of long-term-care services at some point in their lives. Even the most perfectly planned and diversified investment portfolio won’t ward off the spine-chilling risk of a long-term care event.
Consider these scary odds from MotleyFool.com:
- Odds of your home burning to the ground (total loss): 1 in 16,000
- Probability of totaling your car: 1 in 100
- Odds of meeting a $2,500 medical insurance deductible annually: 1 in 25
- Probability of needing long-term care at some point in your lifetime: 1 in 2 for women; 1 in 3 for men
The costs are spooky too.
While advances in medicine have allowed us to conquer many ghoulish illnesses and live longer, they’ve also increased our need for care when we’re old. And that increase has driven up the cost of long-term care 4 to 6 percent annually over the past five years. To learn more, visit our Long-Term Care page.
When it comes to long-term care planning, your prospects have a few options …
- Spend their own assets
- Rely on family
- Go on Medicaid
- Purchase long-term care insurance
Obviously the first two options are only viable if the resources are there. Medicaid has its limitations and its future is uncertain. LTC insurance can ease the burden on families, protect assets, and ward off the frightening threat of losing everything.
While people have traditionally relied on family members for long-term-care assistance, times are changing. Many seniors hate the thought of burdening their loved one or facing limited options. With longer life spans, market volatility, skyrocketing medical costs, the elimination of corporate retiree health plans, and the uncertainty in the future of Medicare and Medicaid, LTC insurance makes a lot of sense.
To learn more about adding LTCI to your bag of tricks, download our LTCI Broker Kit today.
.png)
