📺 Watch this and other posts on YouTube or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube Music.
Intro
While health and auto insurance primarily protect you, long-term care insurance (LTCi) offers significant protection for your family as well.
Remember when a famous family, the Griswolds, drove across the country in a station wagon to visit Wallyworld, only to discover that it was closed for repairs? If you missed it, here's a 30-second clip.
Remember your family when planning for long-term care, including how your decisions may affect both your care and your savings.
Long-term care insurance may be important in your LTC goals: Learn about options, Talk with family, and Create a plan.
Post jargon
caregiver: provides direct, hands-on assistance with daily LTC
care manager: coordinates and oversees care services without direct caregiving
cash indemnity: pays the full benefit, regardless of the actual care costs
CCRC: continuing care retirement community; housing with many LTC services
LTC: long-term care
LTCi: long-term care insurance
respite care: ("res-pit") short-term senior care to provide relief for caregivers
senior community: housing providing long-term care for older adults, often with shared activities
➡️ Explore all the LTC jargon
For families
Long-term care doesn't only affect the care recipient. Spouses and children often take on the heavy lifting. Even with unconditional love, helping someone with everyday tasks, like getting out of the bathtub, can take a significant toll. Every. Single. Day.
Close your eyes and try to imagine it. 😗
Families care deeply for one another, but caregiving is a 24/7 responsibility that can create emotional, physical, and financial challenges. Planning ahead can help ensure that the caregiver’s and the care recipient’s needs are supported.
Jesse Vickey
Permission slip
When care needs arise, families are often under significant stress as they try to make decisions. Adult children may feel a painful tension between paying for expensive care, which can feel like spending down an inheritance, and stepping in to provide much of the care themselves. Insurance can act as a permission slip, allowing families to pay for professional care and serve as care managers rather than caregivers.
For care recipients
Think about a long airline flight. Would you choose a cramped discount airline or one with comfortable seats and decent meals? Long-term care can feel like a long journey, but with the right planning, it can be much smoother for everyone involved. A little preparation now can help your future self, or your loved ones, look back and say, “Thanks.”
Stay at home - 79% of adults prefer to remain in their homes for as long as possible. LTC insurance can help support that goal by covering paid health aides or funding home modifications that make daily living safer and easier.
Join a senior community – If a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) another senior community becomes a better fit, LTC insurance can help make that transition more affordable and accessible.
LTC insurance also helps protect against large, unexpected costs, giving you and your family the freedom to focus on care and quality of life rather than financial stress.
For savings
A lifetime of hard work goes into building a nest egg, whether it’s yours or a loved one’s. Don’t let unexpected LTC costs put that at risk.
- Leverage - With LTCi, every dollar you spend typically buys 3x-5x the coverage immediately. For example, $100k in premiums could turn into $300k to $500k in coverage immediately. Plus, you get the added bonus that LTCi benefits are tax-free.
- Retirement security – Long-term care costs are one of the biggest threats to retirement savings. Having a plan ensures the savings you or your loved ones worked hard for are preserved for the things that matter most.
- Spousal support - Without proper planning, LTC expenses could drain savings, leaving a spouse with little to live on. Dave Ramsey describes this situation in this 30-second clip.
- Family legacy - Planning ahead means leaving the next generation in good financial shape, not burdening them with bills for care.
Wrap up
As you or a loved one gets older, don’t let long-term care needs leave the family stranded in the Wallyworld parking lot. LTCi can help maintain control, prevent loved ones from becoming overwhelmed, and protect savings for the future.
At a minimum, create a plan and have an open conversation with your family about care needs.
