aging parents - Whole Hearted Way https://www.wholeheartedway.com Meditation instruction for those who cannot meditate Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:46:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://i0.wp.com/www.wholeheartedway.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cropped-Fern.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 aging parents - Whole Hearted Way https://www.wholeheartedway.com 32 32 195550711 Black Death of a Financial Plan https://www.wholeheartedway.com/black-death-of-a-financial-plan/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=black-death-of-a-financial-plan https://www.wholeheartedway.com/black-death-of-a-financial-plan/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:46:27 +0000 http://wholeheartedway.com/blog/?p=80 Many baby boomers are finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of becoming parent to their parents. Research shows that caregivers caught off guard by an ailing parent may suffer almost as much vocationally and emotionally as they do financially. If you planned to withdraw 5% a year to support your lifestyle when you retire, and then have to increase that to care for an ailing parent, there goes your retirement plan. What can you do? Plan far ahead by having proactive family discussions. Invariably, one child takes on the bulk of the care giving responsibilities. This can cause tension and resentment that can be avoided by discussion. Target specific scenarios so that it is easy to discuss difficult subjects such as when Dad can no longer drive. Consider Late-in-life care such as long term care insurance and in-home care insurance. Children can end up writing a check for the premiums or sharing costs with parents. Joe Birkofer tackles the issue of negative inheritance in the Rice University financial planning class that he teaches. He asks a simple question: “What’s the Black Death for a financial plan?” The answer: “it’s your parents“. Coaching Question – How do you plan on taking care of your parents?

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]]> Many baby boomers are finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of becoming parent to their parents. Research shows that caregivers caught off guard by an ailing parent may suffer almost as much vocationally and emotionally as they do financially. If you planned to withdraw 5% a year to support your lifestyle when you retire, and then have to increase that to care for an ailing parent, there goes your retirement plan.

What can you do?

  • Plan far ahead by having proactive family discussions. Invariably, one child takes on the bulk of the care giving responsibilities. This can cause tension and resentment that can be avoided by discussion.
  • Target specific scenarios so that it is easy to discuss difficult subjects such as when Dad can no longer drive.
  • Consider Late-in-life care such as long term care insurance and in-home care insurance. Children can end up writing a check for the premiums or sharing costs with parents.

Joe Birkofer tackles the issue of negative inheritance in the Rice University financial planning class that he teaches. He asks a simple question: “What’s the Black Death for a financial plan?”

The answer: “it’s your parents“.

Coaching Question – How do you plan on taking care of your parents?

The post Black Death of a Financial Plan first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

]]> https://www.wholeheartedway.com/black-death-of-a-financial-plan/feed/ 2 80 Long Term Care Insurance- It’s Not Just for Your Parents Anymore https://www.wholeheartedway.com/long-term-care-insurance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=long-term-care-insurance https://www.wholeheartedway.com/long-term-care-insurance/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:31:10 +0000 https://www.wholeheartedway.com/?p=676 All of us now or at some time in our lives will have to take care of someone- a child who is ill, or a spouse who gets disabled or has a chronic illness- but most of the time it is a parent that is aging. We are all living longer. The heavy responsibility that goes along with taking care of a parent is enormous. 70% of people over age 65 will eventually need long term care either at home or in a nursing home. As a Financial Planner, I would either help plan for it (self-insure) or purchase long term care insurance for all or part of the risk. Now, with assets depleted, many people of all ages are starting to take a serious look at long term care insurance. Some of the concerns that I fielded from clients were: What if I never need it? Now I have lost all that money in premiums. What if I can’t buy enough of it? What will happen when the benefits run out? What if the insurance company keeps raising the premium? How will I afford it in the future when I am not working? Will the insurance company still be around to pay the benefits? What if I want more home care coverage than skilled nursing care? All that has been heard by the insurance companies and they have come out with some innovative features to address your concerns: Built-in premium on death feature which means that if the policy owner dies before 75 without making a claim, the surviving beneficiary will receive a percentage of the premiums. Tiered solution benefit that sets up parameters at different ages for the type of inflation protection a policy owner can get. Up to age 61, for instance, their benefits could inflate by 5%, from 61 to 76 they could inflate by 3% and after 76 they wouldn’t inflate at all. CPI based inflation features Shared coverage by couples to reduce premium Home care coverage and optional home health care riders Additional increase in coverage over time without health exam to a maximum of double the original policy. The number one reason someone buys long term care insurance is that they saw someone they love have a long term care event. Not having long term care insurance can rob a son or daughter of their career because of the burden of care giving for another. It protects them, and their inheritance as well as you. Many times the siblings will split the cost of long term care insurance for a parent but most of the time the burden of care will fall on only one sibling. Whether the purchase is for you or your parents, the focus should be on the features of the policy that means the most to you. Figure out what you want the monthly benefit to be and then prepare for inflation. Remember, too, that the average nursing home stay is 2.4 years. Good quality home health care can cost $12-$25 an hour depending on the area of the country you live in. It is hard to predict which company will still be around to pay out the benefits that you have invested for, so the younger you are, the better the company should be. That means the highest ratings at both AM Best and Weiss. I am embarrassed to say that I was under age 60 when faced with recovery from a car accident. If I had long term care insurance, my family could have saved over $55,000 in care-giving costs. So I know firsthand the benefits of having this type of insurance. Some of my valued sources for long term care risk management are: For independent consumer information on Long Term Care Topics: Phyllis Shelton of LTC Consultant in Nashville, Tenn. LTC Consultants For independent insurance product advice on Long-Term Care: John Ryan CFP® of Ryan Insurance Strategy Consultants john@ryan-insurance.net or call 1-800-796-0909 ext. 102 Ryan Insurance Strategy Consultants -Fern Alix LaRocca CFP® EA

The post Long Term Care Insurance- It’s Not Just for Your Parents Anymore first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

]]> All of us now or at some time in our lives will have to take care of someone- a child who is ill, or a spouse who gets disabled or has a chronic illness- but most of the time it is a parent that is aging. We are all living longer. The heavy responsibility that goes along with taking care of a parent is enormous. 70% of people over age 65 will eventually need long term care either at home or in a nursing home.
As a Financial Planner, I would either help plan for it (self-insure) or purchase long term care insurance for all or part of the risk. Now, with assets depleted, many people of all ages are starting to take a serious look at long term care insurance. Some of the concerns that I fielded from clients were:
What if I never need it? Now I have lost all that money in premiums. What if I can’t buy enough of it? What will happen when the benefits run out? What if the insurance company keeps raising the premium? How will I afford it in the future when I am not working? Will the insurance company still be around to pay the benefits? What if I want more home care coverage than skilled nursing care?
All that has been heard by the insurance companies and they have come out with some innovative features to address your concerns:
  • Built-in premium on death feature which means that if the policy owner dies before 75 without making a claim, the surviving beneficiary will receive a percentage of the premiums.
  • Tiered solution benefit that sets up parameters at different ages for the type of inflation protection a policy owner can get. Up to age 61, for instance, their benefits could inflate by 5%, from 61 to 76 they could inflate by 3% and after 76 they wouldn’t inflate at all.
  • CPI based inflation features
  • Shared coverage by couples to reduce premium
  • Home care coverage and optional home health care riders
  • Additional increase in coverage over time without health exam to a maximum of double the original policy.
The number one reason someone buys long term care insurance is that they saw someone they love have a long term care event. Not having long term care insurance can rob a son or daughter of their career because of the burden of care giving for another. It protects them, and their inheritance as well as you. Many times the siblings will split the cost of long term care insurance for a parent but most of the time the burden of care will fall on only one sibling.
Whether the purchase is for you or your parents, the focus should be on the features of the policy that means the most to you. Figure out what you want the monthly benefit to be and then prepare for inflation. Remember, too, that the average nursing home stay is 2.4 years. Good quality home health care can cost $12-$25 an hour depending on the area of the country you live in.
It is hard to predict which company will still be around to pay out the benefits that you have invested for, so the younger you are, the better the company should be. That means the highest ratings at both AM Best and Weiss.
I am embarrassed to say that I was under age 60 when faced with recovery from a car accident. If I had long term care insurance, my family could have saved over $55,000 in care-giving costs. So I know firsthand the benefits of having this type of insurance.
Some of my valued sources for long term care risk management are:
For independent consumer information on Long Term Care Topics:
Phyllis Shelton of LTC Consultant in Nashville, Tenn.
LTC Consultants
For independent insurance product advice on Long-Term Care:
John Ryan CFP® of Ryan Insurance Strategy Consultants
john@ryan-insurance.net or call 1-800-796-0909 ext. 102
Ryan Insurance Strategy Consultants
-Fern Alix LaRocca CFP® EA

The post Long Term Care Insurance- It’s Not Just for Your Parents Anymore first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

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