Comprehensive planning requires long-term care planning and risk management techniques to be incorporated into a retirement plan. Unfortunately, the financial advisor community has often suffered from a segmentation of investment specialists and insurance professionals. Many financial planners recognize the importance of long-term care but aren’t having conversations with clients because it is not where they specialize. Instead, any professional providing retirement planning needs to incorporate risk management techniques into their plan.
You have a plan to ensure you can retire someday and focus your time on what is most important in life. But does that plan have contingencies for when your health begins to fail? When you need extra care, will you still be able to make the most of life’s remaining opportunities?
While most advisors recognize the need for LTC planning, only about a quarter of them are having that conversation with their clients. Broad and harmful misconceptions, at both the financial advisor level and at the consumer level, are hindering better long-term care planning.
3 Common Misconceptions
According to a 2017 survey* the top 3 misconceptions about long-term care are:
1. "I won't need care."
Reality: While only 33% of respondents stated they would need any long-term care, the actual number is closer to 70%.
2. "I understand the costs of long-term care."
Reality: Respondents say the average annual cost of a private room in a nursing home is $54,000, while the average cost is actually double that, at around $102,000.
3. "My wife/husband/kids can take care of me."
Reality: Most people vastly underestimate the emotional and physical burden on caregivers. About 84% of caregivers surveyed, said that they had experienced a serious emotional burden. And caring for an ailing spouse can lead to a significant decline in health and quality of life for the surviving spouse.
Often, it's a mix of strategies that provide the best outcome for meeting our long-term care needs. I strongly encourage everyone (particularly those over the age of 50) to choose an advisor who incorporates these risk management strategies into your overall retirement plan.
Disclosure:
The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company (The Long-Term Care Conversation) https://verstaresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/The-Long-Term-Care-Conversation-Infographic-2018.pdf
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