Is your Financial Planner Going to Pay Your Long Term Care Bills?

By Georgia McClure

I always like to ask my clients... Will your financial planner be willing to pay your long-term care bills? Will they have access to good quality home health care providers? If your advisor does recommend coverage, they may not have enough experience with long term care insurance to put you with the best policy for your health and age.

Many lawyers and advisors are now reluctant to recommend against long term care insurance for fear of lawsuits, from children, when hundreds of thousands of dollars were required to pay for their parents long-term care bills. Planners who fail to recommend coverage are more times than not, unaware of the real risk of needing care one day.

Long-term care has now become the greatest financial risk that senior Americans face today. The majority of them are unaware of it because let’s face it... no one wants to think about needing extended care. It will happen to someone else!

Long-term care is the biggest reason for financial failure among seniors today, yet there are many financial planners and investment advisors who will say that you do not need LTC insurance. Is it smart to have this coverage? long term care insurance specialists are seeing many financial planners undecided on the subject of long term care insurance. You will hear some say that if you have substantial assets you should not be without it, that it is an integral part of financial planning, while others think if you have enough money you should self-insure. Who is right?

Every financial advisor I speak to would recommend long term care insurance if they knew in advance that their client would need several years of long-term care. Get out a pen and paper and work the math. In a state where long-term care bills are averaging $170 per day, and the average LTC insurance premium is $4000 a year for a couple, age 60, who live another 20 years, they will have paid out $80,000 in premiums for the peace of mind that they will not go broke. Without the insurance, they could end up paying over $80,000 in less than one year for just one of them which is based on today's dollars, on the advice from a financial planner that they do not need it! It must be concluded that financial advisors who recommend against long term insurance suppose you are not going to need care since they would absolutely recommend you obtain coverage if they knew you were going to have to spend several hundred thousand dollars.

You should find out from the advisor what is the basis for their prediction? Also, be aware that advisors are sales people. They are in the business of making you money. If you purchase long term care insurance, you have less money for them to manage! The decision is yours. At this point in your life, are you more interested in making a few more thousand dollars a year or are you more interested in protecting what you have already earned from the most devastating financial risk that people face in America today?

One of the biggest financial mistakes a person can make today is needing extended care and having no coverage! Is this a mistake you want to take a chance on making? Seek out an LTC Insurance Specialist to help you make the most informed decision for you and your family regarding this coverage, not a stockbroker. Remember, your financial planner or advisor is not going to pay your long term care bills. You will!