The SECURE Act has me thinking!

By: Blair Farwell

The SECURE Act quietly passed with little fanfare at the very end of 2019. I see one very large liability for people who had structured their estates around passing on IRAs to their heirs. Prior to the SECURE Act, non-spousal beneficiaries could receive the inherited IRA and employ the “stretch IRA strategy”.

The SECURE Act has me thinking!

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Must-Know Statistics About Long-Term Care: 2019 Edition

As the long term care specialist at Resource Brokerage for over 13 years-I’m always asked about the statistics associated with long term care insurance. Questions like how many years is the average amount of time a person may need long term care coverage. Or, what is the average amount of cost that a person could expect to pay for care in their lifetime. The best compendium of long-term care statistics on usage, cost, insurance and caregivers that I have seen is the study put together by Christine Benz titled: “Must-Known Statistics About Long-Term Care: 2019 Edition“.

If you have other questions related to Long Term Care Insurance contact me directly: Ron Cohen 847-598-6002.

5 Facts About the Senate Finance Long-Term Care Hearing

By Allison Bell | November 21, 2019 at 02:53 PM

1. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., announced Wednesday, at a hearing on Alzheimer’s awareness organized by the committee’s health subcommittee, that he’s circulating a discussion draft of a plan for letting people use money from their retirement plans to pay for LTCI coverage.
2. Toomey said he thinks using a tax credit to spur sales of private LTCI to younger, healthier people could help ease LTCI issuers’ price stability problems.
3. Marc Cohen was one of the witnesses. Cohen, a gerontologist who has been involved in the LTCI market for many years, was one of the hearing witnesses. He said a new federal tax break for LTCI coverage could help increase sales, and reduce LTCI prices, by cutting the net cost of coverage, and also by signaling to younger, healthier people that long-term care risk is something they should think about.
4. Cohen talked about ways to reduce LTCI selling costs. Cohen suggested that it might be possible to increase LTCI coverage costs, and increase sales, by building it into products that people do buy, such as Medicare Advantage plans, or by selling LTCI policies through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) public exchange system.
5.  A Democratic senator asked about the relationship between long-term care and the Affordable Care Act. Family members’ willingness to provide informal care helps reduce the financial impact of long-term care needs on the Medicaid nursing home benefits program.

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The Three Percent Solution

Ron Hagelman is one of the leading experts in the long term care industry. Ron is a nationally recognized motivational speaker who has served on LIMRA, Society of Actuaries and ILTCI committees.  He is also a personal friend and someone who I have learned a great deal from in the Long Term Care industry. Ron writes a monthly column for Broker World Magazine called the Last Word on LTCI. This article: “The Three Percent Solution”, Ron asks the question why LTCi premiums don’t more substantially reflect the obvious truth.

 

Webinar – Creating Your Next Sale

LARGE opportunity in the unserved/underserved middle America marketplace.

Topics:

• Designing questions to provoke clients’ thoughts to open the door for additional opportunities
• Identifying characteristics of those in the greatest need of a policy review
• Covering needs beyond simple income protection
• Outlining coverage goals clients may not know they have
• Ensuring clients’ coverage has kept pace with their life
• Spotting additional opportunities since clients last purchased coverage with enhanced living needs benefits

According to LIMRA data, half of existing policyholders have underestimated the volume of Life insurance needed to protect their families/estates.  Further, about 1 in 3 of these underinsured people earn more than $100k a year – meaning they have the resources to purchase additional coverage if they can be educated as to the need and costs of the coverage.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

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75 Must-Know Statistics About Long-Term Care

By: Christine Benz

If there’s a single unsolved problem in the retirement plans for many middle- and upper-middle-income adults, it’s what to do about long-term care costs later in life.

Very high-income, high-net-worth people can plan to self-fund long-term care costs, though I’d advise them to do the math on long-term care cost inflation before getting too comfy with the idea that they’ll have enough to do so. Meanwhile, people without significant financial assets will need to rely on Medicaid-provided long-term care. That’s most people: Medicaid and other government programs cover the majority of the long-term care costs in the U.S.

Sandwiched in the middle are people with some, even significant, financial assets–just not necessarily enough to comfortably fund a $300,000 (or more) long-term care outlay at the end of their lives. For them, the choices are stark and rather unappealing.

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Preparing for an effective LTC conversation with clients

Would you like to know the best way to talk to your clients about Long Term Care and in a way that will lead to a sale? This can be learned by anyone that is willing to take the time necessary to educate themselves. This brochure, presented by Nationwide, covers some of the important concepts of how to prepare and what to say during the important first steps of the sales process. This article is a great first step in your road to success.