Recently, our communication specialist, Kendra Tampinco, became acquainted with a woman who had to admit her 82 year-old husband into a hospice home. He is suffering from dementia. He no longer walks or uses motor skills, nor is he familiar with faces. His situation seems pretty dismal, but I am not sure if my empathy is for him or his wife who
now suffers as if her husband has already passed and is paying roughly $7000.00 a month for his care. For those of you with some longevity in the genes, here is some quick information.
People are living longer in the Western world and the greatest rate of age of death is
well into the late 80’s. Now that we have to look even further into our future we will have to ask ourselves “how can we plan for managing the costs that may arise due to old age (like dementia)?” Recently I posted an article about the benefits of waiting to collect on social security benefits and yes! This is definitely one way you can help stockpile your wealth for later. Try not to get lured into the siren song of “early retirement” if it can be helped. The Government Accountability Office also suggests a couple of other ways to help
maintain financial security into old age, they suggest to: “convert some of client savings into an income annuity and also opt for an annuity provided by an employers’ defined benefit or defined benefit contribution plan.” It is recommended that you look into long-term care insurance so you do not find yourself paying roughly $70,000.00-$80,000.00 a year for nursing homes costs. Long-term care insurance may be the answer for
some, but it can also come with risks. It is good to also be aware and skeptical about long-term care insurance. There has been more than one story about an insurance company that could not pay their obligation and went bankrupt. This CAN happen. Questions like: “How much should you be buying?” and “How soon should you start buying it?” are some of the questions you need to factor into your financial planning.
To fulfill and create a “healthy” financial portfolio you will need more than just stocks and bonds, to manage the risk of your overall exposure. By diversifying your portfolio and factoring in variables such as health care costs is the key. Annuities and long-term care insurance may or may not be the right fit for you, but it may also be just the thing your
portfolio needs. Please feel free to contact our office if you are interested in more information.
