Financial

Getting Your Money’s Worth at the Doctor

As we get older, it seems, at least for many of us, that our trips to the doctor become more and more frequent.  To make things worse, our trips are no longer one-stop shops.  There’s a different doctor to see for every medical ailment affecting our bodies.  This means, of course, that we go to the cardiologist on one day, the neurologist on another, the eye specialist on a different day—you get the picture—and in no time we find we are spending  most of our time lining up transportation and then sitting in waiting and exam rooms.  The doctor pops in, and before we even know what’s happened, he or she is running out, saying, “I’ll see you again in three months.”  And after he or she is gone, you realize you didn’t even get a chance to ask all of your questions!

Many adult children in the sandwich generation accompany their elderly parents on hospital visits.  Whether going for yourself or with your elderly parents, here are some ways to ensure that you make the most of both your and the physician’s time and energy:

  • You will be more prepared if you write down your questions as you think of them before seeing the doctor. Keep a running list of them on your refrigerator or somewhere else that is handy for you.  When you go to the doctor, take the list with you.  All of your questions will be right there so you won’t have to rely on your memory, which is especially important if the doctor is in a hurry and wants to rush out the door.
  • It’s a good idea to take someone with you. There are several reasons for this.  Maybe your hearing isn’t so good or your memory isn’t what it used to be.  Having another person with you lessens the chance that you may not hear or understand everything the physician is telling you.  Also, if you receive bad news of any kind, you’ll have someone with you to support you.  And, most importantly, you can go out for lunch together afterwards!
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The Shred Party

What should you get rid of and hold on to? When and why?

If a shred party happens to spring up in your area, you may want to mark your calendar. For many years, shred parties, where a business or organization hosts clients or the public to the use of giant paper shredders, have presented a fun and easy way for folks to rid themselves of paper clutter. Sometimes, it’s more than just paper, as some industrial-sized shredders even have the ability to destroy hard drives and other electronic storage devices.

Protection from identity theft. Of course, this is not just about clutter: old bills and financial documents are just the sorts of things that scammers and identity thieves want to get their hands on. The only way to be totally certain that you are safe is the total destruction of those documents and devices once their practical use has come to an end.

A shred party can also be a nice day out. It’s not unusual for the big shredding trucks to be parked outside on a pleasant spring or summer day. Depending on the hosting organization, the shred party might be attached to some other activity, like a potluck, barbecue, or community celebration.

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Life Insurance with Long Term Care Riders

As conventional LTC policies grow costlier, alternatives have emerged.

The price of long term care insurance is really going up. If you are a baby boomer and you have kept your eye on it for a few years, chances are you have noticed much costlier premiums for LTC coverage today compared to several years ago. For example, in 2015 the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance found that married 60-year-olds would pay $2,170 annually to get a total of $328,000 of coverage.1

As CNBC notes, about three-quarters of the insurers that sold LTC policies ten years ago have stopped doing so. Demand for LTC coverage will only grow as more baby boomers retire – and in light of that, insurance providers have introduced new options for those who want to LTC coverage.1

Hybrid LTC products have emerged. Some insurers are structuring “cash rich” whole life insurance policies so you can tap part of the death benefit while living to pay for long term care. You can use up to $330 a day of the death benefit under such policies, with no reduction to the cash value. Other insurance products are being marketed featuring similar potential benefits.2

This option often costs a few hundred dollars more per year – not bad given that level annual premiums on a whole life policy with a half-million or million-dollar payout often come to several thousand dollars. The policyholder becomes eligible for the LTC coverage when he or she is judged to require assistance with two or more of six daily living activities (dressing, bathing, eating, etc.) or is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or some other kind of cognitive deficiency.2

This way, you can get what you want from one insurance policy rather than having to pay for two. Contrast that with a situation in which you buy a separate LTC policy but die without requiring any long term care, with the premiums on that policy paid for nothing.

The basics of securing LTC coverage applies to these policies. As with a standard LTC policy, the earlier you start paying premiums for one of these hybrid insurance products, the lower the premiums will likely be. You must pass medical underwriting to qualify for coverage. The encouraging news here is that some people who are not healthy enough to qualify for a standalone LTC insurance policy may qualify for a hybrid policy.3

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Who Needs Estate Planning?

Why estate planning is so important, and not just for the rich.

You have an estate.
It doesn’t matter how limited (or unlimited) your means may be, and it doesn’t matter if you own a mansion or a motor home.

 

Rich or poor, when you die, you leave behind an estate.
For some, this can mean real property, cash, an investment portfolio and more. For others, it could be as straightforward as the $10 bill in their wallet and the clothes on their back. Either way, what you leave behind when you die is considered to be your “estate”.

 

“But, I don’t need estate planning … do I?”
Let’s think about that. If the estate is small, should you still plan? Well, even if you’re just leaving behind the $10 bill in your wallet, who will inherit it? Do you have a spouse? Children? Is it theirs? Should it go to just one of them, or be split between them? If you don’t decide, you could potentially be leaving behind a legacy of legal headaches to your survivors. This, quite simply, is what estate planning is all about – deciding how what you have now (money and assets) will be distributed after your lifetime.

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Care Management: What it is and how we help

Geriatric Care Managers, also known as Care Consultants, Care Coordinators or Elder Care Managers are professionals who specialize in working with seniors and their families to coordinate their care needs. A Geriatric Care Manager may be a nurse, social worker, counselor, psychologist or gerontologist who has training and experience specifically in working with older people.  Geriatric Care Managers help with short-term projects or can be involved in a more on-going relationship. Geriatric Care Managers offer a large variety of services to assist older people and their families in meeting their care needs.

Geriatric Care Managers can:

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Partnership Plans for Long Term Care

Many states are assisting their residents to buy LTC insurance.

A helping hand for a pressing need – With the baby boom generation maturing, numerous studies and articles have pointed out the rising need for long term care. Some state governments have directly responded to it.

Now, many states have created partnership programs to encourage their residents to purchase LTC insurance coverage. It only makes sense: if more people opt to privately insure themselves, a state will face less of a burden and less liability when it comes to its own eldercare programs and eldercare costs.

How the partnership plans work – Essentially, these plans provide dollar-for-dollar asset protection when you buy an LTC policy. So for every dollar the policy pays out in benefits, you get an equal dollar amount in asset protection under a state’s Medicaid spend-down regulations.

What does this mean for you? It means that you are able to retain assets you would otherwise have to spend down before you could qualify for state Medicaid benefits. These partnership plans let you protect an amount of funds equal to the amount the policy pays out in benefits and still qualify for state Medicaid assistance (as long as you have used up all policy benefits and still require long term care).

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