Most of us will require long-term care at some point in our lives. Planning for long-term care and its costs can seem like a complex experience however making time to plan and seeking expert advice earlier in life can give us greater peace of mind and more time to enjoy the comfort and company of our loved ones. Financing long-term care and learning about the options available to us are essential.
As part of VOYCE’s 2021 Community Education series, we were this month joined by two leading financial planning experts local to the St. Louis area to help us explore some of the available options and strategies for managing personal finances, assets, and estates.
Joining us were Brian G. Quinn, CELA®, with the law firm of Quinn Estate & Elder Law, LLC and Peter Palumbo AIF® Financial Planner with The Palumbo Group of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
Financial Planning
The Palumbo Group of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc is a Financial Advisor for Guardians, Conservators, and Trustees. The Palumbo Group aligns each client’s unique goals, values, and needs with a comprehensive wealth management process that yields a holistic financial plan which addresses the entire financial picture.’
A wide variety of topics and perspectives were explored and explained in detail by our guest presenters including:
- The myths and misconceptions of financing long-term care
- Best practice for estate planning
- Asset management
Peter Palumbo shared that he was passionate about simplifying long-term care and working with clients to explore the options and strategies available in financing long-term care. Peter discussed traditional forms of long-term care planning as well as options including a hybrid of life insurance with a long-term care component. Peter reflected on the highlights and decision points of each path to LTC insurance coverage.
As Peter highlighted to our audience, “One of the biggest risks to your retirement or a family member’s retirement can be long-term care and how to pay for it, it can suck up your assets, the expense can be shocking.”
Reflecting on the fact that most of us will require long-term care in our lifetimes Peter shared, “Someone turning 65 years old has a 70% chance of needing to use long-term care services at some point in their lives. There are a lot of options, and many strategies but also a lot of confusion on how and who can access these options. It’s important that we understand the benefits and insurance policies available to us. At the end of the day, it is all about caring about our loved ones, showing gratitude, and making sure loved ones are comfortable. Long-term care is one of those needs.”
Myths vs. Reality
- Myth: I probably won’t need long-term care.
- Reality: 70% of people aged 65 and older will need some form of long-term care services in their lifetime. As individuals are consistently living longer the need is more important than ever before.
- Myth: My health or disability insurance will cover my long-term care expenses.
- Reality: Your health insurance or long-term disability policy will not cover long-term care expenses. Long Term Care insurance is the only coverage that will pay for your care if you cannot perform everyday living activities such as bathing or dressing.
- Myth: Medicare or Medicaid will cover my long-term care.
- Reality: Many people assume Medicare will pay for their long-term care services. Medicare does not generally cover these costs; it simply pays for skilled nursing care in a nursing home for a short period of time (up to 100 days) following a hospital stay. Medicaid will pay for long-term care, but for those individuals with a very limited income and very little assets.
Estate Planning
Brian Quinn is an Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney and VOYCE Board Member. He joined us to explain how he works closely with clients and their families to provide peace of mind on financial matters, estates, and asset management.
As Brian shared with our audience, “It’s always good to plan ahead – whether in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, or even your 70’s, it’s important to be able to look at the options available for you and your family members.
As an Estate Planning professional Brian has significant experience working closely with clients to ensure that their estates are planned and managed according to their wishes.
Estate Planning is the process of anticipating and arranging, during a person’s life, for the disposal of their estate.
“We want to ensure that our loved ones have a roadmap as to what our wishes are – whether we would like to live in a specific community or receive care at home, how we would like our estate to be managed after we pass.”
“A roadmap is used to make sure that you have someone to manage your finances and health care during a period of disability. A roadmap is used to eliminate uncertainties after death and maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. We want to make sure that we respect the wishes of our clients and that we can provide that peace of mind for all.”
“Working with our clients we can arrange Powers of Attorney (Health Care and Finances), manage HIPAA Authorization, arrange Last Will and Testament and their Living Trust.
Brian explored his role as an Elder Law professional, explaining that Elder Law is focused on helping clients protect and use their money during their lifetime according to their wishes. “We want to protect, preserve and extend your assets during your lifetime and ensure that you can receive the care that you want to, that you have worked hard to be able to afford through the course of your lifetime and to make sure that we can help you to accomplish your goals.
Learn More & Get Connected
Long-term care planning is a vital step as we prepare for the future and ensuring peace of mind whilst we care for the ones we love. We recommend connecting with financial planning experts to explore the options and opportunities available for paying for long-term care and managing personal assets.
We are grateful to Peter Palumbo and Brian Quinn for joining us for our 2021 Community Education Series as we explored financing long-term care.
For more information on our guest speakers and their services please visit:
www.oppenheimer.com/palumbogroup
Hi My name is William Cember.
My mom has an estate worth about 2.7 million as follows.
1-Liquid Funds of aprox 1.6 million.
2-An IRA worth about 400 k.
3-Home in Florida worth 500k.
4-Home in NY worth about 200k.
She is 93 years old and in good health totally independent although mentally she is a little quirky but otherwise I would say for that age no real signs of dementia (but some forgetfulness and deception.) She currently has a long term care insurance policy in which she pays a quarterly premium of aprox. $1450 and is promised $431,000 of coverage after a 100 day elimination period of $295.50 a day with some cost of living increases. By the way the insurance is rated as a C+ so im not sure how stable it is. In addition it has notified its customers that it is going through a rate increase of up to 250%. That is what they are asking of the state of NY. The Long term Insurance Company is going through a class action law suit settlement as well and has agreed to the following options for its policy holders.
A-Keep insurance as is but get a premium raise as high as 250% (although I have no idea what is realistic as far as a raise.)
B-Pay zero premium going forward but get 185k of coverage with the same elimination period same daily.
C-Get a 15k payout pay zero premium but coverage lowered 76k limit with same 100 day elimination period. 76k
I am looking for your guidance based on what you know with the odds of needing the insurance v. the premium and the coverage what you think is best option. I am leaning towards just accepting the premium increase but I could say where option B might be better. Option C seems a non starter to me.
Am trying to make the same decisions as the one u asked on may 10th 2023. Was wondering what info was replied ?
My 85 year old mother has dementia. She is in need of long term care Medicaid.