Helping Clients With Long-Term Care Plans
Long-term care woes are rapidly escalating. Rising medical costs, improved longevity and continued low interest rates are taking a toll on an industry many clients will rely on to take care of them on old age.
Amidst these problems planners must evolve their own strategies on how to best help clients meet their future needs. Below are some components an advisor should address to help clients create the best possible plan:
- Home Front. Home equity continues to be the most significant asset for a majority of older Americans. Yet as clients begin aging, home maintenance becomes a burden and downsizing may not have much financial benefit. Better ideas include renting in an area where there is good elder support, moving to a continuing care community, or living with family members.
- Default Care. Identify potential caretakers and create agreements long before the need arises. Financial planners can help families negotiate the best process.
- Too Much Stuff. Create a plan as to how jewelry, collections, and other valuables should be insured and protected. Discuss car ownership and a transportation plan before a client can become a danger to themselves or others. If a client drives less than a couple thousand miles a year, paying someone else to drive may provide cost benefits.
- Quality of Life Choices. Help clients become empowered patients by documenting acceptable quality of life measures, and sharing those decisions with medical providers and everyone else who has input on their care. In doing so, the medical system will have a defined end point of when to move away from aggressive curative care to palliative care.
See Carolyn McClanahan, Create a Long-Term Care Plan—Without Insurance, Financial Planning, March 18, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing) for bringing this article to my attention.