For Professionals

The Need For Long-Term Care Should Be Discussed

Over the past decade, most professionals have come to understand the significance of long-term care and its potential for significant negative impact on a family’s emotional and financial well-being. However, sometimes professionals are uncomfortable discussing the subject of long-term care if they do not fully understand what it is, or more specifically, how long-term care planning works. Also, professionals may not want to risk their credibility by providing inaccurate advice or recommendations on long-term care insurance or other aspects of long term care planning. Understandably, they fear it could impact the confidence and trust their client places in the professional’s current services being offered.

Professionals Have a Fiduciary Obligation to Discuss Long-Term Care Planning Options

In addition to the possibility of providing inaccurate advice or recommendations on long-term care insurance, professionals need also be aware of the risks associated with the professional liability of failing to address the subject of long-term care insurance altogether.

Offer Your Clients Expert Advice on Long-Term Care Insurance

Goodwill is vital to continued success with your clients. Referring your clients to a true long-term care insurance specialist not only protects them, it protects you! The long-term care insurance industry changes frequently with mergers and acquisitions, new policies and underwriting differences. Referring your clients to a long-term care insurance specialist ensures they will get expert advice on a complicated issue, freeing up your time to focus on what you do best!

Protecting Your Client's Estate
Attorneys who advise clients about future financial security and concerns fulfill their professional obligation when they provide informed counsel in the area of long-term care insurance. Counsel should include advising your clients of the available funding options and consequences of not planning for the contingency of prolonged and expensive long-term care.
Avoid Being Sued for Negligence!
Affiliating yourself with a long-term care insurance specialist gives you the ability to offer your clients appropriate advice on whether or not they should purchase the insurance. It will also assist in determining which type of policy and plan design is best for them. The many nuances and ever changing aspect of long-term care insurance are not something you probably have time to stay on top of. Why not protect yourself and your clients by working with a long-term care insurance specialist?
Planning For Incapacity
Needing long-term care can definitely incapacitate your clients! Implementing long-term care insurance ahead of time can assist with a lot of the issues involved. The overall estate planning attorneys provide may not be complete without long-term care insurance.
Coordinating and Insuring Your Client's Right to Quality Care
You may be involved in assisting your clients with locating the appropriate type of care, coordinating private and public resources to finance the cost of care, and working to ensure the client's right to quality care. Most long-term care insurance policies provide benefits that can assist you and their families with these issues. These benefits can be found in the care coordination part of the policy. A long-term care insurance policy can assist with the funding of their care to help retain quality care in the setting of their choice.
Tax Advantages and Consequences
Retirement and tax planning are important areas of financial planning that accountants and CPA's frequently discuss with clients. However, many accountants often avoid discussing the need for a contingency plan to meet the costs of a long-term care illness. This is understandable-long-term care and long-term care insurance can be an emotionally charged issue that some clients would prefer not to broach. Nevertheless, making good decisions to meet this contingency is prudent financial management. You have a real opportunity to help clients prepare for the future. While it may be a difficult subject to raise, your clients will make a better decision if you help educate them.
Preserve Your Client's Wealth
A good long-term care insurance policy will enhance your client's estate by substituting insurance dollars to pay for long-term care rather than having to use their principal to pay for it. The cost of care is growing by about 5.8% and in 20 years if your clients lived in an area where care currently costs $60,000 it could cost around $180,000! Please visit the button called LONG-TERM CARE and go to the COST section. You can look up your city and state to see what it costs in your area.
Preserve Your Client's "Step-up" in Capital Gain Basis
Long-term care insurance can help preserve tax attributes like the "step-up" in capital gain basis that otherwise would be lost. Without long-term care insurance, it is possible that additional taxes would be owed to the IRS if those assets had to be liquidated to pay for long-term care.
$13,000 Gift Tax Exclusion
Long-term care insurance can be used to capitalize on their annual gift exclusion allowance. If your clients want to pay the premiums for any family members, the premiums paid (directly to an insurance company) can be considered "gifts." IRC2503(e)  This is in addition to the annual $13,000 gift tax exclusion.
Protect Your Client's Qualified Funds
Many times clients have to liquidate qualified funds to pay for long-term care, and then are hit with the tax ramifications of doing so. A long-term care insurance policy can prevent them from having to liquidate their qualified funds.
Tax Savings for Business Owners
Your clients that own businesses should be educated on how they can purchase long-term care insurance through their business. Long-term care insurance can be paid for by the business for the owner only, unlike other forms of insurance. Please go to the FOR EMPLOYERS button for more information on this.
Integrating With Retirement Planning
When advising your clients on future financial security and concerns, financial advisors, stock brokers, and insurance agents all have a professional obligation to educate their clients on the financial consequences they could face if they needed long-term care. However, many financial advisors avoid discussing long-term care insurance, as they are unfamiliar with all the plans and nuances of the policies. Informed recommendations should include ways to integrate a policy into the total financial plan of your clients, including ways your clients can fund their long-term care insurance. You have a real opportunity to help clients incorporate long-term care insurance with their other retirement planning.
Retirement Income
Assets that have been allocated to provide retirement income can be protected by long-term care insurance. If long-term care is needed, your clients don't have to worry about depleting their investment principal! This will protect the lifestyle of the surviving spouse and/or children.
Fund LTC insurance With Other Products
Use creative funding for long-term care insurance policies! Payments from an immediate annuity or required minimum distribution from a 401k can be used to pay for long-term care premiums, thereby protecting their principal!
Help Your Clients Enjoy Retirement
Long-term care insurance gives your retired clients permission to enjoy retirement. They no longer have to "save" all their money in case they need long-term care. Instead they can buy that RV, or take that trip to Hawaii since they know their long-term care needs will be taken care of!
LTC Insurance Can Assist in Wealth Transfer
You probably recommend life insurance to provide liquidity on death and pay estate taxes that are due upon death. Long-term care insurance protects your client's assets from being spent on long term care. This can ensure that their assets can be transferred as planned.