Eldercare & the Economics of Aging
How to successfully plan your legacy
By VIVAN P. GALLO

Over the past 30 years, medical and pharmaceutical advancements have increased baby boomers’ longevity by decades, far beyond that of their parents. In addition, many boomers married and had families at much later ages than their parents, thus creating what is frequently referred to as the “sandwich generation.”

Boomers face the responsibility of not only taking care of their own growing children but simultaneously seeing to the needs of aging and frail parents.

For today’s boomers, one of their biggest fears is outliving their wealth.

Today’s generation sees their parents setting goals for early and significantly longer years of retirement than prior generations. Financial planning to accumulate wealth and estate planning to preserve and support them through what are now decades of retirement require a different strategy.

Changes in the health-care system, tax and Medicaid legislation such as the Deficit Reduction Act enacted in February 2006 have also significantly changed our estate-planning needs. Despite what many Americans would like to think, Medicare and Medicaid do not provide a safety net for long-term care.

Although most people think of long-term care as an issue for the elderly, approximately 40 percent of long-term-care services are provided to people between the ages of 18 and 65. So it is never too soon to consider long-term-care insurance.

Long-term-care insurance planning also includes budgeting for its cost throughout your retirement years to provide the safety net that can preserve your dignity, quality of life and the retirement savings earmarked as your family’s legacy. The sooner you put a plan in place, the more likely you will qualify for coverage, and possibly at discounted preferred health rates.

Understandably, many people have great difficulty facing and discussing the issue of long-term care, not to mention the required premium outlay for the rest of their lives.

Financial, tax, estate and long-term care planning are all integrated. No one professional adviser can provide all the expertise needed to put and keep all our affairs in order as our needs and the laws constantly change. To reach your retirement and estate planning goals, you must be proactive by first initiating and then continuously updating your plan as changes take place over the course of your lifetime.

Vivian P. Gallo is president of Choices for Long Term Care Insurance. Reach her at ChoicesforLTCI@aol.com.

 

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