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Search Results for: affluent

Complicated LTC Financing Made Easy

August 27, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

I believe the comments below, republished with permission from the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, are useful for the public. They explain why long-term care insurance (LTCi) is good not only for people, but also for America. 

Here is a simple, concise overview of the the complicated principles of long-term care financing in the US:

Age WaveLTC Comment:  Let’s begin with a few facts:

  • Medicaid pays for most formal long-term care whether in nursing homes or home care.
  • Medicaid is a counter-cyclical welfare program.  It ramps up caseloads and expenditures, usually with extra help from the federal government, during recessions.
  • The United States has experienced two major recessions in the 21st century, the Great Recession of 2007-2009 being the worst since the Depression.
  • To combat recessions, the federal government employs deficit spending (as when it borrows to boost Medicaid assistance).  This is called “fiscal policy.”
  • Deficit spending (fiscal policy) has created a huge national debt, currently nearing $18.4 trillion according to the US Debt Clock.
  • To combat recessions, the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates and increases the money supply.  This is called “monetary policy.”
  • Artificially low interest rates have discouraged savings, impaired the market for LTC insurance by reducing its profitability and increasing its cost, and diverted capital away from economically productive investments and into “bubbles” of real estate, stocks and bonds, benefiting mostly the affluent.
  • The same monetary policies have hurt the poor and middle class by stifling job creation, repressing wage growth, and practically eliminating income on savings.
  • Low interest rates and a bloated money supply (monetary policy) have failed to revive the U.S. economy fully after the Great Recession, making the Fed very reluctant to allow interest rates to increase.
  • We find ourselves on the cusp of an unprecedented “Age Wave.”  The huge baby-boomer population cohort does not reach the age of heaviest LTC need (85+) until 2031.
  • Social Security and Medicare run out of “trust funds” in the 2030s, but in the meantime the federal government has to make up these gargantuan entitlement programs’ annual revenue shortfalls and pay off their trust funds’ IOUs with interest out of general funds (taxes and borrowing).
  • America’s fiscal and monetary tools are worn out.  We have too much debt to borrow more safely if interest rates increase and too much money supply to print more.
  • Our artificially suppressed interest rates are too low to be lowered further in order to combat the next recession.
  • In a nutshell, the U.S. economy may not be able to generate the revenue needed to support our long-term care safety net in the short-run and definitely cannot over the long-term without major changes in fiscal and monetary policies.
  • Ironically, this state of affairs benefits the elite at the expense of the needy for whom the elite hypocritically profess noblesse oblige.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Proof that Millionaires Need Long-Term Care Insurance

June 12, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

MillionaireA recent New York Times article titled “Millionaires Who Are Frugal When They Don’t Have to Be” resonated with me. It describes the spending habits of many multi-millionaires and sheds light on why people of high net worth should definitely own long-term care insurance (LTCi).

The article confirms what I have seen over and over again during my 25-year career when very affluent people need long-term care.

From the article: “There were common threads in this group. These were people who had all made the money in their own lifetimes and done that as much by saving, investing and making careful choices about spending as by making large salaries.”

Such people create their own wealth and happiness step by step, painstakingly, responsibly, day-by-day. It’s hard! Money is happiness and security. They do not like spending it. Each dollar still has great meaning, even when you have more than enough money to buy just about anything you want, with no concern.

For many years in my practice, most of the time, people who can well afford to self-insure (pay all of their expenses themselves) for long-term care, choose not to!

I see this over and over again and have testimonials from very affluent clients admitting they would not be availing themselves of home care or assisted living were it not for their LTCi.

I have testimonials from children of affluent clients admitting their lives are much different, they are not bound and shackled into caregiving roles, because their parent owned and collected from their LTCi (check this site’s Testimonials page).

I see personal friends who had the opportunity to buy LTCi but did not when they were able to. I know they have the resources to pay for long-term care, but instead, the healthier spouse and/or kids are their caregivers. This outcome is stressful, regrettable, avoidable and undignified!

Filed Under: Denial, Elephant in the Room, Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, New York Times, The Magic of owning long-term care insurance Tagged With: Honey Leveen, Long Term Care insurance, LTCi, www.honeyleveen.com

Denial is a Curious Beast

December 15, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Denial Is A Curious BeastRefusal to plan for long-term care and refusal to believe manmade activities are creating global warming are caused by the same thing. What a revelation to me! A book called Living in Denial, by Kari Marie Norgaard examines the causes of climate change denial.

Here’s an essay about Dr. Norgaard’s book. I love the fact that her book defines the three different types of denial:

  • Literal denial. This is the outright refusal to believe the facts and to dispute the consensus science, and even to deny the existence of a scientific consensus. Many so-called “climate skeptics” fit into this category.
  • Interpretive denial. This involves not disputing the underlying reality, but using euphemisms and framing to distort meaning. An example of this kind of denial might be the Government of Alberta claiming that it is improving emissions intensity (emissions per barrel) from the oil sands, while absolute emissions of CO2 are increasing rapidly due to growing bitumen production.
  • Implicatory denial. Here, the facts are not denied or re-interpreted, but instead “the psychological, political or moral implications that conventionally follow” from those facts are denied or ignored.  Implicatory deniers accept the reality of human-caused climate change, but they live their lives as if the problem was little to do with them. This variety of denial is the main focus of the book. Most of us who live at a high standard of living in developed countries are guilty to some degree of implicatory denial.

These are exactly the same denial behaviors I see all the time!

For 25 years I’ve had well-educated, affluent friends and acquaintances who like, respect, and trust me, make excuses to not talk with me about reasonable, responsible long-term care planning. Intellectually, these people know better. They are making sound decisions in other areas of their lives, but they refuse to accept the fact that after age 65, they might be one of the 70% of us are going to need some sort of long-term care.

There’s little about denial that makes sense to me.

Filed Under: Denial, Elephant in the Room, Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC Tagged With: Climate Change, Global warming, Honey Leveen, Karie Marie Norgaard, Living in Denial, Long Term Care insurance, long-term care, LTCi, www.honeyleveen.com

Failure to Plan for LTC Akin to Denial of Climate Change

September 26, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Climate ChangeIt felt almost revelatory to realize the nearly perfect correlation between climate change deniers and people who refuse to plan responsibly for their long-term care.

Both denials appear to involve active refusal to accept facts.

According to one of many sources you may know (Google), the majority of us (77% in this instance), believe in global warming. That’s a strong majority.

This is approximately the same percentage of Baby Boomers who are concerned about their ability to pay for long-term care, depending on the study you read.

All reputable sources predict that 70% of us reaching age 65 will need long-term care at some point in our lives.

Fewer than one-third of us have saved for long-term care.

According to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, only about ten percent of us who are age and income-appropriate  own long-term care insurance (LTCi).

The facts are conclusive, there’s an 8,000 pound elephant of long-term care in the room.

Here’s  additional information on how unwise it is to deny the need for long-term care planning.

In the case of long-term care denial, I can give you one story after another about otherwise well-educated, affluent friends, who can afford LTCi premiums, have had first-hand experience being a caregiver, and who would be catastrophically affected if they need care for anything but a short period of time.

If I hadn’t seen in excess of 300 of the LTCi policies I’ve sold during the past 25 years pay off for my clients, if I hadn’t seen the transformative difference LTCi ownership makes, if I hadn’t been often thanked by clients for selling them their LTCi, I might almost be amused by the excuses people give me for not being willing to discuss long-term care planning with me.

I can understand hoping for the best, waging a fierce battle against the odds, and cultivation of an ever-present positive attitude. These things are helpful. This is not the same as denial. Denial is a straightforward avoidance of, a refusal to accept the facts. Such denial often leads to tragic outcomes.

Filed Under: 3 in 4 Need More, Denial, Elephant in the Room, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: American Associatin for Long-Term Care Insurance, Honey Leveen, Long Term Care insurance, long-term care, LTCi, www.aaltci.org, www.honeyleveen.com, www.longtermcare.gov

LTCi Current Events

August 25, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

LTCi Current EventsI’ve just returned from my third long-term care insurance (LTCi) conference of the year, where I again was told that sales of new LTCi policies were down 26.5% in 2013 in terms of premiums and 22.9% in terms of number of policies. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that we have many excellent products to help people prepare for the high risk and cost of needing long-term care. Some are new and some are traditional LTCi products. The newer products are non-traditional life insurance and annuity policies specifically designed to protect for LTC. These products greatly leverage premiums paid in if long-term care is needed. These new products are good; the bugs are out. They work.

LTCi premiums can be made reasonable and affordable. What may not be reasonable is needing LTC for anything but a short period of time and not owning LTCi.

If you are middle class-to-affluent, it is irrational to put off responsible LTC planning.

Sadly, most people remain irrational about the need for responsible LTC planning. There is something about the human psyche that dislikes having conversations about unpleasant, yet probable events in the future. I meet many people who can afford to own LTCi, yet instead they spend the cost of LTCi premium on “toys.” Such people are often financially and emotionally unprepared when the need for LTC arises. Sadly, such circumstances will increase as time passes.

This past year, the media has been more helpful than ever when it comes to broadcasting why the government can’t and won’t pay for LTC, as well as how important it is for Americans to plan for LTC on their own, in advance.

Despite this, Americans still refuse to acknowledge this grim, true advice.

Medicaid, a government funded program, pays for the majority of LTC in the US. Click on this link to see my blogs on why Medicaid-funded LTC is not the type of care people who own LTCi would choose.

Please share this information with people you care about. Do not be discouraged when they make up excuses to avoid LTC planning; instead, I hope you’ll keep trying to influence them. The time to plan and be prepared for LTC is now.

Filed Under: Elephant in the Room, Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC Tagged With: Center for Long-Term Care Reform, Honey Leveen, Long Term Care insurance, LTC, LTCi, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Stephen Moses, Steve Moses, www.honeyleveen.com

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Honey Leveen, LUTCF, CLTC, LTCP
“The Queen, by Self-Proclamation, of Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi)”
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Phone: 713-988-4671
Fax: 281-829-7177

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

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