In today's #PoisedforExit episode, I interviewed a true Long Term Care expert, Ruth Fay, of Versatile Insurance Services. Ruth has been in the insurance industry for over 30 years; 20 of them in Long Term Care. “It's come a long way” she said. “With the types of products and options available now, you can really customize a product that suits your needs vs the cookie cutter options of the past”.
Ruth knows first hand how devastating it can be when Long Term Care insurance is missing from financial planning. Her father in law had no LTC coverage and ate up all of his personal assets in order to care for himself until he died; to the tune of $20K per month. As Ruth said “how many people or companies could sustain that kind of long term expense?” If you have too many assets to qualify for government medical assistance programs, this could be you.
There are obvious benefits to LTC Insurance, such as giving you the choice of how your personal assets are used. It's when you don't have coverage that your personal assets become your medical cash management account; until they're gone. But there are other benefits as well as having more choice, such as tax advantages. Both the Federal government and local State governments have special deductions for business owners who opt to buy LTC Insurance. Why? Because they want to incent people who take their healthcare into their own hands vs rely on future government healthcare programs; most of which will look very different when it comes time for us to use them. So, for those who can afford to buy their own long term care insurance policies, it behooves them to take advantage of the tax benefits.
If you already have Life Insurance, Ruth said it's possible to add a Long Term Care Rider to the existing policy or roll it over into a product that allows for it and was built for that. It's called a 1035 Exchange, and it's worth learning more about.
The statistics are that 70% of all married couples will have at least one of the spouses in need of Long Term Care. Pretty high odds that it will happen to you and me….
“What do you want your life to be like in the event you need care?” This is a question that Ruth asks every client. Some say they'll go and live with one of their children, some say they have a facility in mind where they'd move to, and others say they would have someone come into the house to help them. In each of those situations, Long Term Care insurance is necessary.
Listen to the full interview here to learn more.
Find Ruth here: https://www.visins.com/about-us/#team or on Linked In
Email Ruth here: Ruth@visins.com
Find Julie here: https://www.poisedforexit.com/
Thank you to this month's sponsors! Village Bank, Baker Tilly, and Sunbelt Business Advisors.
Are you ready for your best exit? There is no time like the present to prepare.
Check out these resources offered by KeyeStrategies:
- Business Readiness Transition online course
- Free Ebook download here
- Purchase Poised for Exit book here
