This week, we look at premiums of traditional, stand-alone LTC plans. Diane shares a plan that her clients designed 10 years ago when they were 49 and compares that to the same plan for a 49 year old couple today, a 59 year old couple today and a 69 year old couple today.

Listen and learn how both premiums and benefits at each age (and time) differ.

You'll be surprised when learning the total premiums paid at 49 and 69, and more importantly, the difference in benefits availabe at age 79 for each plan.

View current and projected costs of care where you live here

Be sure to use a 5% cost of living rate as that's the average cost of care increase over the last 30 years.

Schedule a phone or zoom meeting with me to start designing your plan here

Let's wotk together so you and your favorite people are prepared for tomorrow!

This week, Diane compares 10 year hybrid Life/LTC plans with 10 year paid up funding for a couple age 50, age 60, and age 70 to share why it's so much better for everyone when we plan early.

Even though we don't want to think about it, at age 50, we need to consider what our 70 year old self, our 80 year old self and even our 90 year old self may be like and what kind of help we may need.

Genuinely see the older people around you - your family, people at the grocery store, people walking out to their mailbox to get the mail. Are they moving more slowly or unbalanced as compared to how they may have been able to move around 10, 20 or 30 years ago?

Why would we really think we'll be different?

By starting at age 50 onstead of 60, you could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in premiums over your lifetime, get your policies paid in full before you retire and then have 10 times what you paid in premiums to pay for care needs wherever you and your family and doctor sees as the best and safest place for you to live and get help living.

You'll know you have a plan for when things don't go as planned.

View current and projected costs od care where you live here and remember to use a 5% cost of living adjustment when considering future costs as that is the average rate of inflation on LTC services.

Schedule a phome or zoom meetign to start designing your plan here

It's football season! This week, Diane compares football to LTC planning.

Every team needs a quarterback, position players and a strong defense.

We also need depth - a back up plan in case something or someone isn't the right fit for our needs.

We need strategies and gameplans so we are prepared for tomorrow.

The most difficult part of LTC planing is we never know what we're going to need to defend against or when we need to be ready to defend. No one is sending a schedule in advance, so we need to prepare today to have the best plan we can obtain no matter who our opponent is.

I'll be your coach and help you strengthen your strategies and your team so you can all be Prepared for Tomorrow.

Email me at diane@preparing4tomorrow.com and I'll email you a Planning Guide to help you start thinking about how and where and with whom you would want to live if you can no longer live independently.

Schedule a phone or zoom meeting wih me to start designing your gameplan here

This week, we're discussing worksite/group LTC plans, which have evolved a lot since group plans started being offered through employers.

Jason Dutra with BuddyIns shares how they are committed to helping the 50+ million family caregivers in the U.S. today.

He shares how today's worksite offerings differ from those offered in previous decades, including guaranteed premiums that never change. This was a big concern with past plans and has now been resolved.

We discuss how worksite plans help both employers and employees prepare for tomorrow's industry and family needs.

We also discuss why someone can benefit from having both a worksite and an individual plan.

Listen and schedule some time with me here to plan for yourself.

Schedule a 15 minute meeting here to see if a worksite solution can bring value to your company.

View both current and projected future costs of care where you live here and be sure to use a 5% cost of living/inflation factor as that's what we've witnessed over the last three decades.

So many people want a long term care plan with all the bells and whistles. They want a plan that will pay for everything that could ever happen. These plans are often priced higher than a budget allows.

Why do people state that they want no coverage if they can't get the best plan out there?

We don't do this anywhere but with LTC insurance.

Do we not own a car because we can't afford a Tesla? No.

Do we not eat because we can't afford the steak? No.

When I work wit you, we work together to determine how much risk is both acceptable and affordable.

There are plans offered to people on a stricter budget. There are plans that accept medical concerns that other plans don't accept. There are plans offered to age 89 in some states.

Listen and then scheudle some time to work through this together here

This week, Diane uses the Parable of the Sower to share different reactions to LTC planning that occur in the United States.

Are you the hard soil? The rocky soil? The thorny soil? The fertile soil?

After listening, you can schedule a phone or zoom meeting with me to start planning to prepare for your family's tomorrow here

Many have been advised by a financial planner, estate planning attorney or other professional that they have enough assets to "self-insure" future LTC needs.

The question is not "can I afford it?" but "Is this the best use of assets to fund future care needs?"

This episode is full of questions you should be asking yourself and your advisors if they tell you you can afford to self-fund.

Listen and schedule some time with me to consider the risk and search for the most cost-efficient ways to pay for extended care here

View current and projected costs of care where you live here

Learn what your state Medicaid system lets you keep here

This week, I'm sharing what I learned about public LTC funding in Germany and how it's managed. Their national/local public funding initiative is alreaday underfunded by taxes, and the aging population there is expected to increase by 37% over the next 30 years.

This is miniscule as compared to our aging population in the U.S.

We need to learn from our past mistakes as well as from what other countries are attempting in this arena.

Thank you to the Center for LTC Reform for their articles https://www.dw.com/en/german-nursing-homes-see-cost-for-care-explode/a-73501150 and https://centerltc.com/bullets/archives2003/469.htm

And please schedule some time to Prepare for Your Tomorrow today here