By Terry Stanfield
As the title of this says, the belief that you cannot afford long-term care insurance is nothing more than a myth. The truth of the matter is that everyone can afford long-term care insurance, and everyone who is interested in retirement planning should. The premiums are not high when they are compared with the long-term care cost that families, or the individual, will have to incur over the course of the long-term care life.
If you are worried that you cannot afford long-term care insurance, then start getting the premiums as early as you can. There is nothing wrong with a 30-year-old doing retirement planning. In fact, the younger you are, the lower your premiums are. Often, a 30-year-old will pay $100 or more less than a senior citizen will in their monthly insurance premiums to pay for their long-term care insurance. The types of young individuals who take the initiative to start retirement planning understand the long-term care cost they may have to pay for without the insurance, and they understand that nearly half of all those who use long-term care services are not over the age of 65.
Long-term care is incredibly important and an individual should make the effort to afford long-term care insurance because it will make things easier, financially speaking, on their family and themselves. Costs can run as high as $5,000 per month for long-term care, and without long-term care insurance, an individual's savings can disappear very quickly.
For the cost of cable television or monthly payments on that exercise machine you bought but never use, you can afford to pay your insurance premiums on your long-term care plan. There is no reason you cannot afford long-term care insurance when you make the effort to cut back on non-essentials. There is nothing more essential than making sure you have the money to get the long-term care you need in case you need help with your day-to-day activities.
Do not think that you will only need it when you are 80. Your life can change in an instant, and even at the young age of 40 you can require long-term care because of an accident, surgery, or illness. Christopher Reeve was healthy and fit at the age of 41, at the age of 42 he was paralyzed from the neck down because of a fall from a horse. He required long-term care for the rest of his life. If it can happen to Superman, it can happen to anyone.
Conclusion
If you believe the myth that only some can afford long-term care insurance, then you need to give your head a shake. Everyone, even if they have to cut back on that latte every day, can afford long-term care insurance when they make the initiative. Retirement planning for long-term care cost is an effective way of taking your future by the horns and ensuring your family does not have to pay for your care, thereby putting financial stresses on them as well. Everyone can afford long-term care insurance, it is just a matter of whether or not they want to take the initiative and pay for it.
By Terry Stanfield
Years ago, people never bothered about long term care or thought about it. As parents aged, they often relied on their children to care for them. Today, most parents do not want to burden their children with their care in their old age. And people are living to a remarkable old age as well. This is one of the reasons why you should consider long term care insurance.
What is long term care insurance? Long term care insurance allows for you to provide for your own care if you happen to become incapacitated and need long term care. As people get older, there is a 70 percent chance that they will need some sort of long term care in their lives. While part of this care can be covered by Medicare, most of it is not. This is where long term care insurance steps in. It can cover what Medicare does not instead of allowing your care to eat away at your savings.
Who should get long term care insurance? We never know what the future will bring. It is advisable for you to plan for your future as there is a good chance that you may need long term care. This involves care in a rehabilitation facility as well as an assisted living residence. Most hospitals will send patients to rehabilitation facilities as soon as they are out of danger and Medicare does not cover much of those costs. This is why it is important for anyone to get long term care insurance - to plan for their future.
What type of plans are available? Your plan will depend on your age and health. You can get a plan that will pay $150 a day for your long term health care for up to four years. One of the best aspects about this type of plan is that the money is drawn out of the pool of money set aside in the plan for your long term care. Many times, people go to rehab and then are back out. When this occurs, you do not have to continue paying and your money stays safe in your plan, ready to be used again if you need it.
You can also get an inflation option on your long term care insurance package as well. As you know, $150 years from now will not be worth as much as $150 today. For a few dollars more a month, you can get an inflation rider on your insurance package.
One way to save money for the long term care insurance package is by getting a higher exclusion period. There are exclusion periods of 30, 60 and 90 days. This is similar to a deductible on auto insurance. The longer the exclusion period, the less expensive the policy.
Long term health care insurance is something for everyone to think about, no matter what health you are in. We never can be sure of what the future holds. It is best to be prepared with long term care insurance.
By Neil Gholson
What is the deal with the instant long term care insurance quotes that are all over the net. Lets take a closer.
There are many choices on how we search for information today. Not only do we have resource libraries, and media opinions, but we now have the greatest source of all. A completely unlimited resource that doesn't care about politics, or media opinions, or the flavor of the day. It's the information highway, the internet! With the likes of search engines like Google, and Yahoo at our very finger tips it's very simply to do a quick search on virtually any topic in question. Unfortunately, just like the predecessors before the internet, some things can be manipulated to fool the average consumer. Let's take a basic search for Long Term Care Insurance. Oh my, millions and millions of hits,now what?? Well as consumers, we think all we need is a price and then just pick the best one, sometimes possibly, but not in the case of long term care insurance. One price does not fit every American's inquiry on the internet search engines.For example, let's say we have a married couple in their late 50's in reasonably good health. They eat right and take care of themselves physically. Easy right, any product for Long Term Care Insurance. nope, way to many variables. There is absolutely no way this couple could get a fair and honest shake from a site that promises an instant quote.
There are always three basic drivers of a long term care insurance plan that determines what company, product, and size of plan one needs, health, age and finances.
Health determines best company to utilize; age determines what product is best suited for you; and finances determines size of plans you can comfortably afford. Instant long term care insurance quotes websites may be able to go through a short list of health questions on a site to see if you are even remotely eligible, but that's it.
Then there are medications, doses, pending surgeries, and other controlled conditions that might make a difference to an insurance company.
Age is easy enough, but some carriers offer better rates at certain ages than others.
Finances are a very unlikely topic to inadvertently display for who knows who, so that's out too.
Now, I'm sure this is beginning to make complete sense. Only if I had never taken any medications, known exactly what company and plan I can afford, then I could possibly get an Instant Quote from the internet.
The bottom line, you need an expert in this field to make recommendations about your future needs. Your stock broker, financial planner, tax accountant, lawyer know little more about long term care insurance, other than they know you need it. That is still more than these instant long term care insurance quotes websites. Ask an expert that specializes in long term care insurance and represents several companies. They are out there, don't trust the protection of your assets and choices in your care to anyone other than a true expert. Some sites are good, and your name goes to an licensed agent in your state who is an expert in long term care insurance, as well as partnerships, LTCi tax laws and other localized situations. Get as much information as possible so that you can make an educated decision on your long term care insurance plan.
A lot of these sites will give you low quotes to get you signed up and in the door, but just wait for your first real quote from them. Talk about sticker shock! All you would have accomplished is high blood pressure and a waste of time. Something this is important is worth doing right the first time around.
By Terry Stanfield
When looking at a long term care insurance quote, there are many factors which can determine the cost to you. This article will give you six important points you should consider when looking at a ltci quote. Much of this is determined by type of benefits you want, your age, and which company you want to work with. This will allow you to be an educated consumer when purchasing this insurance product.
Looking at long term care insurance quotes, what you want your policy to include and when you receive your policy will cause changes in the quotes you will receive. This article will give you more information about what companies you should look for among other factors.
The types of benefits you receive will help determine your cost of long-term care. These types of benefits can include whether you will receive in-home services, care at a nursing home or from services based in your community.
Your age is going to determine the cost of the policy. If you are younger and buying a policy, you will almost certainly receive a lower premium.
You will want to look at different types of companies. Your employer may be able to offer this type of insurance or you may want to look at individual companies.
Your quote can be contingent upon how you want benefits to be paid out. Some policies allow you to spend a certain maximum in whatever way you want while others offer a maximum based upon a daily, weekly, or monthly time frame.
The age at which you can start using your benefits will be a question that an insurance agent will ask you.
You will want to think about what kind of daily benefits you will receive. Your quote will be higher when you want higher daily benefits.
Hopefully this has given you good information regarding long term care insurance quotes. More information is always better so that you have an idea what to expect and you can have thought through what you want out of your policy.
By Terry Stanfield
When tax season comes, all anyone seems to talk about is deductions. Not surprisingly, one of the most common questions about long-term care insurance premiums is "Can I deduct them?"
Well, the truth is that you can, in some cases, so find out where you sit in terms of deduction scenarios to find out what you can deduct from your long-term care insurance premiums.
First of all, if you are an individual taxpayer that does not itemize, then you are unable to claim a deduction on your long-term care insurance premiums. However, if you do itemize deductions then you can deduct the health insurance premium but it is limited to the lesser of the actual premium, or eligible long-term care premium.
If you are a self-employed tax payer, including partnerships, members of LLC, or sole proprietors, then you are eligible for a self-employed health insurance deduction on your IRS Form but it is limited to the lesser of actual premium paid but it is not subject to the 7.5 percent of Adjusted Gross Income threshold.
If your premiums are paid for by an employer, the employer will treat the long-term care insurance premiums as accident and health plans. These premiums would then be deductible to the employer and would not be including in the income of the employee.
It can get a bit complicated to understand what you can deduct and what you cannot deduct when tax season comes around. As a result, it is important that you contact your tax adviser or accountant to find out exactly what you can and cannot do. You do not want to try and deduct something you cannot and then face an audit, and at the same time you do not want to neglect to deduct what you can, forcing you to pay more or receive less on your income tax rebate.
If you do your own taxes, then consult your insurance company to find out what you are able to deduct on the long-term care insurance premiums that you pay to them. The representatives should be more than helpful in answering your questions and ensuring you do not end up audited, or not deducting what you can.
Summary Tax season is a stressful time for citizens and accountants alike. It is a time of trying to figure out what to deduct, what to exclude and how to get as much bang for their buck as possible. As a result, people will try and deduct everything that they can, including long-term care insurance premiums.
Many do not realize, however, what they can deduct in terms of their long-term care insurance premiums, but if they take the time to research the tax information and figure out where they sit in terms of the type of taxpayer they are, they should be able to figure it out. In the worst case scenario, an individual should just ask for help from an accountant or insurance representative who will be happy to answer any questions.
By Terry Stanfield
Long term insurance coverage is part of a plan leading to a financially stable and safe future in case of a long term care event. However, if you do not have any provisions in place, then you should begin to look into LTC insurance to help make your life, and the lives of your family, more secure.
There are many factors to look for when you are getting long-term care insurance coverage, and we will cover the most important in this article. Overall, you want to make sure that the long-term care insurance coverage policy you get is going to cover you for everything you need in case you need long-term care. Factor in your current financial situation, your savings, and more.
1. Make sure that the financial strength of the long-term care insurance coverage carrier has financial strength. This is because most policyholders will not receive the benefits of the coverage plan they are paying into for as much as ten to 30 years, so you need to make sure the company will still be around then.
2. You should find out about the daily benefit of the long-term care insurance coverage plan. It can cost up to as much as $100 to $200 per day for long-term care services, so make sure your plan will cover that.
3. Inflation is a terrible thing, but it is nearly unstoppable, so you should factor it into any long-term care insurance coverage plan you get. A nursing home right now currently costs about $130 per day, while in 14 years that will be $260 per day at a five percent growth rate. Inflation is a very important part of any long-term care coverage plan. Do not forget about it or you could end up with too little money, too late.
4. Making sure you have comprehensive coverage that will cover home care, nursing home care and more.
5. Look at the claims process of the company you are looking at using, including finding out what the claims process is and how many filed claims have been paid.
6. Find out about stable premiums. Long-term care insurance coverage providers can raise premiums, so find out about their rate of increases before you go with them.
Conclusion When you get long-term care insurance, you need to make sure that the insurance is not going to leave you just as worse off because you did not do your research. You should find out about the plans they offer, what their coverage is like, the claims process and factor in for inflation.
Doing this means you will not be left high and dry when it comes time to get your long-term care insurance claim processed. You do not want to have to pay out $200 per day from your savings every month because you only factored in a $75 daily charge for a nursing home. Plan ahead, do your research and get the help of the a long-term care agent that represents many long term care providers, you will not be sorry.
By Rebecca Gold
Today's modern lifestyle is one of instant gratification, instant results and, of course, instant credit. Carrying cash is regarded as old-fashioned; everyone's wallets are stuffed full of plastic. Credit cards are ideal because you can spend now and pay back later, when the cheques come rolling in. Over three million people in the UK have five or more credit cards. The only thing that used to slow down this instant lifestyle was the length of time it took to apply for your plastic. How things have changed
With instant approval credit cards you can get another credit card, fast. Instant approval is, as its name suggests, a specification relating to the application of the card and the guidelines set by the card company, not the card type itself. Cashback cards, reward cards and other types of credit cards can all come with the benefit of instant approval, if you can find the right card provider. Once you have found the type of card that you want, simply find a company that offers instant approval. But what exactly is 'instant approval'?
Even 60 seconds can seem like a long time, so you may want to spend the time considering what happens to your application once you?ve hit the 'apply' button. Once you have filled out your online application, the bank checks what is known as your credit rating. Although it is commonly called a 'rating', which suggests a number or score, it is more like a dossier or credit history on your credit behaviour patterns. This history contains information that financial service companies will need to know in order to decide whether they will accept you as a client. This includes details such as whether you make your monthly repayments on time, how much credit you are entitled to, missed payments or bad debt and your basic details such as your name and address, gathered from the electoral roll.
A lot can happen in 60 seconds. The bank's computer checks the form and compares it with your credit report. Your credit report is held by one of the major credit referencing agencies and has details of your credit history. Your report also contains more mundane information such as your name and address. All of this information is compared to the information you have provided on your online application form.
What happens next depends on the company you are dealing with. In some cases the decision really is as almost instantaneous. However, there is still a two-day period during which time the paperwork is double checked. Once everything is in order, the card is sent out to you through the post. Other companies do more extensive checks that can take longer. Even at this point you can still be declined after the initial potential 'yes'. Banks simply aren't going to take the risk if they later find something that doesn't meet their criteria on that the automated system may have missed.
Instant approval credit cards can be applied for in moments and you can have your initial decision within seconds. In the fast moving, electronic age, these are the ideal types of cards to have alongside our other instant gratification technology. With the advent of faster Internet connections and home banking facilities, all steps in the credit card application process can be performed from a computer well away from queues and lengthy form filling. Simply look up the card you want on a price comparison site, fill out an online form and that's it, your card could be with you in days.