Preparing For Tomorrow podcast

We need to believe that we're going to get through these world events that are being thrown at us every day. We have to believe that we're going to live a long life. When we live a long life, we get old, and when we get old we need help. The massage today is short, and I hope it encourages each of you to continue planning to protect those you care about most. The new 2025 Cost of Care updates were released thjis week and you can see current nd projectewd costs where you live here We're seeing a 13% increase in home care costs across the country. If we want o stay home when we need help getting through our days, we need to plan now to be able to do that. Schedule a phone or Zoom meeting with me to get started here

Just like when we go to an all-you-can-eat buffet, our eyes are bigger than our stomach. With LTC protection, bigger than our budget. We want the best policy that will pay for everything we need for as long as we need care, but our income and savings say we can afford something with less coverage. Or we apply as a couple and one is declined for health. Does this mean we don't get any coverage at all? No! It means we get as much as we can afford for the duration of premiums. If half of our expenses are paid for with insurance, that's using our own assets and income to pay the other half rather than paying for all of our needs ourselves. Our family will be thankful for anything we do to help them help us better. View 2024 and projected costs of care where you live here Please use a 4% or 5% increase in costs when looking in the future years as that's how costs have increased over the last three decades. Learn what your state let's you keep to qualify for Medicaid here Schedule a phone or zoom meeting to start designing your plan here

I get so many calls from families trying to find caregiving support answers for their older parent or relative. They've reached a point where they are overwhelmed and need help providing for their loved one. This is not the time to look for insurance. The choices are limited and have higher costs because at age 75 or 80, we're close to or at the age when the insurance companies think we'll open a claim. That parent should have considered LTC funding options at 50 or 55. But 50 and 55 year olds too often believe we'll be in the same health mentally and physically at 75 or 80, and that's usually not the case. We need to plan for this WAY before that need shows up. Parents who waited too long must encourage their kids to plan now so this doesn't turn into a never ending cycle of kids spending all of their time and money providing for parents and then not being able to provide for themselves later, depending on their kids' time and money, etc. I promised links to learn more about Medicaid. This link shows what each state let's us keep to be financially eligible for Medicaid benefits: What your state let's you keep This link shares how each state qualifies an individual for Medicad benefits: Elder Law Answers Schedule with me here to start working on your plan to protect your family, assets and choices and avoid being told where to live by the state.

Many people inquire about LTC insurance and unfortunately get incorrect or incomplete information. This is why it's important to work with a LTC Planning Specialist, like me, who studies this continually. Years ago, there were a lot more companies offering LTC insurance, but all the plans looked and worked very similarly. Today, there are less companies offering this insurance, but these companies are each offering more unique ways to design and fund plans to meet more needs. Listen to these podcast episodes and arm yourself with the questions you need to ask when designing your plan. You deserve to understand why an advisor or insurance agent is or is not offering you a plan to protect your family, assets and choices. Reach out to me to schedule time to learn more and start to design your plan here Ask me a question by scheduling here

Providing care for a very sick, injured or elderly family member is hard! Especially without help. There are currently over 50 million family caregivers sacrificing their time, family, health and future to provide that care. LTC insurance is not designed to replace you; it's there to help you be able to help without hurting yourself or getting overwhelmed from doing it alone. Who is going to pay for those 7.8 million licensed care providers as the Baby Boomer generation reaches 80 this year and continues to age? It's either us, our family, or the government. Part of "us" is LTC insurance - so we won't force our famly members to exhaust themselves. You can view current (2024) and estimate future cost of care where you live here I recommend you use 5% COLA and not the 3% that defaults when you open the page. I said I would add a link to the site that discusses LTC reform and how Medicaid impacts the entire industry, but the link is not active today. I have LTC Bullets emailed to me weekly. Hopefully, it's up and running again soon. The link is here for when it is online again Schedule a meeting with me here

Jason Dutra with BuddyIns joins us this week to share a case study on worksite LTC benefits. There are companies that will offer guaranteed issue (no health questions) hybrid life/LTC plans to a company with as few as 3 employees. Listen and learn if this is a tool you would like to offer, or that you would like your employer to offer. Then schedule an introductory meeting with me to discuss options for your company here If you'd like to learn more first, use this link to research at BuddyIns https://buddyins.com/worksite You can schedule a meeting with Jason by submitting a referral at the top right of the page. Please remember to request me as your specialist. I look forward to helping you protect those you care about most.

Hello to all our new and returning listeners! Because we've had a large increase in listeners, I thought I'd share what we discuss during our initial consultation (which costs you only time). It's good for long time listeners to get a refresher as well. Our first meeting, via phone or Zoom and sometmes in person, is mostly educational. It's impossible to make a decision on something as important as preparing for futue extended care needs unless we understand what we are deciding. LTC insurance is not for everyone. It must fit in with the rest of your retirement plan in order to protect both your assets and your family. You can view current (2024) and projected costs of several types of care where you live here A 2025 update will be released in March, 2026. You can schedule a phone or zoom meeting with me here I look forward to meeting you and helping you to protect those you care about most.

Because we have so many new listeners, we decided to get back to the basics of long term care and LTC insurance. The best starting point is to learn current and future costs of home care, assisted living, and nursing home care. Use the cost of care website to find costs where you live at https://www.carescout.com/cost-of-care Once we understand the risk we're up against if we suffer from dementia, a stroke or a severe car accident (for example), we need to decide where we would want to live when help is needed to get through our days. We need to consider who we want to have helping us, and we need to decide how we're going to pay for this care. Listen and learn how different types of insurance plans decide when and how claims are approved or declined. Learn which kinds of plans can be tax deductible and which can be paid using HSA funds. Get your current policies and proposals out and schedule time with me to evaluate them and learn if they best meet your needs. Schedule a phone or Zoom meeting here

Happy New Year! Let's make 2026 the year we design and fund our LTC plan without destroying our budget. This week, Diane shares ways to pay for long term care insurance with alternatives to simply using income to fund it. Listen and learn how to reduce the impact on the budget while preparing for that day when we do become more dependent on other people to help us get through our days. We're making sure to afford a plan today AND afford to provide for our needs then. Schedule a phone or zoom meeting to discover unique and creative ways to prepare for your family's tomorrow here If there is a topic you'd like me to discuss this year, email me here

We recorded "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" along with a few other classics about 15 years ago. My husband, Paul, is the guitar master, and I am playing flute. Please enjoy, and share with those you care about most as you gather to celebrate this week. As Christians, our family is celebrating the birth of our Savior. Whatever you celebrate this season, do so with love and joy in your hearts. If you're weary, lay still and hear the angels sing as they bring peace throughout the world. I pray for blessings over each of you today, and into 2026 (and beyond). Sending hugs to everyone. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!!

When discussing worksite LTC with employers, two question come up all the time - 1) How much work do I as an employer or HR director have to put in? 2) I heard LTC insurance is expensive. How much more will the company be spending to add this benefit? Jason Dutra clearly addresses both of these questions this week. For more info, reachout to me diane@preparing4tomorrow.com Or research first at https://buddyins.com/ Jason's email is jason@buddyins.com When asking him or the team for more info, be sure to let them know I sent you so we can connect that way.

That title is an oxymoron. Truthfully, if you'll never qualify for Medicaid, that means you'll pay for all of your long term care needs yourself. In this week's episode we're sharing things you need to consider today, long before care is needed. You need to prepare for tomorrow's needs today, whether you choose to own insurance or not. You need to create a roadmap for your caregivers to follow if you're unable ot unwilling to communicate your wishes when you need extended care. In today's episode, Diane shares what is involved in creating that roadmap. To help you prepare for where you'll be living when retired, use https://www.carescout.com/cost-of-care Be sure to use 5% inflation when looking at future costs as that is the inflation growth we've seen over the last three decades. Then, schedule some time with me to learn what kinds of plans can be available to help pay for your potential needs without breaking the bank. Schedule here

Diane received an email this week from a long time listener who received a notice of a 301% rate increase request from his LTC insurance company. This episode discusses the process of requesting and seeking approval for rate increases. This process is heavily regulated from multiple angles. It's definitely not a random insurance company tactic to create more profit or to force policy holders to cancel their policies. I know it seems like it sometimes. Rate increases cause a lot of headache and extra work and payroll expense to the insurance companies as well. They don't want to have to increase rates. I was going to post the link to the court decision here, but the header on the document says I can't. If you want to find it yourself, look up "New Jersey court prevents LTC rate increase". You'll find it. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) consists of Commissioners from all 50 states. They have a Rate Stability Rule you can read about here If you really like reading about this stuff, the American Association of Actuaries Compliance Guide can be found here Let's find time to have a converstion and determne if and wht kind of and amount of benefits can help your family when that need shows up. Schedule here

Thank you all who are listening to these podcasts and for the great feedback you've shared over the years. I can't believe we're in our sixth year already. I'm so thankful that these poscasts are helping so many people learn about long term care and all the strategies available to protect our families. Enjoy your family this Thanksgiving weekend, and always be thankful. If you're ready to plan for your family, schedule here

This week, Jason and Diane discuss UNUM's February 2026 ceasing of LTC group and employer sales. How should employers and employess react to this decision? What are the next decisions that must be made? What can employers now offer to newhires? Should current policyholders keep their policies? When you don't have answers, the best thing to do is talk with a long term care planning specialist like myself. I will help you determne what questions you should be asking as well as work through the answers with you. Each employee's family is unique and LTC needs are different for each family. If you have questions about UNUM or any other LTC plan ceasing sales, schedule some time to discuss this here

We need to recognize the contributions and sacrifices that family caregivers make to help those they love who can't provide for their own daily needs. The reason most people own LTC insurance is to help those caregivers to not feel alone and isolated. If you don't own LTC insurance and you want to protect your family, assets and choices, schedule time with me to plan here Below are many resources to help caregivers help their loved ones better. Administration for Community Living https://acl.gov/ Alzheimers Association https://www.alz.org/ American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging https://leadingage.org/ Aging Life Care Association https://www.aginglifecare.org/ National Council on Aging https://www.ncoa.org/ Senior Homes https://www.seniorhomes.com/ Assisted Living Foundation of America http://www.alfahousing.org/ National Center for Assisted living https://www.ahcancal.org/Assisted-Living/Pages/default.aspx Memory Care Facility Locator https://www.memorycarefacilities.net/ Today's Caregiver magazine https://caregiver.com/ National nursing home database https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?redirect=true&providerType=NursingHome There are others, but this is a good start.

This week, I'm kind of on a soapbox. It seems that some people will keep asking about LTC insurance until someone tells them they don't need it. No one knows if we'll need help living at some point or not. We need to ask ourselves who the insurance is going to help. We're going to get care whether we plan or not. We need to ask oursleves who wil suffer the consequences of our failure to plan. It's the people helping us. We say we don't want to "burden our family", but by not discussing where we want to live, who we want helping us and how we will pay for care, by default, we are burdening them. Please review current and projected costs of care where you live here and please use at least a 4% annual increase in costs as we've seen that and more across the country over the last three decades. Then, schedule a phone or zoom meeting with me to design your family's plan here

This week, we decided to answer some questions that we don't get as often as some others, but they're still very relevant. When plannng for long term care needs, we need to gather enough information to be able to decide what kind of plans will fit our needs best. We're here to help and to address those questions that you may not have thought to ask. Listen and then schedule a phone or zoom meeting with me to design your plan to protect your family through an extended care need. Schedule here

It seems that with nearly every person or couple I work with, a version of this question comes up. Which plan do I recommend most often? Although all LTC plans are similar in how to qualify for benefits, each company and even each plan within a company carries unique attributes to that are attractive to various wants and needs of interested buyers.. This week, Diane shares different/unique characteristics offered inside hybrod life/LTC plans. The premiums can't be too high or too low compared to the competition, or one company will get far too many applicants (leading to many more future claims) than other carriers. The lopsidedness of the financial obligations would really mess up that company's future committments. So if premiums ar similar across the industry, each company needs its own way to attract the clients they want to attract. Listen and learn some of the unique ways companies diffrentiate themselves. Email me at diane@preparing4tomorrow.com and ask me for more info on hybrid LTC planning strategies. Then schedule a phone or zoom meeting with me to design your plan here

This is the beginning of our 6th year!!! This week, Diane interviews Jason Dutra with BuddyIns again. We discuss tax-benefits of worksite LTC insurance and hybrid life/LTC worksite plans. How are these plan offerings different than other group benefits that employers offer? How can employers use group life/LTC plans to show how much they care about their employees? When employees know their employer cares about them and their families, they are more productive. Everyone is happier, and employee retention is strong. If you are a business owner with at least 3 employees, there are worksite LTC plans available for you to consider. These plans have guaranteed issue rights, so no medical questions to qualify. If you are an employee and have been declined for LTC, you can ask your employer if they would consider offering this benefit to some or all the people who work there. Schedule some time with me to explore options here