How do you know you don’t like it if you haven’t tried it?
Doesn’t this go without saying for almost everything? We say it to our kids when trying to get them to eat their vegetables or anything new to their palate. Well, I say this goes for adults too. Why are we so quick to pooh-pooh the conversation around long-term care insurance? We will at least talk about life insurance and then not buy enough to take care of the ones that we love.
Angie Hughes
I also believe that if you are going to sell it, you should own it. When I was in my late 30’s giving a presentation to a group of agents on long-term care insurance, I had a question from the crowd asking what policy I owned…. uh…. I don’t. Well, that changed quickly because I never wanted to be in that spot again and I bought for a very different reason than “I’ll be old and in a nursing home someday”.
My story isn’t unique or exciting but my family likes to camp in the summer and our daughter likes to tube behind the boat. So, whether my husband doesn’t trust me driving the boat or would rather watch us flop around in the water, I’m the one that always ends up on the tube with her. I didn’t want to be that person that had to start a Go-Fund page because we hit a wake that sends us flying in the air and she comes down on my back or neck and now I’m stuck paying for my care instead of funding her college plans. It is and will never be because I truly believe I’ll live the last of my years in a nursing home, but rather that I don’t want my husband and only child to be burdened with my caregiving. My favorite objection is that “my kids will take care of me” as I can’t think of the worst return on investment than to ask your children to stop their lives to come home and work for free to assist mom or dad with some very personal tasks.
As I said, nothing unique or exciting but if we could stop for just a second and think about what plays out if you need care, I think more folks would be more apt to, at least, have a conversation about planning for the event in life that happens between healthy and death.
The best part about doing my job is the satisfaction of helping a broker develop a plan that best suits their client LTC needs. There are so many options in the industry today that it becomes overwhelming to many advisors and they just don’t bring up the conversation around LTC planning. I’d like to think I can make it simple by listening first and then coming up with solutions. LTC is not one size fits most and why should it be with all the options.
If you love someone then you need to have this conversation. Long-term care insurance isn’t for everyone but if you don’t educate yourself then how can you make an educated decision?
