by Jeffrey A. Gump, CB&H Wealth Management Services, LLC

 Facts about Long-term Care (LTC) Planning

Baby boomers started turning 65 in 2011 and the number of senior citizens will increase dramatically during the 2010 to 2030 period. The senior  citizen population in 2030 is projected to be twice as large as in 2000, growing  from 35 million to 71.5 million. Between 2000 and 2040 the number of older adults with disabilities will more than double, increasing from about 10 million  to 21 million. By 2050, the number of individuals using paid long-term care
services in any setting (e.g., at home, residential care such as assisted living, or skilled nursing facilities) will likely double from the 13 million  using services in 2000, to 27 million people. This estimate is influenced by growth in the population of senior citizens in need of care.

 People generally think there are four ways to pay for long-term care:  Medicare; Medicaid, out of pocket, or private long-term care insurance. Those who are thinking of relying on Medicare or Medicaid to provide long-term care
services need to be well informed about the advantages and limitations of these programs. Medicare may pay up to 100 days of care in a skilled nursing facility per benefit period- 100% for the first 20 days (after a three-day hospital stay, provided skilled care is needed). Then, for days 21-100, Medicare requires a  co-payment.  Medicaid generally pays for certain health services and nursing home care for those with low incomes and limited resources.

Without private insurance or public program coverage, the high cost of  long-term care is unaffordable for most Americans. According to Genworth  Financial 2012 Cost of Care Study the average cost of a private room nursing
home stay in 2012 was $82,125 per year in Virginia. The base rate for assisted  living facilities averaged $41,775 per year in 2012, and adult day services averaged $55 per day in the Commonwealth. During the same period, hourly home  care agency rates averaged $18 for a licensed home health aide.

The market for private Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) developed as an  alternative to public program coverage (Medicare and Medicaid) or direct  payments (self-insure) for services, but LTCI is underutilized. A 65 year old
female has a 2.6% chance of a major house fire, 18% chance of a severe car  accident, and/or a 72% chance of needing some kind of long term care in her  lifetime. The majority of Americans do not think twice about purchasing auto  and home insurance, but only 8 million Americans currently own Long-Term Care Insurance.

 Facts about Traditional (Standard) Long-Term Care Insurance  (LTCI)

 Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) helps provide for the cost of long-term care beyond a predetermined period. LTCI covers care generally not covered by health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. Individuals who require long-term care are generally not sick in the traditional sense, but instead, have a severe cognitive impairment or are unable to perform at least 2 of the 6 basic  activities of daily living (ADLs): eating, bathing, getting dressed, using the
restroom, transferring moving in and out of bed/chair, and continence- controlling ones bowel/bladder.

 The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, 2012 LTCi  Sourcebook, research found that over 8.2 million Americans are protected with  long-term care insurance and 337,000 Americans applied and obtained long-term  care insurance coverage in 2011. Three out of every four individuals that applied for LTCI in 2011 were between 45 and 65 years old with over half of them  applying when they were 55 to 64 years old.

 The LTCi Sourcebook also found that over 200,000 individuals received  long-term care insurance benefits in 2011 with those claims being paid totaling over 6.6 billion.   89.6% of the new claims opened in 2011 were Americans over  the age of 70 with 65.5% of them over 80 years old.  In home care accounted for  56.5% of the new claims while nursing home care accounted for 31%, and assisted living claims accounted for 19%.

 Are Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums Deductible?

 In 2013, LTCI premiums are tax-deductible up to a certain amount that is determined by the insured attained age on December 31, 2013  using the following table:

 $360: 40 years old or under
 $680: 41 to 50 years old
  $1,360: 51 to 60 years old
  $3,640: 61 to 70 years old
  $4,550: 71 years old or older

 Current Landscape of the Long-Term Care Insurance Marketplace

 As the senior citizen population grows so does the rapidly increasing  need for long-term care; even with this increased demand in the marketplace to sell their products the companies that offer traditional LTCI are shrinking. 
Since 2010, insurance giants Unum and Met Life have pulled out of the marketplace entirely while Prudential has stopped offering policies to individuals and now they only sell group polices. There are roughly 15 insurance
companies offering standard (traditional) long-term care insurance with the majority of the new policies being written by Genworth, John Hancock,  MassMutual, Mutual of Omaha, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, and
Transamerica.

National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers survey of aging  experts says that the most important thing you can do to prevent premature  placement in a nursing home is assess your parent’s financial and care needs and  available resources. Design a plan of care that supports wellness and encourages social interaction based on your parent’s values.

Here are the top 5 tips identified by experts in the survey (along with  the percentage of survey respondents selecting each option):

 1)    Assess your parent’s financial and care needs and  available resources. Design a plan of care that supports wellness and encourages social interaction based on your parent’s values.   90.0%

 2)    Hire a professional to conduct an in-home  assessment to look at the home environment, identify needs, obstacles and safety  hazards and make recommendations to keep an aging parent home.  85.8%

 3)    Identify and arrange for any needed home  modifications, community resources, paid and unpaid care and medical supports to  assure home safety and support aging in place.  84.7% 

4)    Identify and understand your parent’s preferences.   67.6%  

5)    Identify the community support systems and programs  that are available, including those that are low cost, free or part of  entitlement programs.   67.3% 

“Confronting the need to move into a nursing home or other facility can be  one of the most painful and difficult challenges facing aging adults – it is an  issue that geriatric care managers confront on a daily basis,” said NAPGCM
President Julie Gray.  “The good news is that there are many steps that can be  taken to help seniors remain in their homes – with some planning and thought  many people can age in place in their homes and communities – and there is ample  evidence that living at home can lead to a longer and more fulfilling life,” she added.

 NAPGCM conducted the survey of their members from May 16-20, 2013.

 About NAPGCM
The National Association of Professional Geriatric Care  Managers (NAPGCM) was formed in 1985 to advance dignified care for older adults  and their families. Geriatric Care Managers are professionals who have extensive
training and experience working with older people, people with disabilities and  families who need assistance with caregiving issues. They assist older adults  who wish to remain in their homes, or can help families in the search for a
suitable nursing home placement or extended care if the need occurs. The  practice of geriatric care management and the role of care providers have  captured a national spotlight, as generations of Baby Boomers age in the United
States and abroad. For more information or to access a nationwide directory of  professional geriatric care managers, please visit http://www.caremanager.org

If  you are like me, you are happy to wave winter goodbye and welcome the beauty spring season brings. Along with spring, comes the need for cleaning and re-evaluation of one’s New Year resolutions made just months ago. How are you on those internal metrics? Take time as you smell the blooming flowers around you to reflect on the goals you set on January 1, 2013 by grabbing a journal, noting your progress, and planning your action steps for the next quarter to get you there. As we all can relate to - "What gets measured, is what gets done!" -  begin to make your aspirations measurable by tracking your motivation to get to your desired destination. As a recent graduate, baby boomer, or career-changer, you have many experiences that led you to where you are today and yet you may be feeling restless to move in a new life direction, but not sure how to do that. Just like an artist can create a beautiful painting, you too have the ability to create and design your life to have the elements that are most important to you.

Here are 3 tips that will help you reinvent a measureable new you:

1. Take stock of where you are now. Identify what is working and what isn’t. Like clearing and
beautifying your favorite room ask yourself what is essential to you and what is not. Once you understand where you are, you begin to uncover what is missing from your life. So then, ask yourself what will enhance it and what will not.
What do you want and need to have that ideal life? Just as you want to enjoy being in your favorite room, you want to enjoy being in your life too. Write out what that new life looks like, sounds and feels like to you. The clearer this
picture is, the easier it is to know what to aim for. Let it evolve. 
 
2. Cultivate a creative, adventurous and fun spirit  in the process of reinventing yourself. Create your  own “bucket list” or “life list” of everything you want to do and experience in  your life. Take cues from this list and try out a few of these ideas, whether it  be a fun class, joining a special interest club, learning how to make fantastic Italian dinners or salsa dancing. This will open up your creative side to other areas of your brilliance that you may want to use to start a business, engage civically or just make life more fun.

3. Identify and seek out your resources to support you on your reinvention journey. Ask family, friends, colleagues, professionals, or coach for what you need to help you get to where you want to be. Be willing to show your appreciation such as in a thank you card, a lunch or something that just shows you are thankful for their
help.

As you begin to take action on these three steps, remember to savor each bite of life solutions cake. What exactly is life solutions cake? It’s a unique coaching model that believes in taking life’s opportunities and challenges by the slice
while celebrating each milestone’s achievement as one grows more empowered everyday.  The approach is distinctly
designed to tailor to the life transitions experienced by seasoned professionals  (from employee to retiree), students (from intern to employee), and career-changers. Following a framework that identifies seven major layers of life, each with a modest number of fillings intended to capture most of the key issues that lead to a fulfilling life, together – as your coach  - we break them down into more digestible pieces.   The  taste of clarity is so sweet!

By Marc Freedman on Harvard Business Review Blog

As the great midlife migration of baby boomers gathers momentum and scale, long-predicted revolutions in longevity and demography are unfolding in front of us. By 2015  we'll have more Americans over 60 than under 15 — and that's just the beginning. Demographers are predicting that more than half the children  born in the developed world since 2000 will live to 100.  

For the most part this transformation is portrayed as a source of coming economic, fiscal, and generational strife. In this scenario, boomers are entering their 60's, morphing overnight into retirees, and proceeding to weigh down a small group of workers in their middle years — producing an unbearable dependency ratio in the process.

 But it doesn't have to be this way. Today tens of millions of 50-, 60-, and 70-somethings say they are eager to apply their accumulated skills in areas like education, health, and the environment. According to research from 2011, some 31 million people ages 44 to 70 want encore careers that allow them to continue earning a living and give them meaning that has an impact beyond themselves. They want to create a better world for future generations.

 Turning dependence into abundance begins with breaking free from the "golden years" narrative of retirement.
This is a tale first pioneered by insurance companies in the 1950s to convince older Americans that they weren't being ejected from the productive workforce, but rather had the freedom from work. This storyline is enjoying a
resurgence today.

 Consider Prudential's recent marketing campaign, prominently featuring Day One stories — tales of the first day of retirement. The company's ads and billboards warn of longer retirements. One tells us that we can expect to spend
6,000 days — nearly two decades — in retirement, while others state the first person to live to 150 is already alive. The tagline: "Let's get ready for a  longer retirement." The billboards are paired with other ads that paint a picture of a perfect retirement. One individual featured suggests we should work to live, not the other way around. But can anyone afford an 85-year retirement?
Is that sustainable for the nation?

 In light of new data showing that extended working lives are far more likely  than a massive expansion of the retirement years, it's time for a more workable vision — and a more socially productive one.  Instead of a barrage of Day One tales, how about more One Day stories? One Day is the rallying cry of Teach For America. The nonprofit helps thousands of young people apply their talents to solving significant social problems, starting by working in schools that need more support. The organization's motto:  "One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education."

 This One Day dream is not exclusively for young people. Take Paula Lopez Crespin a 50-something woman in Denver whose daughter had joined Teach for  America. Crespin sat at the back of her daughter's classroom in inner city Los Angeles, watching the young woman educate low income kids, when she had an epiphany: She wanted to do the same thing. So she followed in her daughter's footsteps and applied to TFA. To her amazement, she was accepted.  Soon she was working from dawn until midnight at the TFA training, sharing a Houston dorm room (and a bathroom down the hall) with three 22-year olds. But  she made it through, and became a Denver elementary school
teacher. Crespin isn't alone. There was another woman at the TFA boot  camp — a former phone company employee — who was 62 at the time. In fact, TFA  reports that there is a gradual but steady increase in post-midlife individuals  entering the program — something that the organization hopes will expand as it attempts to attract a diverse corps of talented and committed people of all ages.

Realizing the promise represented by people like Crespin requires  leading organizations like TFA to open their doors widely. It will likewise demand new opportunities and innovations, if we are to help those many millions seeking encore careers. Another such route — and rite — of passage to these second acts is the Encore Fellowships program. These year-long, half-time fellowships, help individuals (mostly) from the corporate sector transition to new chapters in nonprofit and social impact organizations. For example, the California Health Care Foundation is matching Encore Fellows with  community health clinics across that state. The program has spread rapidly over  the past couple of years. 

On the corporate side, companies like Cisco  and Intel are offering Encore Fellowships to their seasoned employees. In late  2011 Intel announced that all retirement eligible employees in the U.S. who want to do an Encore Fellowship, and are matched, will be supported with a $25,000  stipend and health coverage. They are pioneering a whole new human resources  approach to longer working lives — recognizing the reality that 21st century careers will entail multiple chapters, even into what was once the retirement years.

Creating these new paths to continued, meaningful work will help realize a sustainable and appealing vision for this period in life, but even these efforts won't be enough. We'll need new ways to help individuals finance the frequently costly transition to what's next. Currently this is a do-it-yourself process most manageable for those with extensive assets or the  willingness to drastically cut back. There are reports of boomers tapping into  their kids 529 accounts to finance their own shift.

Here's where  financial services companies can help in ways that go beyond reframing their marketing messages. Why not create new financial products to enable people to save for the inevitable retooling that more transitions and longer working lives require?  We've got Individual Retirement Accounts — IRAs — to save for retirement. We need Individual Purpose Accounts — IPAs — to help defray the costs of transitioning to new chapters in the middle years and beyond. What's more, we need financial advisors able to assist people in planning for alternatives to the "golden years." Since a balloon payment of leisure at the end of midlife is less and less likely, why not help individuals envision what comes next and finance it along the way?

With 10,000 boomers turning 60  each day, these changes are overdue. This population represents a human capital
bonanza for the social impact sector and for the nation more broadly. It's time to fulfill the true promise of longer lives — which is a better society.  
Follow the Scaling Social Impact insight center on Twitter @ScalingSocial

  If you are like me, you are happy to wave winter goodbye and welcome the beauty spring season brings. Along with spring, comes the need for cleaning and re-evaluation of ones new year resolutions made just a quarter ago. How are you on those internal metrics?  Take time as you smell the blooming flowers around you to reflect on the goals you set on January 1, 2012 by grabbing a journal, noting your progress, and planning your action steps for the next quarter to get you there. As we all can relate to - "What gets measured, is what gets done!" - begin to make your aspirations measurable by tracking your motivation to get to your desired destination.

    Life Coaching Web Chat Series
   This life coaching call will share tips on how to start measuring your  personal goals to reach your dreams. Everyone during their workday is entitled to a lunch hour and two 15 minute breaks. Take a break with me, as we chat about a personal development topic and share a few words of inspiration to spur your innovation at work. Join
me for a monthly life coaching group chat on measuring your personal goals starting on
   Monday, April 23 at 3:00 pm EST 
Please call bridgeline: 512-400-4809 and enter access
code 416-7195. Access the web portion on www.anymeeting.com/UBWSS1
   Please RSVP on www.ubwlifechat.eventbrite.com