Boomer Watch: Reblogged - How to Successfully Make a Long-Term Care Insurance Claims

We are all aware that long-term care insurance companies are paying billion dollars of money in ltci claims, which only proves that more and more people are living longer and requiring ltc services. However, we also hear of stories about policy holders not being able to get their claims, having disputes with the insurance companies and taking several months or even years before their benefits starts paying.

Boomer Watch: Baby Boomers, LTC Planning and The ABCs of Long-Term Care Insurance

Topics about baby boomers are usually related to topics about long-term care and long-term care insurance, as these "baby boomers" comes of age, the necessity that they will be needing long-term care services increase, this is evidently the biggest risk in their retirement years.

Boomer Watch: Reblogged - Medicaid and Gifting Assets to Protect from Long-Term Care Cost

Long-term care is becoming a hot issue among baby boomers, affordability is the biggest issue. The cost of long-term care services comes with a high price tag so if you want quality care when you want it and where you want it, you must be able to afford it.

Boomer Watch Reblogged - Dodging Long-term Care and Other Retirement Risks

The path of life is not easy and smooth, there maybe obstacles, it can even be blurry, so how do you overcome these challenges?

Boomer Watch: Reverse Mortgage as Long-Term Care Solution

People are living much longer nowadays, and with the crisis of aging dramatically bringing more issues than ever, the cost in maintaining your well-being is the most talked about. The cost of long-term care services is startling, and even though people may want to purchase long-term care insurance, affordability is the main problem.

Boomer Watch: How to Protect your Bets on Long-Term Care

There are people who understand the significance and importance of having a long-term care insurance to protect them from its devastating effects. But the notion that they may never need is one of the reason why they refuse to buy the product, they think that all the money spent for paying the monthly premium is wasted. 

But then again, why do we need to buy long-term care insurance? Like all any other insurance, the reason you buy them is because you'd rather have the funds available when the need arises than worry about paying premiums for nothing if you don't. The same goes even for home or auto insurance, but ltci is more expensive. 

This is the reason why an option to use your life insurance to pay for long-term care cost was offered to the public. It provides the advantages of having both life and long-term care insurance that when you stayed healthy for the rest of your life and never needed care, you still  get to claim your benefits. 

photo credit: http://www.nextavenue.org/

NextAvenue.com discuss this issue in one of their articles. Although it may sound like a win win situation for most people, a combination product is not always suited for everyone. Read the full article so you can determine the pros and cons.

Boomer Watch: Parental Medical History Now Influencing The Long-term Care Insurance Cost

As baby  boomer near the retirement years, another issue they face is the crisis on the increasing cost of long-term care supports and services. We all know about the statistics that 70% of people aged 65 and older will be needing long-term care at some point in their lives.

One of the most viable ways to protect you from the devastating effects of long-term care is through long-term care insurance. However, ltci is one of the most risky product in the market and one of the most ignored. There are lots of issues to be address including underwriting, pricing and risks. It is difficult the price ltci due to its uncertainty and a lot of factors need to be considered.

Policy holders are advised to tailor a coverage based on finances, health and current living situation. You also get to decide if you are going to purchase more or less coverage based on your family's health history.

To date, insurers are starting to rate application based on the medical history of the applicant's parents. Genworth already issued a field bulletin to brokers and agents.

“Currently, diagnostic genetic information that is found in obtained medical records, which has a relationship to an applicant’s risk, may be used in underwriting,” said Ray Dinstel, chief underwriter with Genworth. “Such histories will impact an applicant’s ability to receive the best rate categories.”

So when you are dealing with agents not asking about your parent's medical history, you should be wary of them, because they can now use it against you and make a reason not to pay your claims.

Boomer Watch: Financial Management Tips for the Sandwich Generation

More and more baby boomers are struggling to find themselves squeezed in the middle of family demands - between aging parents and children. Being squeezed in  this seemingly difficult to deal with task becomes a challenge especially when they are juggling between their careers and caring for parents. Money management becomes a crisis when they have to provide for their parent's long-term care expenses, their children's education and saving for retirement all at once.

This week's featured article tackles on this issue faced by baby boomers in the sandwich generation. It aims to solve the financial dilemma of needing to save for your retirement and providing for the needs of your family

photo credit: www.ltcoptions.com

"Aging parents who need help in paying for their medical bills, children who need financial support in getting started in life, and the need to save for retirement—these are the issues that those in the sandwich generation face.

According to a survey done by Pew Foundation, 15 percent of middle-age adults support their parents and children financially.

If you belong in the sandwich generation, how can you overcome the financial dilemma of needing to save for your future and wanting to help your family? Here are three tips that can help you manage your money better:"

Boomer Watch: Are You Afraid to Grow Old?

"Age is just a number", this is an old saying which serves as a good reminder for people, especially baby boomers to be grateful and enjoy life. However, as we age, we become vulnerable to fear - fear brought about by the challenges of aging. The supposedly golden years of our lives becomes a great challenge in today's culture. The act of growing old gives us the notion that we are a day closer to being frail, outliving our savings, to the decline of our health and function and to mortality.

Photo credit: http://psychone.net/blogs/self-help/when-we-were-kings-are-we-making-the-elderly-feel-expendable.html

Bonnie Joffe illustrates a story about the challenges and fears that baby boomers might encounter as they came near to retirement.

"Planning for the  elder years is almost surreal. It’s like revisiting the teenage hood – not really understanding the magnitude of what lies ahead. So how can we reasonbably wrap our heads around the notion of “growing old?” ".... Continue reading

Boomer Watch: Aging in place... Aging Well

Of course we all want to age in place, well and with dignity, but this comes at a price. This is the reason why people keep on saving money for retirement - to be able to maintain the material comfort they had when they were still working. How much are you willing to pay to ensure an enjoyable retirement and aging? It depends on how much we have saved, if we have not set aside adequate money then you might as well be willing to accept the amount of discomfort this can bring.

Aside from financial issues, aging well may also require you and your loved ones to have an open heart and mind to understand the changes that may take place. When an individual age, he/she may become frail and develop illness that can bring emotional and mental changes to them. Their limited physical condition may also bring depression - how do you deal with it?

Patrica Webber disclosed their secrets to a happy and well aging. This is the lesson she learned from her parents and shared it to her readers and followers ..Read the full article

Image credit from : patricia-weber.com

Boomer Watch: Retirement - How Old is too Old to Work?

When you are already in the prime of your life, you are excited thinking about retirement right? The day you have waited for when you can finally ceased from working and spend your golden years enjoying the fruits from long years of labor. Finally, you will start a day in your life where you don't have to worry about deadlines, stress, pressure and meetings.

A lot of people are indeed eager to reach retirement, but when you are finally there, knowing when, and how much it cost might bring financial issues. Therefore, most people in their retirement age are still working and looking for work. It's kinda hard when you are talented, smart and intelligent but seems to have issues finding jobs due to old age. And when you find out that you may run short of retirement savings, you start to panick! So how old is too old to work?

Mcknights discussed this issue in one of its article, they focused on why people delay their retirement so they can add more money to their nest egg. People wants to stay in their jobs much longer but how long can they do that? Read the entire article about it.

Boomer Watch: Long-Term care and Medicaid Planning

A lot of individuals intentionally impoverished themselves to be able to qualify for medicaid, however, for some people, they prefer medicaid planning to protect their assets. Is this procedure ethical and legal? Would you consider it as engaging in fraudulent behavior so you can have the government pay for your long-term care expenses?

We were able to come across this article from another blogger focusing on medicaid planning and its legality: 


"Medicaid is a welfare program originally created to provide health care to our nation’s poor. Due to the lack of any other program, Medicaid has by default become the long-term care insurance of the middle class. With the help of elder law attorneys, those needing long-term care artificially impoverish themselves in order to qualify and preserve their savings either for their healthy spouse or their children. Is this practice illegal?" ....continue reading

Boomer Watch: Dealing with the Challenges of Aging - Health, Long-term Care and Social Isolation

The US aging population is increasing, and the country is facing potential crisis brought about by increasing number of baby boomers. 10-15 years from now, the rate of people aged 55 years and older will dramatically increase. This is the "silver tsunami" we expected but failed to prepare for it and we are confronted with different challenges. 

One of the challenges the baby boomers have to face is the increasing demand for caregivers as the availability of family caregivers continue to decrease. Not to mention other issues like health and long-term care. 

A collection of the challenges and difficulties people in their prime years face was consolidated and featured in Long Term Care Options. It provides a closer look on other topics such as depression, social isolation and divorce. 

It covers the issues of aging individuals and was consolidated to be featured in the site's Weekly Digest. They have compiled a list of best blogs to provide you with tips and advice on how to deal with the challenges of aging. 

Here's the link to the weekly digest stories: 

http://www.ltcoptions.com/weekly-digest-dealing-challenges-aging/