Allies in Aging
While reading a recent article entitled, “3 Ways to Avoid Regrets in Retirement” on The Motley Fool’s website, I found this solid advice: 1. Make sure you won't be over-relying on Social Security benefits
2. Account for healthcare and long-term care costs in your retirement plan
3. Don't underestimate how long you'll live in retirement
I’d like to focus on points two and three, and restate them this way: 1) You may live (much!) longer than you think. 2) Health care and long term care costs can be HUGE. To combat these problems, we need allies. To this end, I believe that one of the most important allies we can have is a well-designed long term care insurance policy.
I think I may know what is crossing your mind at this point, but please bear with me. Sure, you can expect an insurance agent to be an advocate for insurance, but to hear from someone who has been a caregiver can be something else altogether—a much more powerful experience. So let me introduce you to a gentleman named Irwin (Lindy) Lindenbaum, of Hilton Head, South Carolina. He recently passed away after having been the caregiver for his wife, who’d developed Alzheimer’s.
Lindenbaum wrote a poem called “The Journey,” about the experience that started the day he realized his wife of 50 years had Alzheimer’s disease. “It was a journey that could not be changed or canceled,” Lindenbaum wrote, and “no upgrades were available.” His local paper, The Island Packet, published the poem in 2007. David Lauderdale, an Island Packet columnist, interviewed the caregiver poet about his experience, and reported, “He told me long-term care insurance is crucial. And so are supportive friends…”
Let that sink in. A man taking care of his wife of 50 years with Alzheimer’s mentioned two things as “crucial.” They are:
1. Long term care insurance.
2. Supportive friends.
I may not be able to help you with Item No. 2 (though some of my clients have become friends!), but I can definitely help with No.1.
Lindeman died at the age of 92 in early January 2020, survived by three children and 11 grandchildren. He not only gave of himself to his family. He gave to his community, where he volunteered 4 days a week at a memory care program. Even after his death, he has given all of us sage advice as to what’s crucial in retirement planning.
Maybe I can help, too. Can I make your retirement journey easier by helping you put in place a long term care insurance policy?
THE JOURNEY
by Irwin (Lindy) Lindenbaum
It was a journey that could not be changed or canceled,
and no upgrades were available.
It is similar
To a ship that embarks
From one port but
Never finds a friendly
Port to disembark.
It’s a one-way
Delta flight that
Takes off, but
Never lands.
When I started on this journey
I didn’t hear the words,
‘See you soon’ or
‘Until we meet again,’ but
Just a simple
‘Goodbye.’
For information regarding long term care insurance or with help in planning for retirement, feel free to contact Baygroup Insurance at http://www.baygroupinsurance.com/forms/contact-us or call us at 410-557-7907 for more information.
