A Different Kind of Bucket List: Long Term Care Goals

Have you ever sat down and compiled a bucket list? You know, your ultimate compilation of lifelong goals to accomplish?

In addition to the typical mountain climbing and continent-visiting, painting lessons and dancing at grandchildren's weddings, the items listed below are quite worthy of being included as well. They may not be found on the typical bucket list, but I’m betting all the other items rely upon these:

• Don’t outlive my assets

• Take care of myself to avoid long term care needs and expenses

These two things often cause a lot of worry.  

That’s why I enjoyed the concept introduced in a Washington Post article on June 16, 2018 titled, “Dying at Your Desk is Not a Retirement Plan”. In it, author Thomas Heath suggested to readers, “think of retirement as a seesaw with four pails on one side labeled assets and four pails on the other marked expenses.”

Heath explained the pails labeled assets include pensions/annuities, Social Security, investments, inheritance, and— if you plan on working— salary or wages.

He explained the other pails— the outgoing side— include daily living expenses, health care, long-term care, and fun items, such as travel and philanthropy.

It’s a great idea to look at long term care as just another outflow in retirement. When you or a loved one needs care, the truth is that it can be a tremendously large expense. One that can dwarf other costs such as housing and Medicare supplements, as well as uncovered medical expenses such as dental care, hearing aids, and eyeglasses. Due to the catastrophically high nature of the cost, it’s only wise to consider how to fund it.

Judging by some commercials currently running on television, there’s a growing awareness that many people do not have enough in their “asset buckets” to fund a lifetime of retirement living expenses. Perhaps by delaying retirement and aggressively saving more, many will be able to fix the shortfall. But is there another strategy?

Yes, that’s where long term care insurance comes into play. By purchasing insurance to cover long term care expenses you can dramatically bolster the asset pails against the expense of long term care. In many cases, simply purchasing long term care coverage would make a vulnerable retirement plan much more solid while also comfortably funding not only a long life, but a burgeoning bucket list filled with travel, hobbies, and life milestones too!

A long term care insurance policy can add anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to your “seesaw” on the asset side, ready to be used for long term care expenses.

I guess you could say that diminishing the high cost of professional long term care makes most other tweaks to your retirement plan pail (sic) in comparison.

If you would like help in checking long term care insurance off of your bucket list, contact Baygroup Insurance at http://www.baygroupinsurance.com/forms/contact-us or call us at 410-557-7907 for more information.