 
Planning for the future includes more than just investments. Insurance can be a crucial component in the protection of your assets, and your family.
Clifford & Rano Associates can work with you to assess your insurance needs as a part of your comprehensive plan.
Insurance Services include:
Life Insurance [Top]
Life insurance can be an important part of your personal safety net, especially if you have financial dependents. The appropriate life insurance policy can help to preserve the assets that you spent years accumulating. Life insurance can be used in many different ways, and for different purposes. It is not only for your beneficiaries, but can also be used as an investment vehicle during your lifetime. It can be structured to provide tax-deferred growth and a tax-free death benefit.
Your Clifford & Rano Advisor can work with you to find easy and affordable life insurance solutions – so you know your loved ones will be taken care of.
Disability Insurance [Top]
What would you do if your paychecks suddenly stopped because you were too sick or too injured to work? What if you couldn’t work for a month, three months, years, or permanently?
You’d still have to pay all your monthly bills, including food, utilities, house, and car payments. Add in things like tuition and retirement funding, and it’s easy to see how savings could quickly disappear.
Unfortunately, you can’t rely on other income sources like Social Security to protect you. In many cases, they don’t apply — or aren’t enough.
Disability insurance:
- Provides monthly income to help maintain your standard of living;
- Can be customized to fit your particular situation;
- Helps you retain independence and dignity without burdening others; and
- Helps keep your financial dreams and goals for the future intact.
Long-Term Care Insurance [Top]
Failing to plan for the costs associated with long-term care can wreak havoc on your nest egg. Long-term care insurance can help preserve the assets you’ve worked so hard to build.
As the baby boomer generation ages, statistics indicate a growing need for long-term care. It is estimated that 70% of people who attain age 65 will require long-term care at some point in their lives[1].
But the need for long-term care is not limited to retirees. Studies reveal that 40% of people receiving long-term care services are working age adults, between the ages of 18 and 64[1]. Their need can result from chronic illness, injury or disability.
Many Americans are currently dealing with the emotional and financial impact of providing for the long-term care needs of a family member. In-home care is often delivered by a relative who may be burdened with both childrearing and elder care responsibilities. And, while the services of a home health aide may be enlisted, the average annual cost of home care is well over $20,000[2] for just 25 hours of care per week. By 2030, this cost is expected to reach $68,000[3].
Furthermore; the average annual cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home is currently $66,795. By 2030, this figure is projected to skyrocket to $250,000. 3 With the average nursing home stay estimated at 2.6 years[4], the total cost will approach nearly a half million dollars.
Will you have saved enough to pay for these types of expenses? And, if you did, would you want to spend your savings on long-term care?
Unfortunately, some people believe that their health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid will foot the bill for long-term care. But most health insurance plans normally cover only acute care that is required for a short period of time. Medicare offers limited benefits for those who receive care in a skilled nursing facility following a hospital stay. Generally, Medicare recipients are disabled or have reached full-retirement age as defined by the Social Security Administration. Medicaid is a government program designed to help those in dire financial need. In most cases, almost all of your assets and your spouse’s assets must be depleted before benefits will be paid, and even then Medicaid will not cover most home care, which is the setting most people prefer.
That’s why many people seek to protect their assets by purchasing long-term care insurance. With long-term care coverage, it is possible to defray the expenses of extended care without placing your income, retirement nest egg and other investments at risk. In addition, long-term care insurance provides for increased control over your care choices and the peace of mind that comes with knowing your future needs are covered.
Clifford & Rano Associates can meet with you to help you define your goals, evaluate your long-term care options and create a plan that meets your needs.
[1] ^ “US Dept of Health and Human Services, National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information. www.longtermcare.gov. September, 2008.
[2] ^ MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home and Home Care Costs, September 2004.
[3] ^ “Can Aging Baby Boomers Avoid the Nursing Home?”, Stucki, B. and Mulvey, J., American Council of Life Insurers, March 2000, page 15.
[4] ^ “Based on average annual inflation over the past 30 years ending December 31, 2008 of 4.1%, using Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers, Bureau of Labor Statistics. www.bus.gov.
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