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Long Term Care - A Complex Field
By: Gary Woolman
The term long-term care is used to describe the housing and care people will need if they become incapacitated due to degenerative illnesses. Long-term care is a profession that interacts with other disciplines, such as, health care, law, insurance, and financial management. It requires the skill of individuals who understand its complexities and can work with other professionals to solve a client's needs.
Failure to prepare for long-term care may affect your family
Long-term care has little to do with you- you'll be taken care of by your family or friends. Without a plan, caregivers will be forced to reconfigure their lives, creating stress and uncertainty. Needing care could have a devastating impact on your retirement portfolio which was allocated to pay for retirement. Reallocating assets to pay for care could cause an unplanned invasion of principal creating even more stress and uncertainty.
What if I don't live a long life or need care?
You may not live a long life and even if you do, you may never need care. However, the consequences to your family and retirement portfolio could be so severe, that the subject should at least be explored with a professional.
Who can I trust to help me put together a plan to protect my family
It is always sound advice to deal with those who have made a commitment to their profession. They do this by joining organizations that offer continuing education and forums to discuss trends in their profession. The key is to find the right professionals for your needs. In the field of long-term care planning, it is generally accepted that those who have received the "Certified in Long-Term Care" designation (CLTC), have the skills necessary to help you put a strategy together.
What does CLTC stand for?
CLTC stands for "Certified Long-Term Care", a designation granted by the CLTC Board of Standards, Inc. The qualification process is independent of the long-term care Insurance Industry. Graduates have completed a rigorous multidisciplinary course that focuses on the profession of long-term care, not the selling of insurance products. The designation is also approved by the American Council on Education; the country's largest coordinating body for higher education advocacy. The "CLTC" designation is affiliated and endorsed by the College for Financial Planning, the company that created the financial management industry's prestigious program, Certified Financial Planner.
Why choose an individual with CLTC designation?
CLTC professionals know how to ask the right questions which they use to craft a strategy to protect your family retirement portfolio from the risks associated with needing care. They are trained to work in partnership with your lawyer, CPA or insurance professional to develop that plan. If appropriate, long-term care insurance is suggested as a method to pay for the care the strategy calls for. Done correctly, your family's emotional and physical wellbeing as well as you retirement portfolios are protected.
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