Long-Term Care Planning

Preparing Financially for Long-Term Care

Do I Need a Long-Term Care Plan?

It is reasonable to assume that if you live to 80 or longer you could need care assistance for at least a few years. This will be an increased expense that will affect your income.

A Long-Term Care Plan addresses longevity, how you will remain safe at home or at a retirement community, and mitigates the consequences of needing care and paying for it. Often the emotional, physical, and financial consequences are felt most deeply by the caregiver, typically a spouse or adult child.

Receiving outside care can help offset these consequences. 

Many people automatically think planning for long-term care consequences simply means buying insurance. This is not a plan. A long-term care insurance policy could pay for your plan, but it is not the plan. 

Long-Term Care insurance is just one way to protect your family, income, and lifestyle from a long-term care event and it should be examined. For example, many people are unaware of recent renovations in long-term care insurance options available:

  • Don’t use it? Get your money back.
  • Contract guarantee of no future rate increases.
  • Plans pay ‘cash’ so that you use the money how you see fit.

Ultimately, Long-Term Care Planning can be complex and it can take time to understand how the pieces of retirement planning figure in a long-term care event for you and your family.

When should you start Long-Term Care Planning?

Individuals in their mid-50s should start planning for a long-term care event. Planning ahead will spare your family from hardship in the future. 

We often hear, “I’m too young!” It’s not just for you. The reality of caregiving for parents, a loved one, or a spouse can come much sooner in life than expected. 

What else is there to Long-Term Care Planning besides insurance?

In Long-Term Care Planning, we look at estate planning, Medicare, Medicaid and self-insuring, which means your retirement income available to pay for long-term care depends on: 

  • Lifestyle
  • Taxes
  • Market Conditions
  • Liquidity
  • Legacy Assets
  • Lost investment Opportunities
  • CCRC Buy-Ins (Continuing Care Retirement Communities)
  • Charities
  • Other Obligations
Diagram demonstrates the relationship between long-term care planning, investment planning, estate planning, healthcare, and housing.

What can NorthStar do for your Long-Term Care Plan?

We’ll educate you on the risks and consequences due to a long-term care event and create a meaningful funding plan to protect your family, lifestyle, and income. We’ll create a plan together that addresses these care cost questions and lifestyle changes: 

  • Where and how do you plan to receive care? Staying at home or with family? Planning to move to a retirement community?
  • Do you have a financial plan that covers long-term care expenses for you and/or your spouse?
  • Do you understand what Medicare and Medicaid will pay for?
  • Do you understand what benefits are available to you and/or your spouse as a veteran?

Potential budget changes for couples:

  • One person is living in the home and the other person is living in a facility.
  • Both people are living at home, but one has care brought in.
  • Both people are living at home, both have care brought in.
  • Couple moves to a 55+ retirement community or CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community)

For single persons:

  • You are at home and care is brought in.
  • You are living in a facility but still have expenses at home (double expenses).
  • You move to a 55+ retirement community or CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community)

NorthStar can help you prepare to answer questions like this in a Long-Term Care Plan and there are many more planning options available today than most people realize. 

Give NorthStar a call today for your complimentary long-term care planning session by calling (864) 297-0792. 

Planning ahead will give you a sense of calmness and control.

NorthStar provides planning and education on your long-term care options for what could potentially be a significant expense for you in your latter years.

Our team is committed to helping you make smarter decisions about your money and creating a plan that fits your unique situation- including investment and income strategies, social security and tax planning, healthcare, as well as estate planning.

Call us today for a complimentary consultation:

NorthStar Financial & Retirement Planning (864) 297-0762

Investment Management

Investment management is a crucial piece to most individuals’ financial plan. However, few take the time to weigh their options and a lack of understanding can lead to reduced income for the rest of their lives. Our goal is to maintain a reasonable rate of return while protecting your assets during market downturns.
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Income Planning

We customize each retirement strategy according to our clients' needs so that they can spend with confidence without fear of outliving their money.
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Tax Planning Strategies

We strive to build a tax strategy that will bring our clients as close to a zero percent tax bracket as possible. Our CPA, Travis Smith, focuses on tax reduction strategies. Less taxes = more to spend in retirement!
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Long-Term Care Planning

Long-Term Care Planning requires taking the time to understand how long-term care affects each of us and finding the right solutions to protect what we have worked so hard for. We'll also help you weigh the decision between staying home and moving to a retirement community.
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Healthcare & Insurance Planning

Insurance, Medicare, Medicare Supplements and Advantage plans must be part of the conversation when building a comprehensive retirement plan. In order to help prepare for medical costs in retirement, we can help you file for Medicare, figure out which plans are right for you, and prepare for any costs that Medicare doesn’t cover.
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Legal, Estate & Legacy Planning

We understand how important family is to our clients, and we want to help them provide for their loved ones through proper estate and legacy planning. We focus on strategies like multi-generational IRAs. We also use tax mapping, so our clients can leave a greater legacy to their family. Our estate planning attorney can assist with designing your will and/or trust.
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Guide to retirement

Contact us for your
Free 5-Step Retirement Guide.

Our 5-STEP RETIREMENT GUIDE will show you what information is needed to understand the risks associated with retirement so that you can make smart retirement planning decisions.

How can we help?

It can be difficult to decide where to go for financial advice. At NorthStar, we believe in the Golden Rule: treat others the way you would like to be treated. We understand that people can be apprehensive when asking for information and assistance.

Our promise to you is that we will be respectful of your time and there will be no pressure or obligation to do business with us. We want you to be comfortable from the minute we meet!

- George

George Fossing RICP® | CLTC®, President, CEO