The 3 Stages of Retirement

When we think of retirement planning, we usually think of traveling, visiting the grandchildren or working in our garden.  Looking forward to age 65 is a milestone for a large number of us, but the reality can be quite different.

Did you know that only about 15% of Americans fully retire at 65? Most will just continue working or cut back on the hours they work. And self-employed people, such as business owners or 1099 employees just keep working as well because they know the boredom will set in and want to stay active.

When I talk to groups about retirement years, I go over the three stages of retirement:

• The Go Go Years - This is when we think of retirement as traveling and having a good time.Visiting the grandchildren, going on cruises and days full of pickleball sound great, and if you have some money saved up you can move to a great retirement community. 
  
• The Slow Go Years - As the name implies, maybe we need to take it a bit easier. "Piddling" in the garden and staying closer to home. Sometimes a health related issue or an accident begin this part of the process.
  
• The No Go Years - Serious health problems and aging keeps us in home or a facility. This can also be the time when you can go through most of your savings due to healthcare costs, even if you are not in a facility. As a matter of fact, home healthcare services can cost up to twice as much as a nursing or assisted living facility.
  

Unfortunately, when planning for those retirement years, we fail to plan for the No Go years. Some have their heads in the sand, not thinking it will happen to them. According to the Motley Fool, 69% of people will need long term care insurance. And you're likely to need it from 1 to 3 years. Given that care in a facility isn't cheap, and in-home care is even more expensive, why not shift the burden of the costs to an insurance carrier instead of wiping out everything you've worked your whole life for?

There's a myth that the government will take care of you. Signals from politicians show differently and we don't recommend you rely on it.

Fortunately, there are options and depending on your age and health, you can find something in your budget. The long term care insurance landscape has changed over the last few years. Many insurance are acting as if they no longer want to be in that part of the business by selling off those books of clients to other carriers, while others have changed their policies by decreasing the rich benefits they previously offered for years.

However, there are still a handful of carriers still offering long term care policies. And now we even offer a short term home healthcare policy which is a great way to stay in your own home affordably. In addition to these options, many life insurance policies now offer "living benefits" in their coverage which can help with the dilemma of being chronically ill.

If you would like more information about planning for your future healthcare costs, contact us or use our "Books a Free Consultation" tool. We'll be happy to have a phone conversation with you. And as always, stay healthy.

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

The Agents' Problems With Health #Insurance

As we all know, health insurance changed dramatically in this country several years ago with the ACA or Obamacare rules.  Instead of individual policies with various deductibles, companies were forced to offer policies with "essential health benefits" or ESB's, which meant that all policies had to offer certain coverages.  This, as well as forcing carriers to cover people with pre-existing conditions, drove rates through the roof.

But how did it all affect your health insurance agent?  

First, the law mandated that 70% of premiums had to go toward claims.  This left 30% to go toward administrative costs, overhead, salaries and, yes, commissions.  Those commissions shriveled up like a Sunsweet raisin.  I don't sell based on commission only, however, this is my job, not a hobby.  I need to make a living as well.  Obamacare created several new outlets for people to get their coverage, including a website, an 800 number and navigators, which are non-insurance licensed enrollers.  People don't need an agent.

Secondly, we have a short window of time, the open enrollment period, to enroll you.  Outside of that time period, we can enroll if you have a special situation, ie you lost coverage through your job or you got married.  But the companies have decided NOT to pay commissions on those sales.  Again, it's not a hobby.

Finally, the agents we talk to are generally disgusted with the whole process and don't want to keep investing their time and energy getting certified each year while not knowing if our politicians are going to repeal, replace, tweak, fund or defund the system.  

With all of this in mind, we at Surf Financial Brokers have made the decision to stop offering health insurance until conditions get much better.  However, we are taking the time to make sure we offer the best options when it comes to Medicare Supplements, life insurance and group benefits (minus health) for our clients.  

Please let us know if we can assist you!