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Insurance

Disability Income Insurance

Income is the most important part of a financial plan, and so you need to ask yourself…

• What would happen if you couldn't work because you were affected by a disease or some sort of injury today?
• Would you receive income from your employer? How much? For how long?
• Would you qualify for some kind of government assistance? For how long?

In order to make sure you reach your savings goals we must consider the risk of disability reducing your income and thus your ability to save enough to reach your goals. Also, disability could force you to use your existing savings to cover current living expenses and put you behind on your goals.

Disability insurance is affordable and may be tax deductible. It's offered by many companies with various bells and whistles.

Life Insurance

The type of life insurance necessary to protect your family or business is dependent on your specific financial situation and stage of life:

• Are you concerned about income replacement?
• Is insurance needed to have money for paying estate or income taxes?
• Or is the insurance only needed to cover final expenses?
• Is the insurance needed for business purposes? Such as buying out your spouse from a business arrangement.
• Do you want the insurance as a means of transferring capital tax free to your beneficiaries?
• Is the insurance being used to accumulate saving?

There are many uses of life insurance and it all depends on your unique financial situation. Of course, for every need there is a policy that would best fit you:

• Term Life insurance
• Universal Life insurance
• Whole Life
• First to Die
• Second to die
• Variable rate

We have to consider the risk of someone dying and the impact it will have on your family or business as part of a comprehensive plan.

Long Term Care Insurance

Once you have accumulated an estate you now have to protect that estate from various risks. One of the biggest risks today is that of needed long-term care in your home or in a nursing home. In WNY, according to The Specific Solutions Group of Williamsville, NY in April of 2010, this can cost well over $100,000 per year! It is estimated that 2 out of 5 Americans age 65 will need nursing home care at some point in their remaining lifetimes. Here are some reasons why you should consider Long Term Care insurance:

• To stay in control of your own assets
• To increase the chance of you getting the long-term care of your choice whether in a nursing home or your own home when you need it.
• To establish lifetime care and help give yourself and your family peace of mind

In NY state and many other states there are polices called "partnership plans" which are designed in cooperation with that states respective department of social services. These policies offer unique benefits that can make buying a policy more affordable than a "non partnership" plan.

Most policies cover the following:

• Nursing home care
• Home care
• personal care
• assisted living care
• skilled nursing care
• adult day care
• respite care
• care management
• alternate level of care
• Nursing home bed reservation
• Hospice care
• inflation protection
• Guaranteed renewable

Generally speaking, the younger you are the more likely you will qualify for a policy with lower premiums. Most insurance companies are very selective in approving policies.

There are Federal and state tax benefits available as well. You may qualify for a tax deduction or tax credit for the cost of your policy.

The bottom line to long term care planning is making sure we have done all we can to protect everything you've worked so hard to accumulate and own. Evaluating this risk and its potential impact on your situation is just good planning.