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Brought
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About Our Firm:
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We provide a holistic, integrated financial approach focusing on safety and stability. We offer advice and management for the portions of your long-term finance that you want to rely on, and can LEAST afford to lose. This includes retirement financial planning, cash-flow coaching, guaranteed investment contracts, real estate notes, investor and primary mortgages, and insurance services. Our intention is your financial goal achievement, safe and certain.
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| QUOTES from
the
Masters... |
| On Self-Confidence |
On Vision |
| "Too
many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are."
-- Malcolm Forbes
"Better
keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you
must
see the world." -- George
Bernard Shaw
"If
you have great ideas and no confidence to share them, you will not get
credit for having them." -– Patricia
Fripp
"Self-confidence
comes naturally when your inner life and your outer life are in
harmony."
-– Brian Tracy
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"Yesterday's
passions may not serve tomorrow's goals." -- Frederic
Hudson
"I
think all of us are looking at the future with yesterday's eyes." -- Dan
Burrus
"Achieving
your vision doesn't mean you've reached the end of the line. It
simply
means that you've come to a new starting place." -– Nido
Qubein
"Develop
a clear vision for your organization. Where do you want to be in
five years?" -– Brian
Tracy
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Paying for Health Care in Retirement |
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Plan
ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
It would be nice to believe
that health care cost increases were a temporary phenomenon.
Unfortunately,
that's not the case…the cost of medical care has outpaced
inflation for
the past 20 years and predictions are that medical and long-term care
costs
will continue to escalate as much as 10% to 15% per year into the
future.
The decisions we make as
to how and where we live in retirement are unique to each individual or
couple. The options open to us, however, are frequently
determined
by our financial resources…our ability to pay. This review
of the
various ways to pay for health and long-term care costs during
retirement
is offered in the hope that it will be of assistance to you as you make
decisions regarding your retirement plans.
The options available to
pay for medical and long-term care costs in retirement include the
following:
| Retiree
Health Insurance Plans: If your company provides
retiree
health
care benefits, make sure you know how much of the premium you will be
required
to pay, as well as deductible and co-payment requirements.
Retiree
health insurance plans are generally designed to coordinate with
Medicare
benefits. Caution:
Even if your employer currently provides retiree health care benefits,
there is no guarantee those benefits will be available when you
retire.
The escalating costs of medical care, combined with the "Baby Boom
effect"…a
large "bubble" of people who will make a substantial contribution to
the
size of the aging population…are causing employers to rethink
their retiree
health care plans. Some companies are requiring that retirees pay
a higher share of the premiums to cover themselves, their spouses and
any
dependents. Other companies are implementing higher co-payments
and/or
deductibles. Still other companies are discontinuing retiree
health
insurance plans altogether.
Medicare
and "Medigap" Insurance: Most people qualify for
Medicare
insurance
when they reach age 65. Medicare helps to protect you from the
costs
of medical care during retirement. One fact, however, is
evident…there
is no "free lunch." You will have costs related to medical care
and
the likelihood is that those costs will continue to increase each
year.
Medicaid:
Medicaid is a joint Federal and state program that helps with medical
costs
for some people with low incomes and limited assets. To qualify for
Medicaid,
federal poverty guidelines for income and assets must be met. In
addition, there are state requirements for Medicaid eligibility.
Medicaid is essentially a safety net for those who didn't adequately
plan
for their financial needs in retirement, or who encountered
unexpectedly
large expenses that depleted their financial resources.
Long-Term
Care Insurance: Long-term care insurance can put you in
control,
preserving your dignity and allowing you to select the type of facility
and setting in which you want to receive long-term care services, if
needed.
Long-term care insurance also helps protect your personal assets,
preserving
them for your use or as an inheritance for your family. Suggestion:
Check with your employer…your company may offer long-term care
insurance
as a voluntary or supplemental employee benefit!
Personal
Savings: Review
your retirement plan to make sure that it
adequately
takes into account the potential costs of medical care and long-term
care
in retirement. If you find a shortfall, you may want to increase
your personal savings now in order to have sufficient funds available
after
you retire. Some experts suggest setting up a separate fund or
account
specifically to pay for health care needs in retirement. This
approach
adds focus to your plan and better enables you to assess your
progress.
Home
Equity: Many retired people have built up substantial equity
in their homes. There are a variety of ways to tap that equity if
needed to pay for health care costs in retirement, including selling
the
home, arranging a home equity loan or line of credit or using a reverse
mortgage to supplement your retirement income.
Going
Back to Work: When it comes to planning for health care needs
as we age, it's time for a reality check. It's fine today, when
our
health is good, to state the intention to return to work if financial
needs
arise, but how many 70+-year-old people with health problems really
want
to be out looking for a job? In reality, planning to return to
work
in order to pay for health care needs during retirement isn't so much a
plan as it is a hope…a hope that we won't face substantial
health care
costs as we age.
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Don't
wait
until it rains to start building your ark…plan ahead while the
choices
are still yours to make!
Contact my
office
if we can help.
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| MESSAGES
from
the Masters... |
CONSIDER
THE CONSEQUENCES by Brian Tracy
The
mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately
predict
the consequences of doing or not doing something. The potential
consequences
of any task or activity are the key determinants of how important it
really
is to you and to your company. This way of evaluating the significance
of a task is how you determine what your next frog really is.
LONG
TIME PERSPECTIVE
Doctor
Edward Banfield of Harvard University, after more than 50 years of
research,
concluded that "long-time perspective" is the most accurate single
predictor
of upward social and economic mobility in America. Long time
perspective
turns out to be more important than family background, education, race,
intelligence, connections or virtually any other single factor in
determining
your success in life and at work.
Your
attitude toward time, your "time horizon," has an enormous impact on
your
behavior and your choices. People who take the long view of their lives
and careers always seem to make much better decisions about their time
and activities than people who give very little thought to the
future.
THINK
ABOUT YOUR FUTURE
Successful
people have a clear future orientation. They think five, ten and twenty
years out into the future. They analyze their choices and behaviors in
the present to make sure that they are consistent with the long-term
future
that they desire.
In
your work, having a clear idea of what is really important to you in
the
long-term makes it much easier for you to make better decisions about
your
priorities in the short-term.
DETERMINE
THE CONSEQUENCES
By
definition, something that is important has long-term potential
consequences.
Something that is unimportant has few or no long-term potential
consequences.
Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, "What are
the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?"
The
clearer you are about your future intentions, the greater influence
that
clarity will have on what you do in the moment. With a clear long-term
vision, you are much more capable of evaluating an activity in the
present
and to assure that it is consistent with where you truly want to end
up.
MAKE
IT A TOP PRIORITY
If
there is a task or activity with large potential positive consequences,
make it a top priority and get started on it immediately. If there is
something
that can have large potential negative consequences if it is not done
quickly
and well, that becomes a top priority as well. Whatever your frog is,
resolve
to gulp it down first thing.
KEEP
MOTIVATED
Motivation
requires motive. The greater the positive potential impact that an
action
or behavior of yours can have on your life, once you define it clearly,
the more motivated you will be to overcome procrastination and get it
done
quickly.
Thinking
continually about the potential consequences of your choices, decisions
and behaviors is one of the very best ways to determine you true
priorities
in your work and personal life.
ACTION
EXERCISES
Review
your list of tasks, activities and projects regularly. Continually ask
yourself, "Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent
and
timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my
life?"
Whatever
it is that can help you the most, set it as a goal, make a plan to
achieve
it and go to work on your plan immediately. Remember the wonderful
words
of Goethe, "Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the
task
will be completed!"
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newsletter, just reply to this e-mail and ask to be removed or call my
office. Thanks!
The purpose
of this newsletter
is to provide information of general interest to our clients, potential
clients and other professionals. The information provided is
general
in nature and should not be considered complete information on any
product
or concept described. For more complete information, please
contact
my office at the phone number above.
Financial Advisor Certified Mortgage Planner Private Real Estate Banker/Investor Licensed Life, Health & Annuity Agent FINRA is located at www.finra.org.
SIPC is located at www.sipc.org.
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