OUR life insurance, disability and long-term care PHILOSOPHY

We believe properly-structured life insurance, disability income coverage and high-quality long-term care insurance are important components of a balanced financial plan.

Life Insurance
Life insurance remains one of the most flexible financial tools. Simple term insurance provides relatively inexpensive family protection, while more sophisticated universal and whole life insurance contracts offer a rare combination of tax-deferred cash value increases, security of principle, freedom from liability claims, estate-tax liquidity and possibly tax-free retirement income. We believe life contracts should be reviewed annually, as situations and goals change. As with disability coverage, business owners can usually tailor life contracts to fit the needs of their family and their business, often with tax savings opportunities. This Life Insurance Checklist can be used as an aid to determine what is most appropriate for your situation.

Disability Income
While many of our clients have some disability coverage through their employer, these policies need to be analyzed periodically for “quality of life gaps.” In other words, does my coverage allow myself and my family to maintain our standard of living, or will we be forced to compromise? Are there cost effective options to intelligently supplement my group or corporate benefit plan? For business owners, the need for income replacement is generally even more acute if they want their company to continue as a going concern. The following Disability Insurance Worksheet can help you begin to determine if disability insurance is right for you.

Long-Term Care
The U.S. Department of Health indicates that people aged 65 and older face a 40% lifetime risk of entering a nursing home. About 10% will stay five years or longer. But, the potential need for long-term care insurance is not restricted to those aged 65 and over. The government also estimates over 13 million people under the age of 64 require will long-term care services annually. Couple that reality with the fact that medical costs continue to skyrocket, and you have the potential to dramatically reduce or completely eliminate your hard-earned savings. While not inexpensive, long-term care insurance can provide the comfort that you will not have to compromise your quality-of-life if a major illness strikes a family member. Plans have numerous features and benefits that should be coordinated with other coverage to insure optimum price-value. New tax regulations and LTC Partnership Programs make these policies more attractive than ever before. Completing our Long-Term Care Risk Assessment Profile is a useful first-step exercise.