Can you really afford to skip long term care insurance?

Ralph
00:00:00

Imagine lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines and hushed whispers. The medical bills are piling up. You wonder, how will I ever afford this? How will my family manage? Well today, we'll discuss the emotional and financial strain of long term care.

And I'm going to answer a question, Can you afford to skip long term care insurance?
So stay tuned to find out how to plan for the future with peace of mind and protect your loved ones.

Podcast Announcer
00:00:28

In a world where crushing debt keeps you trapped, where living paycheck to paycheck has become your new normal, and where the dream of retirement seems impossibly out of reach, there's hope. Join financial evangelist Ralph Estep Jr. A man who's walked through the fire of financial failure and emerged stronger on the other side.

Welcome to Ask Ralph, the show where real world experience meets biblical truth to break the bondage of financial despair.

Get ready to take control of your money, break free from the financial stress and align your resources with God's purpose for your life. This is Ask Ralph with Ralph Estep Jr.

Ralph
00:01:07

Well welcome to the show today where we help you to master your finances from that Christian perspective. I am Ralph Estep and I am your financial evangelist. And today, we're going to be answering a very difficult question and that is, can I afford to skip having long term care insurance. So I just want to thank you for joining me on this journey.

Now if you missed yesterday's show, we talked about what do you do if you get one of those unexpected IRS refunds and more than that, I explained to you what I see as the best ways to spend it. So if you missed it, just like all of our episodes, I'm going to encourage you to check them out. You can find those right at askralph.com. Now let's get into today's emotional and thought provoking topic.

So I got this letter and this was a tough one. Listener named Naomi. And Naomi's struggling with the decision about what to do about long term care insurance. And more than that, she's really worried about the potential impact on her family.
And this is what she had to say. She said this,

"Dear Ralph, I'm at my wits' end. My mom had a stroke last year, and the medical expenses are piling up. I'm her primary caregiver and I'm constantly worried about how we'll afford her long term care. I've heard about long term care insurance, but I'm not sure if it's worth the cost. I don't want to burden my family any further, but I'm not sure what to do. I feel like I'm drowning in stress and uncertainty. Please help."

Well Naomi, let me just tell you this. You are in a tough situation and I understand the emotions of what you're going through.

We're sort of going through this right now with my mother-in-law. She's in a home, in a rest home because she has advanced dementia. And it this is a tough situation to be in. And remember, just like everybody else, if you've got a question for the show, just like Naomi, I'm going to encourage you to go to justaskralph.com and you can put your question right there. And don't forget, every Tuesday at 1 PM, I do a live show. And you get to the live show by going to askralphpodcast.com/live. And I would love to see you there.
Now Naomi, before I get into telling you what I think you should do, I want to start by grounding us in scripture.

I always feel like that's a good place to start because this show is all about trying to marry those worlds of faith and finance. And honestly, if you've been listening for any length of time, you know the two worlds are constantly connected. So I found this verse in the book of Luke 14, verse 28. And it says this. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?" So if you think about that Naomi, the picture in your mind is this wise builder. Now, maybe they were thinking about building pyramids or building, you know, large, big grand scale things. So that builder in Luke 14:28, just like them, we need to sit down and count the costs when we're planning for longterm care.

And I think I hear you saying that something you're being burdened by what's going on with your own mom and you don't want to burden your children. I get it. This is a huge source of stress. I see it every day in my practice. But here's the truth. By being diligent in our planning, we can ensure that we have enough resources to finish what we start and provide for ourselves and for our families, Naomi. And that's what I hear you talking about today. So I've got some great answers.

Before I get rolling, I just want to tell you that today I'm grateful for the wisdom that we find in the Bible. There's so many days when I'm going through my day and something just doesn't feel like it's going right.

And I just center myself in that scripture and it guides us in making these thoughtful and these responsible decisions. Sometimes it cuts us, sometimes it builds us up. But if you think about it, this wisdom helps us plan for the future with confidence. And that's what we're all looking for. We're all looking for that, that peace of mind and that assurance and that confidence.

And this wisdom from the Bible gives us that trust in God. Well now Naomi, let's get into the heart of today's topic. You've asked a very difficult question and you talked about the emotional, you talked about the financial strain of longterm care and that potential burden on your family.

And trust me, I get it. I just, it annoys me sometimes how many people don't plan for that situation. They don't look forward to, well, what if, and I've seen it destroy families. I've seen it destroy relationships. I want to share with you a couple of stories that illustrate just what I've seen in my own career as it relates to long term planning.

And I had this one client, we'll call her Mary. Now Mary was this vibrant woman and in the end she lived to be 96 years old. And throughout her life, she had seen her friends and family. They struggled with this long term care. And she was the convalescent person for her own mom and dad. And she saw how devastating that was and how complicated it was.

So when Mary was in her 60s, she decided, you know, I'm not going to go there. I'm going to do something different. She's going to flip the script or change the dynamic. And she purchased long term care insurance. And then what happened is, you know, as she got older, she expected this. She knew she was going to need help with her care.

She was going to need help with bathing. She's going to need help with dressing and eating. Listen, as we get older, these are the things that we need to have assistance with. And you, you're faced with a decision really. Like Mary had to make. Do I pay a little bit each year to have that assurance that down the road when I'm going to need this, it's going to be there for me.

And here's the problem. She didn't realize at the time just how valuable this would be. But she said, listen, I'm not going to go through the same thing that my parents went through. And she saw with her own grandparents, with her own parents. So as soon as her long term care kicked in, she was able to hire those people to help her.

She was able to hire those in home caregivers. And what was important to Mary was she wanted to maintain her independence because see, Mary's children lived out of state. And she was also at the same time worried that they would be worried about her. But this long term care insurance gave her peace of mind, knowing that she was going to be taken care of.
And she said to her children, they said they knew mom was going to be taken care of. And I remember her sharing with me one time, and she passed away a few years ago, but she was able to hire in home caregivers, she was able to stay in her own home, and that was so important to her. She'd work so hard for this home.

She had lost her husband sort of early in life, I think it was in her 50s. So she took such pride in her home and I remember her saying to me a couple times. She goes Ralph, I never want to go to one of those old folks home. She says first of all, I'm not old. But I don't want to go there. She's in a house.

I don't want to burden my kids. I don't want to have to move in with my children and they have to take care of me and listen, I've seen that so many times. And what she told, what amazing thing about this whole thing was those caregivers that Mary was able to bring in, they kind of became sort of her family. I remember at her funeral.

It was really amazing to see how many people that were just, you know, sort of people along the journey. Those people that helped her with her daily needs. They also became companions for her and they became her emotional support system. And Mary's home remained filled with laughter and love because even as her health declined, you know, she got to the point, she had a two story home.

I remember I'm going to visit her a few times and she had this two story home and she got to the point where she couldn't make it up the steps. And at that point, she brought in what I'll call a hospital bed for the first floor. But there wasn't a lot of stress because she knew she had set aside. She had good emergency funds, but she had that longterm care insurance.

And as I recall, I think her long term care policy paid a ton of money for her. Cause like I said, she lived to be 96. And think about the impact on her family. Her children were able to visit. They were able to enjoy that quality time with their mother without that constant worry of how to pay for her care.

And that's another thing I see. I see this situation where grandparents move in with their children. And then, you know, the children are there with their children, the grandparent's children, and there becomes such stress. So many people under one roof and, you know, grandparents want to do it this way.

The parents want to do it this way. And there's this constant battle. And it breaks down so many relationships. I remember the great relationships I had with my grandparents but they didn't live under my own roof. And I'm not saying that can't work for everybody. All I'm saying is that it creates this burden. So let's get back to Mary. So as her needs increased, she ended up having to go to an assisted living facility, but it was right at the end.

But the moral of the story is here. Her insurance covered a significant portion of the cost. She was able to maintain her dignity. She was able to maintain that quality of life. She didn't have to rely on her family. And they know Naomi, one of the things I hear you saying is like, I don't want to burden my kids with this.

I don't want to burden, you know, my children with worrying about taking care of mom and dad, not only the physical part, but the financial part. I mean, it destroys families. It truly does. So listen, I'm going to get to another story to tell you about the other side of this, but Mary's story is a testament to that peace of mind.

And that's if you don't take away anything else today, this is your financial evangelist giving you some real evangelism here. Her story is a testament to the peace of mind that long term care insurance can provide. Because the beauty of this story with Mary is her children were able to focus on providing emotional support.

They weren't worrying about giving her a bath. They weren't worrying about making sure she was able to eat. All those things. They didn't worry about where they were gonna get the money to pay for her care. I've seen people in my own practice go bankrupt over this. Like just absolutely destroyed themselves financially because they didn't have that longterm care.

And I'm not blaming the children. Don't misunderstand me. Let me be very bold here. It's not the children's responsibility to buy this long term care insurance. So if you're listening to this right now and you're the parent, you're the person that's getting older, you're in your 60s and whatever that looks like, I'm speaking directly to you.

It's time to consider that long term care insurance because when you hear this story. I had another client, we'll call her Jane. Jane throughout her whole life, she never married. She was this proud, independent woman. She'd always taken care of herself. And I remember her saying to me one time, she goes, Ralph, cause one of the things, let me back up here and explain.

The reason I know about clients with long term care insurance is when I'm doing their tax return, one of the deductions they can take which is a whole another discussion is premiums paid. It's a medical expense for long term care insurance. So I would always ask that question when we get to the medical stuff.

Hey, do you have health insurance? Yes. Did you pay for it? No, it's covered by employees. So on and so forth, but Hey, do you have long term care insurance? Now I don't generally ask that to people in their twenties or thirties, but it's on my questionnaire, that sort of thing. So this one day I remember I was meeting with Jane, and I said to her, I said, okay, do you have longterm care insurance?

And she goes, Ralph, listen to me. I'm a viral person. I don't need that. I'm not going to ever get to that position. She just didn't see the need for that longterm care insurance. And she said, no, I'm going to forget about it. No, I don't need it. And then unfortunately, as Jane aged, she began to show signs of dementia. And I've done a show about dementia.

It's a terrible disease. My mother-in-law's going through it right now. And of course, she didn't have that long term care insurance and her family tried to step in and take care of her. They tried to help out, you know, this one would be over this day. This would be over this day. She would spend some weekends with them and it was everybody trying to pitch in and help.

But if you know anything about these deteriorating diseases, like dementia, you get to the point where that care becomes too great. It just, you can't do it. In my own life right now, my mother-in-law is going through this and my wife and my sister-in-law have talked about this. You know, we have mom in a nursing home and unfortunately she's in a financial position where she can afford it.

But even there, they've had discussions. Hey, should we just bring her into our house? Should we just take care of her here? And unfortunately, my personal view on this, and this is Ralph talking. It's such a huge burden. I'm not saying that people can't do it, but it is a 24 hour, seven day a week thing. So in Jane's case, they couldn't do it.

They tried. They did this one did the weekend. This one did this week, but they had their own families. They had their own things going on. And they had to hire round the clock home aides. Now think about that for a second. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In just six months, they went through $60,000 of Jane's money.

Now just think about that for a second. 60 grand in six months, that's $10,000 a month. And that financial burden was immense. And it really depleted Jane's savings quickly. And basically that the kids got together and said, okay, we'll be, mom needs to be taken care of. What do we do now? And so her family struggled with trying to maintain this care for her.

They had to make significant sacrifice. I remember one of the children came in after she passed away and was expressing to me all that went on. Cause I was doing the final tax returns. I remember saying, she said, Ralph, I had to quit my job. I couldn't even work because I had to be a full time caregiver to mom.

We couldn't afford to continue to bring somebody in. So we looked at the math and it made sense for me to quit my job. And of course that caused problems for her and her husband and her children. And that created this huge emotional toll on Jane's family. Her children, they were constantly stressed. They were constantly worried about what they were going to do, how they were going to afford their mother's care, because listen, she was getting worse by the day.

They got to a certain point, like I said, she ran out of money. They liquidated her home. They sold her assets. They just piled everything in to pay for her care. And that stress, that stress manifested itself in arguments and tension within the family. Sisters weren't talking. Brother-in-laws were basically at fist to cuffs because you were supposed to be here to relieve such and such.

And listen, if you're going through this, you know exactly what I'm talking about. This burden was immense. These family arguments, I mean, these are people that were close. They started to just hate to be around each other because it was always, Oh, who's going to take care of mom. Who's going to give mom a bath.

Who's going to get mom dressed. Who's going to go make sure she's got all her medicine. It was too much for all of them to handle. And her health continued to decline. And at some point she eventually had to move to the nursing home. And again, she's out of assets. The costs are astronomical. I'm going to talk about those in a few minutes.

And even with each of her children, everybody pitching in. They struggled to keep up. And like I said, this was devastating to this family. And I look back and what I, when I see is this lack of planning, it's lack of preparation. And again, I'm not saying this is the children's issue. It's not the children's issue, but you can learn from that and make sure you don't burden your children with this.

But that lack of preparation, that lack of planning, it led to significant hardship for both Jane. Cause you know, she was going through dementia. She really didn't understand what was going on, but her loved ones, they suffered with this. A time when they should have been able to be there for Jane emotionally and to help her in what I will call the last season of her life.

It was just a constant looking at the numbers and trying to figure out who's going to pay this and who's going to pay that. And if you think about it, that lack of planning. You know I say on the show a lot of times. If you don't plan, you will plan to fail. And that's a bold statement, but you know what?

That's the kind of guy I am. I'm a bold person. I'm going to call it, like I see it, a lot of my clients say, Ralph, you know, one thing about you, you're transparent, dude. You call it like you see it. So I'm calling it like I see it here. This lack of planning, Jane's decision to go do other things, and I'm not judging her.

Don't misunderstand me. But that lack of planning led to significant financial and emotional strain for both her and the family. So I think you get the point, right? So don't be like Jane. Be more like Mary, because listen, one of the true things I talk about on the show all the time. What you have, what God has given you, and this is a Christian show.

This is what I talk about because I truly believe that faith comes first. What you have is not yours. And I know that's a bold statement. A lot of people say, Ralph, how could you say that. It's not yours. Let's start there. So God has given you certain things to steward. That means to take care of them.

Well, one of the things you've got to do is you've got a plan for what that looks like in retirement. A lot of people just say, ah, when I get that old, somebody else will take care of it. That's not being faithful. That's not being a good steward of the resources God gave you.

So if you're sitting right now, if you're listening to my voice or you're watching this on our YouTube channel, on our Rumble channel, hear me. You got to own this. This is your responsibility. Plan for this because guess what? My grandfather used to say this all the time, and this is a very harsh thing to say.

He used to say, he called me Ralphie. A lot of people, I don't let people call me that, but my grandfather and I were close as I've said on the show. He said to me one time, he said, Ralphie, we come into this world in diapers and if we're really fortunate, we go out in diapers. He lived to be 88 years old and he went out in diapers.

But think about the truism of what he said. We come into this world, mom has to care for his dad, has to care for us. I'm not just picking, I'm not saying that, but everybody's caring for us, right? You got that diaper. You are a hundred percent dependent on your caregivers. And when you come in here, you don't have the opportunity to buy, you know, future care costs.

I mean, it's silly, but you understand what I'm saying. But as you age, and as you start to make decisions, you have a choice. You've got a choice. Oh, do we go on that vacation or do we spend the money for that long term care policy for this year? Do we buy that nice fancy car or do we spend the money on that long term care policy?

Don't burden your family. So let's talk about the expected cost of long term care, because that's really where the rubber meets the road. And this encompasses a range of services. Basically think about in terms of what will need to be given to assist individuals with their daily activities. I got some statistics for you.

Now, I'm going to be honest with you. When I looked at these statistics, it depends on where you live, because right here, I think these numbers are a little low, but in home care, let's just assume this. You need basic in home care. Now this isn't 24/7, not saying that by any stretch, but in home care for like the time, like you wouldn't be, when you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night, on average, $5,148 per month.

Might be saying, wow, that's not cheap. Yeah, exactly. That's not cheap. But you know what it is so you can plan for that. Second thing, let's say you go to that assisted living facility. This is one of those places where it's kind of an apartment. You're kind of on your own, but you've got people there to help you. On average, that's going to cost you about $4,500 per month. But if you're like anybody as their body starts to fade, they start to deteriorate, you're going to have to go to that skilled nursing home. And these start, the minimum I've seen about $8,000 a month. That's if you have a roommate. If you're looking for a private room, you're talking about 10, 11, 12, maybe $15,000 a month.

So we know what the ends are. We know what that looks like. Now there are also community based services where there's adult daycare programs and senior centers. And I encourage you to reach out and find those resources. A lot of churches have them. Some benevolent groups have them. And again, these costs could vary depending upon where you're at in the country, what level of care you need, the specific facility or the service provider.

And let me just tell you, like, I have experienced this in my own mother-in-law over the last, I guess it's been almost two years now. The prices aren't going down. They're going up. And if you have something like dementia, you're going to need more care. So the facilities look, hey, Ralph, it costs more because we have to use more time with this person. And they're, those prices are increasing.

Like for example, I'm gonna give you this statistic. Said here in the notes when I did some research, the median annual cost of assisted living has increased by 1.4%. This is the median assisted living. Not skilled nursing. Assisted living $64,200. That's if you go to a facility or share in a room with somebody and a home health aide has increased by 10 percent to $75,500 a year. Think about that. Think about the impact of that. So you might be saying, Ralph, man, you've painted a really bad picture. We're happy about Mary, but Jane's story scares me. And I hear what you're saying about these costs. Ralph, what do I do? I got an answer for you.

And it's called long term care insurance. So let's talk about what that covers. Let's talk about what that looks like. Cause a lot of people I ask them in my practice, Hey, do you know, do you have long term care insurance? Ralph, what is that? I don't even know what that is. So basically it's like this. Its an insurance policy.

The cost of which is based on the type and the amount of services. It also depends on how old you are when you buy the policy, because to be blunt, if you buy it younger, you get a better deal because if you think about it, you're paying premiums for a longer time. It's optional benefits. There's a maximum amount that it'll pay.

So that's the starting point. Now this insurance cover services and support for people that need those long term cares. It helps with activities like those daily things, brushing teeth, getting dressed, taking a shower, cooking meals, taking your medication. And listen, these things can be in your home.

They can be at another person's home, a family member's home, an assisted living facility, or even a nursing home. They will still pay towards this. Now, I don't think it's going to cover a hundred percent of it. Again, it depends on your policy, which is why I'm going to stress something right now. Know what you are buying.

Have a discussion with the agent. Understand what your policy covers and doesn't cover. Understand how long the benefits will last. I remember, I guess it was about two years ago, I had a client that her family brought her back to live with her. They actually put an addition on the house. So she really set her up in a good way.

And she had this long term care policy. So for a couple of years, she was able to collect on that long term policy till it ran out of benefits, but it was a huge help. It helped take away that burden. So let me tell you about what this normally costs, because obviously, you know, you're like, Hey, Ralph, this is a terrible situation.

Sounds like we really should go after this, but how much is it going to cost? Here's the average cost of long term care insurance. And it can vary depends on the little bells and whistles and the options you pick. But when I read this and when I understood this deeper, think about this. 55 year old single person, you're going to spend about $2,000 to $3,000 per year depending upon what you need and that's going to cover about $164,000 in benefits.
And they're going to have an inflation every year that makes that go higher. So that's at 55, 2000 to 3000. Now 60 year old couple, this is more talking about not an individual, but a couple. Let's say you get to 60 and you're like, you know what? I remember hearing that the financial evangelist, Ralph, and he said, man, get that long term care insurance.

Don't burden your family. So a 60 year old couple might pay around $3,400 per year. And that's what they call a shared benefit policy. And that one would cover up to about $328,000 in benefits, again, within inflation every year. But you've got to do your homework, study these, the actual cost is going to be based on many things.

So talk to a financial advisor and look and see what is the best option for you.
So Naomi, I bet you weren't expecting to go that deep today, but I really wanted to take some time to explain this because like I said, I've seen this destroy families. I've seen it bankrupt people.

I've seen it get to the point where families aren't talking to each other. Like when the person finally passes away, nobody shows up for their funeral because everybody is so wore out and upset about what happened for the last, whatever term that was when you were taking care of mom or you were taking care of dad.

But there is hope. See, one of the reasons that I do this show, I don't judge people. I don't say, Hey, you know, you've made all these mistakes. Listen, we've all made mistakes. I've made mistakes. If you're listening to my voice, I guarantee you've made mistakes, but here's the deal Naomi. You can overcome this challenge.

You're young enough. I don't know exactly how old you are, but based on what you're telling me, you can overcome this challenge by looking at a plan for longterm care. So here's some actionable steps. You know, I want to give you things you can do. Number one thing, start by assessing your needs. Consider your health, consider your family history, personal preferences, whatever that looks like, and look at your long term care needs.
Second thing. You know when I meet with clients, the first thing I start with is let's see where we are. I'm going to say the same thing to you. So assess those needs. Number two, evaluate your resources. Look at your savings. Look at your investments. You know, I start off the show by saying, could you forego long term care?

Well yes, you could potentially. It depends on your savings. It depends on your investments. It depends on your assets, because what I'm really talking about is you really have two options. You can do the insurance. The insurance care for it, or you can do self funded longterm care and both of those are equally valuable.

You may have enough in assets because you've done a good job of stewarding your resources. You put aside for retirement. I guess it was a couple of months ago. I did a show about what does the average couple expect to spend on medical expenses in retirement. And I want to say the number was like $360,000.

So if you're fortunate, you've done a good job of stewarding it, you've made good investments, you've used the, what the Lord has given you wisely. Maybe you've got that money sitting in an account. Then I'm not talking to you today. I'm not talking about the person who has that money set aside, but evaluate your resources.

And once you do that, and if you come to that decision of, you know Ralph, I really don't have the ability to self fund this thing. Then you got to look at insurance options. You know, you can look at traditional long term care insurance policies. There's hybrid policies. There's annuities with long term care writers.

Not for our topic today, but talk to a financial professional, talk to a broker that understands your options and then move forward that. And that's my number four thing on the list. Consult a financial advisor and seek guidance from a trusted advisor. Find that Christian advisor. Find somebody that has the same faith as you, somebody that you know has character, somebody that you trust.

Reach out and talk to people who are in your same position. Do you have you know, long term care insurance? Do they have long term insurance? And then sit down and ask a million questions and ask a million more and find the best option that works for you for your situation. And number five, this is the key takeaway, Naomi and everyone else listening. Plan for the future.

As I said, if you don't plan, you will fail. That's a guarantee. If you do not plan, you will fail. My son's in the Coast Guard, 27 years old. He's a crackerjack. One of the things he always says. I'll say to him, what are we gonna do today? Dad, I've already planned it out. You need to do the same thing with your life.

You're not a spectator in your life journey. You need to take control of it. So plan for your future. Make a comprehensive plan that includes both the financial and emotional support for your family because listen, it's not just financial. Have that sit down and talk about what your retirement looks like.

And if you were God forbid to get dementia, have that conversation with your family of what you would want to see done. Have open dialogue, have open communication, but listen to me and listen to me very clearly. Don't burden your family. Like I've said, I've seen it so many times, it destroys families and there is a way to prevent it because see, if you take action now,

and I'm not an insurance salesman. Listen, I don't have a pony in this race. I don't have an affiliate group. I don't make any commission on selling long term care insurance. I just know God has asked us and commanded us to steward our resources. And if you're not planning for the future, you're not doing a good job of that.

And that might hurt and that might step on toes, but sometimes guess what? The Bible says, iron sharpens iron. So take action now and save your family from significant financial and emotional stress in the future. Because listen to me, you can prevent this. There's a lot of things you can't prevent. You can't prevent getting dementia.

You can't prevent a lot of medical situations that you might face. You can't prevent natural disasters. But this is something and hear me, you can prevent this. You can do something to plan for this.

Now I know I covered a lot today, but guess what?There's even more. I write a blog post every day. So if you want to check that out, you can go to askralphpodcast.com/blog. And in that, I've got additional resources, I've got some more thoughts and insights that can help you make better informed decisions. And you can check the things I talked about there.
Listen, I'm a transparent guy. When I prepare for these shows, what I'm saying to you, you can take to the bank. I do that. I do my homework. I check the references, but I also share that with you. So I'm going to encourage you and that's done with everyday show. Go to askralphpodcast.com/blog.

Now, before we wrap up, let's reflect on a few questions. You know I always like to end the show or get ready to end the show with a couple questions. Just three today. That's usually what I do anyway. I'm a victim of routine. I like routine. If you listen to me, you're probably like, yeah, Ralph's got a routine.

He does this. He does that. Great. I appreciate you listening. Encourage other people to do it. But let's get to our questions. Number one, have you assessed your longterm care needs based on your health and family history? Listen, if you've got relatives live into 90s, I think I was talking to somebody the other day and I'm pretty sure they told me their mother had just died.

She was 101 years old. Well guess what? If you live to be 101, I suspect you're going to have a downturn in your physical health. You got to plan for that. Look at your family history. Look at your health. You know, or do you already have health issues? Like I will be very honest with you. I'm a type two diabetic.

I have high blood pressure. Now I'm working hard at it. If you notice I lost some weight, I'm really working at it. And I appreciate everybody who's reached out and encouraged me to do that because I'm planning, see, I'm planning to be successful in this. You could do the same thing with this longterm care.

Second thing, Number two. What financial resources do you have available to cover long term care costs? Write them down, put them on paper, put together a plan. Well, you have your house, you have this, you have that, and understand what that's going to look like before you burden your family. Because here's the deal.

Your kids aren't going to let you starve. Your kids aren't going to let you suffer. They're going to step up and help you. I have most kids, maybe, maybe not my kids. I'm just being funny. Most kids would step up and help you, but do you really want to burden them with that? You know, you've lived this life of independence.

Do you really want to go out with this burden is the last thing you want your children to remember was, man I remember having to change mom's diapers or I remember the financial burden trying to figure out how we're gonna pay for another month for mom or dad to be in that assisted living or that nursing home. Don't let it end like that. And last but not least, number three.

Again, I'm not a salesperson, I'm not an insurance salesman, but have you considered the potential benefits of long term care insurance for your situation? That's all I want you to do is reflect on that. Think about that. Is this something you really should consider? Maybe, we got to the point you're like, Ralph, dude you have overwhelmed me.
I have no idea what to do now, Ralph. Well, here's the good news. I'm here to help you. This is what I do for a living. I can help you create a personalized plan. Like I'm not an insurance salesman, but I can help you create a personalized plan that ensures your financial future secure and your loved ones are protected.

And what I bring as the financial evangelist, what I bring to this is a clear understanding that these things that we have aren't ours. See a lot of people out there in a secular world, they're going to show you how to build that bank account and save all that money and have those investments. And that's all good.

But you want to work with somebody whose heart you understand, that character you understand. If you're listening to me, you know exactly what I'm talking about. So let's work together to create a personalized plan that ensures that security for your future. And at the same time, keep your loved ones protected.

Now the easiest thing to do is you can book a call with me by going to askralph.com and I'll review your financial situation. I'll talk about your options. I'll help connect you with people who may be that insurance person or be that person can help you with investments. But what we're going to do big, big takeaway, we're going to do, we're going to develop a comprehensive strategy for longterm care.

Naomi, don't let the fear of the unknown hold you back. You don't have to live in the state of not knowing what's next. Take that first step towards peace of mind and financial security today. Yes, you heard me right. You can find peace of mind and you can find financial security. Remember this. Planning for long term care is not just about finances.

That would make it simple. But it's about ensuring you and your loved ones can live with dignity. Mary lived with dignity. And make sure that your loved ones can live in that comfort, that peace of mind, that comfort. So let me help you guide through that process. Let me help you make informed decisions that align with your Christian values.

Because as I say, at the end of the show, every day, together, we can master your finances from that Christian perspective. So don't wait, book your call now. Again, go to askralph.com and let's start planning. As my son said, either plan or you plan to fail. Let's start planning for that secure and stress free future.

And think about this. Just imagine for a second. We've been very negative today about what we're talking about, but imagine the relief you'll feel knowing you have a solid plan. When something happens, that plan's in place. You're not worrying about burdening your children, not worrying about burdening your grandchildren.

You've got that plan that protects your loved ones and provides for your needs. You don't have to sweat it. Listen, let's make that a reality together. Let me ask you this. If you find value in the Ask Ralph show, what I encourage you to do something. I'm going to encourage you to support the show by buying us a virtual cup of coffee.
Now nobody's going to come to my office, knock on the door and say, Hey, here's your cup of coffee. As I've said before, I don't even like coffee. I'll drink a hot tea every morning. I don't like coffee, but this is a virtual coffee. You can decide to make a one time support. You can make a recurring support.

You might be saying, Ralph, well, why do we want to do that? Because here's the reason. You're listening to my voice today. Somebody else needs to hear this message and your support helps us continue to reach people with a message of hope. See, cause that's the big takeaway from today. There is hope. There are things that you can do to make this situation better.

So our message of hope and Christian faith. So I'd encourage you to go to askralphpodcast.com/support. And if your heart is leaning towards that, I encourage you to support the show. So let me close this. Remember, planning for long term care is a crucial part of a comprehensive financial plan. And if you're being diligent, you're being thoughtful in your decisions, you can ensure a future for yourself that's secure and for your loved ones as well.

Now, tomorrow I'm going to change a topic completely. I like try to bounce around here. We're going to be discussing why the IRS is eyeing your digital wallet. So be sure to check that out. If you do any kind of crypto trading, listen, this is an area the IRS is going after. So you want to make sure you tune in tomorrow.

And if you know anybody that's doing crypto or any kind of digital wallets, tell them, Hey, make sure you check out Ask Ralph tomorrow. And remember this, my passion is to help you achieve financial success. I want to see you live out your dreams. I want to see you grow in your faith. I don't want to see you burden your children.

And if you're one of those people that's going through that right now, make sure that you make a different decision for your situation. It might be too late for the people you're caregiving for. Probably is too late depending upon their situation, but it's not too late for you. You can change the dynamic.

You can now put together a plan. So work with me. Together, we can master your finances from that Christian perspective. So I always end the show by saying this. Stay financially savvy and may God bless you abundantly.

Podcast Announcer
00:39:49

Thank you for joining us on the Ask Ralph show, and with a simple click to subscribe, we'll invite you back to our next episode. And remember, financial issues don't have to be complicated. Just ask Ralph.

The information contained in this episode of Ask Ralph is based on data available as of the date of its release. Saggio Accounting Plus and Ask Ralph Media, Inc. Is under no obligation to update this content if changes occur.

Applying this information to your specific situation requires careful consideration of all facts, facts and circumstances, and any information provided is not to be considered as financial, tax, or legal advice. Please consult your tax advisor or attorney before acting on any material covered.