Giesting Financial’s founder, Mark Giesting, recently appeared on Retirement News Online, a news outlet that consults financial professionals in discussions about the latest trends and retirement topics. He fielded questions about health care, a hot-button issue for today’s retirees and pre-retirees.

He was first asked how health care costs fit into a retirement budget, and he said:

Health care can be the wild card in retirement because we sometimes don’t know what that’s going to look like. What we do know is that there are three phases of retirement. First, you have the active years from 65 to 75, which we call the “Go-Go Years.” From 75 to 85, people tend to slow down, and their expenses decrease by an average of 20% to 30%. Then at age 85, they tend to go back up, so we think it’s really important to put a customized plan together and forecast to the best of our abilities what those expenses might look like.

At Giesting Financial, our mission is to prepare you as best we can for retirement. That means taking a long look at your unique circumstances and addressing the individual issues you face and expect to face. Using your goals and your projected retirement income, we can design a plan to predict your needs, both for a comfortable lifestyle and for your healthcare as you age in and out of the different phases of retirement.

Mark then discussed what Medicare does and does not cover for beneficiaries. He said:

Medicare is going to cover your doctor visits, hospital visits and first 100 days in a nursing home. For other expenses such as home health care, assisted living or an extended stay in a nursing home, Medicare isn’t going to be able to provide you with what you need. That’s why we feel it’s important to have a long-term care strategy in place.

What some pre-retirees and retirees may not realize is that long-term care is not covered by Medicare because it is not considered a medical expense. It is considered a lifestyle expense, and as your lifestyle changes, you may need to prepare for the potential of needing long-term care. Failing to get the proper coverage could mean depleting your retirement accounts extremely quickly and confronting every retiree’s worst fear: running out of money while you’re still alive.

Naturally, that led to the question of long-term care insurance and whether it can be a good idea for retirees looking for the proper protection. Mark responded:

I think you have to look at each person’s situation. Some are in the position to self-insure, meaning they have the means available to pay for the care. Most people, however, don’t have the means, and with the rising cost of care, it’s challenging to self-insure. Putting a long-term care policy in place can provide that leverage that a lot of people may need. We like to combine long-term care and life insurance so that if you don’t use your long-term care benefit, a death benefit would still go to your beneficiaries. Then, those dollars always return to you in some way, shape or form.

Life insurance is now more customizable than ever with hybrid options to include long-term care coverage in your life insurance policy. With a hybrid policy, the benefits are no longer “use-it-or-lose-it.” If you need long-term care, that benefit is available to you later in life to protect you from the extremely expensive costs of an assisted living facility. If you don’t need long-term care, your beneficiaries can be provided with a nice death benefit that eases the pain of your loss and helps them transition.

To watch the entire video featuring Mark Giesting on Retirement News Online, you can click right here.

If you have any questions regarding health care or long-term care in retirement, please give us a call. You can reach Giesting Financial in Batesville, Indiana, at 812.933.1791 or in Columbus, Indiana, at 812.565.2726.

This article is for informational purposes only and not to be construed as financial or investing advice, nor is it a replacement for real-life advice based on your unique situation.

Advisory products and services offered by Investment Adviser Representatives through Prime Capital Investment Advisors, LLC (“PCIA”), a federally registered investment adviser. PCIA: 6201 College Blvd., Suite #150, Overland Park, KS 66211. PCIA doing business as Prime Capital Wealth Management (“PCWM”) and Qualified Plan Advisors (“QPA”). Securities are offered by Registered Representatives through Private Client Services, Member FINRA/SIPC. PCIA and Private Client Services are separate entities and are not affiliated.