Booking More LTC Business

Planners clearly have a responsibility to talk to clients about LTC planning, because it affects more than just the client’s financial plan, Slome points out.

“It has an impact on the entire family,” he says. “Most financial planners who have been in business for a good number of years have clients with long term care issues. They’ve seen and understand the impact it can have on people and their families.”

Agents have to learn to talk to financial planners about LTC insurance differently than the traditional way they present it to their own clients, he notes.

“Planners look at the product differently and think about the funding for the product differently than do consumers, so it’s very important for agents to adopt a language the planners can relate to,” he says.

One approach Slome suggests is to talk about how financial planners help clients build a “retirement castle.” That lets the agent position LTC insurance as a way to build a moat around that castle, he suggests.

“That’s different than the usual way you’d present it to the consumer, but it emphasizes the important point that LTC is protection of the financial plan,” Slome says. “It’s a subtle but important way to reposition the product.”

Another way to discuss LTC with planners is to present it as a way to use a small piece of the earnings on a client’s account to protect the client’s portfolio, he adds. A new brochure available from Slome’s association (it’s online at Document Link) points out that less than 0.5% of the yearly return on a client’s portfolio return can protect the client’s assets against an LTC event.

“You’ll benefit as an agent if you position the product in a way that helps the financial planner understand the client need and realize how efficiently LTC can fund it,” Slome says.

This article originally appeared in the September 2006 issue of LTC e-Wire, an online publication of National Underwriter Life & Health. You can subscribe for free to this monthly e-newsletter by going to .