Retirement News

More women than men receive privately paid care at home for lingering health issues, according to a new report from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALCI). The independently conducted study examined the usage of home care services received by 1,000 men and women during a one-week period in March 2010. “The vast majority of both men and women home care recipients were over age 71 and most received care for three days a week or less,” says Jesse Slome, executive director of AALCI. The study found that 88.6% of users were women age 71 or older compared to 81.1% who were men. When it came to the number of service days per week, two-thirds (66%) of women used private in-home care for three days a week or less. Just under half (49%) of men received care for three days or less. The remainder paid for four or more days. Both men and women appear to pay for about the same number of hours of care per-day, the study found.

Putnam Investments’s interactive Roth IRA Conversion Evaluator is now available to both advisors and their clients to help in determining whether to convert from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA Conversion Evaluator, previously available only to advisors, is featured on a new blog (www.rothirablog.com). The Roth IRA Conversion Evaluator, www.rothirablog.com/roth-evaluator, is designed to facilitate discussion between advisors and their clients on the merits of a Roth IRA conversion, Putnam says.