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June 18, 2014 at 04:01 AM
One version of the saying is, “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” Another version is, “The cobbler’s children’s feet go bare.” However the saying is worded, the meaning is that, a lot of the time, “Do as they say, not as they do.”
Or, to put it in a more concrete fashion: People in a certain field often do a lousy job of applying the lessons they have learned, or should have learned, in that field to their own households.
The bankruptcy lawyer may be struggling to pay her credit card bills. The accountant may have never quite gotten around to filing the last three years’ of taxes. The reporter who reports about the evident value of vision benefits may miss typos because she last made time for an eye exam three years ago.
A life and health insurance agent, or retirement advisor, or financial planner may have a hazy notion for how to handle future health and financial challenges that involve a cardboard box and a guitar. Maybe a clarinet.
The editors of Retirement Advisor came up with a long-term care (LTC) elaboration on that concept by including several LTC planning questions in their latest senior survey.
The editors polled 120 readers ages 60 and older, including a few who were 81 or older, via email to see how they themselves have been addressing LTC planning issues.
Here are five of the findings.
1. Retirement advisors are not always perfect at filling out LTC surveys.
At one point in the survey, the senior advisor survey participants were asked whether they had private long-term care insurance (LTCI). The participants who had LTCI were supposed to say they had it and go on to another question.
See also: 20 stats about selling to boomers [infographic].
Fifty-eight participants — 48 percent — said they have LTCI coverage, and 64 participants — 52 percent — said they have none. The questionnaire included a write-in response section for those who had no LTCI coverage, which could be used to explain what was holding them back from buying LTCI coverage.
Six of the 21 participants who used the write-in response section said nothing was holding them back from buying LTCI coverage … because they had LTCI coverage. In other words: They actually had LTCI coverage, but something had gone wrong with how they had filled out the survey.
They count as not having LTCI coverage in the results, even though they, apparently, have LTCI coverage.
Moral: Every source of data has its limitations. Trust, but verify.
2. There are pockets of unmet need for advice everywhere.
About 57 percent of the advisors who said they have no private LTCI coverage said they think the product is too expensive, and seven said they don’t think they’ll need it, for whatever reason. But a few of the advisors without LTCI coverage — people who may well have been in training programs with scores of agents and would-be agents who were being told, “Go out and find 20 good prospects for our products!”— had a different answer.
Four of the advisors said they have no private LTCI mainly because no one’s tried to “sell it to me.”
See also: The cost of prospecting [infographic].
Moral: If you think people should have private LTCI or some other financial product, it never hurts to ask whether they have it.
