Some advisors are too young and too lucky to know much about long-term care needs.
Others are aware but are afraid of mentioning the subject.
A few have been successful at helping many clients think about the topic and use stand-alone long-term care insurance, life or annuity products with LTC benefits, or carefully designed savings arrangements to prepare for future LTC needs.
Researchers at the LeadingAge LTSS Center, an arm of the University of Massachusetts Boston, have an urgent message for advisors: Clients with good LTC funding arrangements who become caregivers may still need a lot of extra support from financial advisors and others.
The researchers organized four focus groups with support from Amada Senior Care and Mutual of Omaha, a major stand-alone LTCI issuer.
Members of two groups cared for loved ones with LTCI, and members of two groups were helping loved ones without LTCI.
The conclusion: The focus group participants with LTCI reported facing much less financial strain than those without, but the caregivers with loved ones who had LTCI still reported many burdens and worries.
In some cases, financial professionals might be able to ease those problems by providing a little more advice or connecting caregiver clients with local LTC services experts.
The researchers presented the results recently in Milwaukee at a conference organized by Certification for Long-Term Care, a group that provides an LTC planning education and credentialing program.
For a look at seven financial challenges facing caregivers who are getting help from LTCI, see the gallery accompanying this article.
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