“There’s No Magic Number for Self-Funding Long-Term Care,” by Christine Benz, Morningstar “I find that investors seek out a specific asset threshold to help determine whether they could self-fund long-term care costs rather than buying long-term care insurance. In my early days of focusing on retirement planning, $1.5 million was often asserted to be a “safe” asset threshold for paying long-term care costs out of pocket. More recently–no doubt in light of the fact that we’ve seen long-term care costs trend up more rapidly than the general inflation rate–that figure has crept up to $2.5 million.” LTC Comment (from Stephen
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“Common Herpes Virus Could Cause 50 Percent of Alzheimer’s Disease Cases, Expert Says,” by Kashmira Gander, Newsweek “The herpes virus, which triggers cold sores, could be the cause of at least half of the cases of Alzheimer’s disease, a leading expert concluded after reviewing existing data on the neurodegenerative condition. Owing to the prevalence of herpes, as well as the alarming rates at which Alzheimer’s is being diagnosed (with the number of cases expected to hit 82 million in 2030, and 152 million in 2050) the association between the two is ripe for investigation.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President,
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“Critical Illness Market Keeps Growing: Gen Re,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “U.S. sales of critical illness insurance climbed 37% in 2017, to $652 million, according to new insurer survey results from Gen Re. The Stamford, Connecticut-based reinsurer found that in-force premium revenue increased 45%, to $1.6 billion. Sales of coverage through group plans, and through individual policies purchased at the worksite rose 21%, to $554 million. Sales of individual critical illness insurance policies grew much more rapidly: to about $98 million in 2017, from $19 million in 2016.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
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“This retirement expense has hit $100,000 annually — and it’s continuing to rise,” by Darla Mercado, CNBC “This retirement living expense has nowhere to go but up. The annual cost of a private room in a nursing home has cracked the six-figure mark, according to Genworth Financial. The national annual median cost of a private room in a nursing home is $100,375, the insurer found in its 2018 Cost of Care study. Overall, the rising cost of care has outpaced inflation. The Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers was 2.1 percent for the first half of 2018. The annual
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