“Post Crisis: Rebounding But Not Recovered,” Advisor Magazine “As the financial crisis cut into their net worth and lowered the value of their homes, boomers’ confidence in achieving a personally satisfying retirement dropped significantly, according to a recent study commissioned by the Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement (CSR), ‘10 Years After the Crisis: Middle-Income Boomers Rebounding But Not Recovered.’ Today, less than four in 10 (37%) boomers are certain they will have a personally satisfying retirement. . . . The study found 28 percent are making more conservative investments, and 26 percent report they no longer invest as a
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Effective Dec. 1: Closing New Sales of Current Multi-life LTC Product To our Agents and Distribution Partners, Effective December 1, 2017, LifeSecure is closing all new sales of our current Multi-life LTC offering in all states. This follows our recent announcement to discontinue new case setups for our current Multi-life LTC product, with exceptions for MGAs that were given LTC sales quotas. Please note: this decision includes any new hires and other additions to existing groups, as well as all MGAs that were included under our previous exception. **All active employer groups will also receive an email notification on Monday,
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“Struggling Americans Once Sought Greener Pastures—Now They’re Stuck,” by Adamy and Paul Overberg, Wall Street Journal “When opportunity dwindles, a natural response—the traditional American instinct—is to strike out for greener pastures. Migrations of the young, ambitious and able-bodied prompted the Dust Bowl exodus to California in the 1930s and the reverse migration of blacks from Northern cities to the South starting in the 1980s. Yet the overall mobility of the U.S. population is at its lowest level since measurements were first taken at the end of World War II, falling by almost half since its most recent peak in 1985.
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“Older Americans Aren’t as Poor as We Thought,” by Ben Steverman, Bloomberg “A new paper by U.S. Census Bureau researchers Adam Bee and Joshua Mitchell uses a Social Security Administration database of 2012 tax filings and other earnings data to check on those survey responses. Older Americans, it turns out, are underestimating their income—by a lot. The median U.S. household 65 or older earned $44,400 in 2012, those data show, a figure 30 percent higher than the median given in the census’s Current Population Survey from that year. And whereas the original survey found that 9.1 percent of Americans 65 and older were living below
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“Medicaid Managed Care Comes to Assisted Living: Challenges abound as providers adapt to growth of health plans in the Medicaid program,” by Patrick Connole, Provider “States contracting with health plans to operate as Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) is a growing phenomenon. So is the correspondingly sharp rise in MCOs administering services for elders and people with disabilities, under the formal name of managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS). As a result, populations in skilled nursing care centers, and increasingly Medicaid beneficiaries in assisted living communities, are coming under the umbrella of a new world order for reimbursement, where health
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“Getting Less Than 7 Hours Of Sleep May Lead To Obesity, Study Finds,” CBS “Consistently missing out on a full night’s sleep is detrimental to one’s health in different ways and may help contribute to obesity, according to a new study by the University of Leeds in England. . . . The study’s findings revealed that those who reported getting less than seven hours of sleep each night have larger waists than those who get more sleep. . . . Those who slept less also had less good cholesterol, which removes fat from the body.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center
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“Is Long-Term Care Insurance Still Viable? Key Considerations for Retirees and Advisors,” by David La Martina, ThinkAdvisor “From premium hikes to low cost/benefit perceptions among investors, there are myriad reasons why LTCI might be losing its luster. Given the alternatives that have emerged, many clients and advisors are questioning whether traditional LTCI is still viable. . . . Even with all of its downsides, traditional LTC is still a good choice in some cases. One advantage of LTCI is greater LTC-specific coverage per dollar spent, so it may be a wise choice for upper-class clients with significant assets to protect.”
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“Older Americans Buck Trend of Decreased Homeownership,” by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup “U.S. homeownership rates have declined among most major demographic subgroups — including by household income and region — except among older Americans, whose homeownership rates have held steady. Overall, homeownership is down eight percentage points, from 71% to 63%. . . . Senior citizens have been immune from the trend of declining homeownership. Between 2001 and 2009, an average of 81% owned a home. Since then, 82% report owning their home. . . . Changing work patterns among seniors may also be a factor in their stable ownership
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