PART 1 OF 3: Money Protection To Create The Retirement Of Your Dreams

Hi, I'm Jason Bergquist. I'm the owner and founder of RetirementOfYourDreams.com.

Today, I'll discuss Part 1 of my 3-part Video Series: Money Protection To Create The Retirement Of Your Dreams.

Specifically, this video is for you if you're starting to realize that medical issues are more and more likely as you age.

Maybe you are already seeing these outrageous medical costs, if you’re dealing with parents and or grandparents that have gone through or are dealing with this now.

And you're asking yourself how you can avoid them? Well, there are a few ways to keep ourselves healthier but for the most part old age gets us all and there is no way to avoid it.

Maybe you're at the point of planning for your own future, or finally coming to the realization that you NEED to plan for you “medial future”?

1st we have to take a hard look, and maybe change our mindset to, “we better plan, just in case ...”

... So, you’ll want to take that hard look and determine the amount of coverage you need to put in place to ensure you have the Retirement Of Your Dreams.

Bottom line: When we're talking about Money Protection ...

... we're talking about all the unexpected costs you'll incur in the future.

Because if you don't plan to take care of these unexpected costs when they arise ...

... which will more than likely be a Long-Term Care scenario ...

... it could devastate the Retirement Of Your Dreams plan!

And you know Long-Term Care is costly if you have dealt with this with your parents or grandparents or anyone for that matter.

Today's video will ensure you have the money to take care of unexpected costs when they arise ...

... with a Long-Term Care plan in retirement.

1. Defining Long-Term Care
2. Making the Right Choice: Long-Term Care Decisions
3. Exploring Your Long-Term Care Options

Let me introduce myself if we still need to meet. I'm Jason Bergquist!

I joined this business to help people create the Retirement Of Their dreams.

I've been doing this for over 20 years through the ups and downs of the markets.

My whole goal is to help educate people. Help them understand how to set up the retirement of their dreams and bring hope back into their lives.

I realized this was my calling in 2010 when I was going through a divorce. At that time, I was financially low, and I realized that I wasn't practicing what I preached.

So, I committed to practicing what I preached and became an Independent Financial Professional and a Certified Financial Fiduciary.

This experience allowed me to always do what's in my client’s best interests.

Now, I have a team of experts helping me figure out all of the best options that are out there to empower you to create the Retirement Of Your Dreams.

Again, I’m going to cover Part 1 Of 3: Money Protection To Create The Retirement Of Your Dreams, including:

1. Defining Long-Term Care
2. Making the Right Choice: Long-Term Care Decisions
3. Exploring Your Long-Term Care Options

All right, so let's jump into it.

What is Long-Term Care? Let me take a moment and define it because many people don't know what Long-Term Care is in the first place.

Long-term care is the cost you'll incur when somebody can't perform 2 of the 6 Acts of Daily Living or we say 2/6 ADL’s.

These ADLs are like a checklist to see how well someone can care for themselves.

Doctors and caregivers use them to figure out if someone needs help ...

... when they can't do these tasks independently because they're getting older, sick, or have a disability.

1. Eating: The ability to feed oneself, including the ability to chew and swallow food. 

2. Bathing: The ability to wash oneself, including getting in and out of the bathtub or shower. 

3. Dressing: The ability to put on and take off clothing. Includes fastening buttons and zippers. 

4. Toileting: The ability to manage one's own toilet needs. Includes getting on or off the toilet and maintaining personal hygiene. 

5. Transferring: The ability to move from one seated position to another, such as getting in and out of a chair or bed. 

6. Continence: The ability to control bowel and bladder function.

If you can't perform 2 out of those 6 ADLs, you're a strong candidate for Long-Term Care, which is very costly.

And it can mess up all your retirement plans to date because it'll add a crazy expense!

To illustrate this point, I'll tell you this story. It's very close to my heart because it's about my in-laws.

7 years ago, my in-laws were in this exact scenario. I sat with my mother and father-in-law and discussed their Long-Term Care needs.

In the end, they did put a plan in place.

But recently, my mother-in-law expressed to me how close she was to not moving forward with the plan.

She almost didn't put the funds towards that particular plan because of the extra cost!

And now, 7 years later, they need the Long-term Care. And she's super glad she made the decision and followed it ...

... but more on that in a minute.

The main option people see when they look into long-term care, is often “a use it or lose it plan”, and they don't make a decision right then because ...

... let's face it ...

How many of us want to pay for life insurance?

How many of us want to pay for our car insurance?

How many of us would like to try and figure out ways NOT to pay for our car or medical insurance?

We don't want to pay for insurance but know we need it.

If a problem arises, insurance covers it.

You think that'll never be "my" scenario.

We don't want to pay those monthly premiums for years and years just to realize we didn't need to pay them, because nothing ever happened.

And we're going to discuss that at length next.

It comes down to buying it or not.

Should you get a Long-Term Care policy?

... or what are other options?

There are a lot of stats out there in the Long-Term Care arena.

But for the most part, you will find this same stat: that 70% of people 65 years or older will need Long-Term Care in the future.

And when you start to do your research, you will find #’s similar to this.

Also, the average assisted living facility ...

... for someone who can still do most functions of their daily life ...

It can still cost around $5,000 per month!

And then, if you need to add something like memory care, you'll add extra costs, somewhere between $1,000 to $2,000 more per month.

So, this can be a very costly event if you are in a situation where you need to use one of these facilities.

To illustrate this point, this is the scenario I'm in with my in-laws right now.

I told you my mother-in-law almost didn't move forward with that plan.

Now, here we are seven years later, and all we're talking about is the options and how we’ll help my father-in-law.

So, I've mentioned it before, but he has dementia, and right now, he already can't perform 2 or more of the 6 Acts of Daily Living.

But my mother-in-law doesn't want to send him to a home yet because of the care that we can currently still give him at home.

And one of the other holdbacks for her is what the cost will be to have him in a facility like this.

... which will help cover the majority of the costs of a facility, or even in-home care for my father-in-law before we are to a point where we have to send him to a facility.

And you do or don't believe me.

We'll talk about it here in a minute.

This wasn't a use-it-or-lose-it plan.

We added this extra piece to their current plan ...

... to give them extra funds based on a medical need.

So, you need to think about what you need and have these things in place before that issue arises.

So, as much as we want to get the timing right and not pay for something we don't need, we can't time it.

And if you wait too long ...

... you'll disqualify yourself from plans that'll give you the funds you need!

Now, to discuss those options.

So, the one main option is to Google it, look it up, and buy a traditional Long-Term Care plan because something is better than nothing.

But those can be very expensive!

There are good stories about people who did spend the money!

And then they had the coverage to take care of their family members when the need arose.

But even though the stats are high, did you pick the right plan for you? What do I mean?

Well, if 70% of people 65 or older will need something.

Will you (or I guess your family) be angry that you spent money on a “use it or lose it plan”?

Well, that's when we can have other conversations about options.

We can figure out what that need is for you ... if it arises.

But what if it doesn't arise, and you don't need to spend the money on those premiums?

For instance, back to my in-laws ...

... I was sitting down with my mother-in-law.

We were going over the benefits we have for her husband.

And the funds that'll come in to take care of those costs.

And she told me again that she was so close to not moving forward with that plan ...

... which led me right into our following conversation.

We had the conversation that we needed to put a plan in place for her.

As much as she doesn't want to discuss it or think about it.

Or worry about it.

Or think that she will manifest a medical problem in the future.

She realizes now that the plan we put in place to help her husband has and will be very beneficial!

And now we're discussing what kind of plans we should have for her.

And again, she doesn't believe that she's going to be in the 70%.

She believes she'll be in that 30% who doesn't need it.

And she'll die healthy.

I don't know how often that happens to people, but she doesn't want to pay for a plan if she doesn't use it.

So, this is exactly the plan that we put in place.

But she did not start paying for a monthly premium Long-Term Care plan.

Isn’t that great?

There are options like this for you, but we have to discuss it.

We want to go over these things to help you make that decision.

We want to compare the options that are out there.

So, what do you need to know to compare those options?

Well, do some research and see what those costs look like.

Do you have a parent or grandparent who's been through this ...

You can ask what those costs were, but you should know your family history.

I know that it's a pattern in my family.

My dad's already putting plans in place for himself.

I know this runs in my family history and that I need to take care of it like we did for my in-laws.

You have to sit down and look at it, we can figure out how much you need because there’s a level of what makes sense and there is, what is “too costly”.

We have to find that balance, which is different for everyone. Each person’s scenario is different and personal.

To conclude, your action step right now is to know your family history.

Determine what medical needs might come in your future.

Then, compare the options to cover those needs.

1. Defining Long-Term Care
2. Making the Right Choice, in your Long-Term Care Decisions
3. Exploring Your Long-Term Care Options

Now that you understand the critical importance of establishing a Long-Term Care plan for Money Protection to create the retirement of your dreams ...

Tune back next week for Part 2 in this series about Money Protection, where we'll discuss Death Benefits.

Death Benefits can be a heavy topic and are often avoided ...

... but it's another critical piece of your plan to create the Retirement Of Your Dreams.

Thank you for considering Retirement of Your Dreams as your partner on your financial journey!

And Please let me know: What was your BIGGEST takeaway from this week's video? Please scroll down and let me know in the comment section below!

Empowering you to create the Retirement Of Your Dreams!

Jason Bergquist