CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/9336
more, including full-time nursing care. Either way, such help can be quite ex- pensive, depleting assets. Caregiving often takes a toll on the wife. And unless a family member as- sists, women are more likely to eventu- ally enter a nursing home or assisted living facility. Women outlive men by an average of seven years and needing care is a nearly inevitable consequence of living a long life. Because widows lack the informal care-giving support that their husbands had, they often need commercial care sooner than their husbands and, because they live longer, they need the care longer. Women need to educate themselves about long-term care options and be aware of the risks of being unprepared. By planning ahead, women can achieve peace of mind and ensure a more favor- able quality of life. Ideally, the best time to plan is in your 40s and 50s while the insurance options are affordable and you are healthy enough to qualify. While it might strike you as amusing for a man to buy his wife (and himself) a long-term care policy for Christmas or Valentine’s Day, a more meaningful gift would be hard to find. She would have a wonderful resource to help her take better care of him when he gets sick. It would also enable her to preserve her lifestyle and receive the best care, all while protecting hard-earned savings. Some men think they will leave enough assets to support their spouse. As people age, and particularly once they become widowed, they either become afraid they will outlive their assets, as irratio- nal as that may be, or they start think- ing of those assets as their children’s inheritance and don’t want to touch it. So widows and widowers who have the means to pay for top-quality long-term care are often reluctant to do so. Long- term care insurance has a tremendous value as the spouse and children would have no hesitation in using the insur- ance company’s dollars allocated for long-term care. Thus, planning for long-term care is a critical component of a sound retire- ment plan, especially for women.CV Mark W. Rice is president of Callahan & Rice Insurance Group. CityViewNC.com | 59