Opportunity Cost and Your Long Term Care Decision

If you are out shopping for long term care (commonly abbreviated as LTCI or LTC), I'm going to encourage you to take a look at a way of providing long term care benefits that is probably new to you. On the other hand, if you are in the crowd that thinks they will never need long term care, I would also suggest you evaluate this line of thinking.

Dick and Jane are both age 65, recently retired and models of good health. They have ignored the long term care subject until recently. They just put Jane's mother, who is 88, into a nursing home. Talk about sticker shock! She is in a nice place, but Dick and Jane are not 100% certain that her assets will allow her to stay there for the rest of her life.

Consequently, they have been out looking at long term care for themselves. They figure they can afford to insure a portion of what it might cost them if they ever need some form of LTCI, so they are looking at a benefit of $3,000 a month. The premium is around $4,200 a year.

Here's a new concept that Dick and Jane must become accustomed to now that they are retired. They both had good jobs during their working years. If they ever wanted to buy anything, it was just a question of looking at their income to see if they could swing the purchase. Pretty straightforward.

Now that they are retired, most of their expenditures are going to come from investment returns on the assets they have accumulated, not income from working. So they need to understand the difference between premium cost and opportunity cost. Here's what I mean…

If they elect to buy this $4,200 a year long term care policy, the money has to come from somewhere. Chances are it's coming from the interest earned on perhaps a CD or an annuity. But there is an opportunity cost associated with paying the premiums from earnings on any asset.

Let's say they are going to pay this $4,200 from the interest on a CD they own which is earning 5.4% interest. Since interest is taxable, and assuming they are in a 15% tax bracket, they would have to have $91,300 in that CD to produce $4,200 after tax to pay the premium.

They can't spend the $91,300. It can't grow. Basically, they have "committed" $91,300 of their assets to pay the premium on their LTC policy. That's the one "job" of this $91,300. The premium may only be $4,200 a year, but the opportunity cost is $91,300.

Let's take a look at another of their alternatives. It's called asset based long term care. How it works will unfold as I provide the example and contrast below.

One approach to asset based long term care involves re-positioning $91,300 of Dick and Jane's CD to a combination long term care/life insurance policy plan with an insurance company. Here's what moving this money does for them…

The money on deposit with the insurance company grows at interest, but it is tax-deferred interest so the insurance company will not send them 1099s every year for an amount they have to pay tax on like the bank is required to do. In 10 years, assuming current rates, the $91,300 will grow to $127,000; in 20 years $161,000. The CD, remember, does not grow, as its job is to spin off interest to pay the annual $4,200 premium on the traditional LTCI plan.

If either Dick or Jane needs any form of long term care, the insurance company plan will pay them $3,900 a month for 50 months--$900 a month more than the traditional plan.

But here's the real kicker.

If Dick and Jane never need long term care, then the camp that doesn't buy it would have been right. If Dick and Jane bought the traditional long term care plan, in 10 years they would have paid out $42,000 in premiums and about $7,400 in taxes on their CD interest in order to net out the required premium. That's a total of $49,700. The $91,300 portion of their CD would still be $91,300.

However, if Dick and Jane never need long term care, chose the asset based long term care plan and both die, for example in 10 years, the outcome is different. They have paid no annual premiums and the life insurance company will pay about $198,000 tax free to their kids.

Which sounds like a better plan?

Dirty Little Secret of Workers Compensation Insurance

Workers Compensation Insurance agents are paid commission based on the size of your company premium. The bigger the premium you pay the bigger your agent's commission. Your agent may never cause your premium to go up unnecessarily but has he done everything he can to reduce it and reduce his commission?

The first workers compensation law was enacted in the United States in 1911 by the State of Wisconsin. By 1948, every state had some form of "workman's comp." Basically this is a government mandated social insurance pact between employers and employees. Employers are forced to cover medical care and provide wage replacement for employees hurt on the job: in return workers compensation benefits becomes the only remedy available for workers. Even though courts have upheld this concept for almost one hundred years occasionally in cases of bad faith courts have over ridden this exclusive remedy.

Workers compensation is compulsory insurance in every state but Texas. With some few exceptions, all employers are mandated by law to carry workers compensation insurance.

Workers Compensation Insurance premium is calculated by how employees are classified by their specific work and the rate assigned to each employee classification.

Workers Compensation insurers attach a premium rate to each employee classification code. These rates must normally be approved by the state insurance regulatory agency in the state the policy is in effect in. Agency approval of the rate is based on numerous items. One of the items taken into account is adequacy of the rate. Rates must be adequate to maintain the financial condition of an insurance company. Adequate rates allow the insurance company to maintain surplus to meet current and future claims..

The classification code and its corresponding premium rate are part of the formula. The premium rate itself is expressed as dollars and cents per $100 dollars of payroll. The payroll for each classification code is estimated and then each $100 is multiplied by the rate. The calculated amount is the base premium. The base premium is then modified (change up or down) using rating plans and experience modification.

The experience modification is calculated from losses that the company has reported in the past.
The insurance company used a government-approved formula to calculate an experience modification for each employer. The formula looks at paid losses, reserves necessary for claim made and payroll amounts for the past three years (usually). The experience modification shows average loss experience of employers with similar classified employees and works as a way to compare employers. The experience modification is added to the class rate, along with any other modifications and an estimated premium rate is created. This is called prospective rating and is the most commonly utilized rate plan.

The total premium for a workers compensation insurance policy is not certain until the policy period is complete and all payroll has been reported.

Now you know how the rates are calculated what is the "Dirty Little Secret"? In thirty years of working with companies I have never gone into a company of any size and found that its employees are correctly classified. The classification process is many times as much of an art as it is a science. Different people can look at the same job and classify it differently sometimes with extremely different results to the premium. Many classification titles are very similar but with much different rates. There are many jobs that don't have a specific classification but have to be fitted into something that makes sense. If the insurance company decides the classification do you think it will be the best possible choice for the employers lowest premium?

If an employer is not only knowledgeable but also aggressive about classifications who is going to see to it that they are the lowest possible premium rates. The insurance company makes more money out of higher premium rate classifications. The risk to the insurance company does not rise if the employee is misclassify into a classification that commands a premium rate of say $10.13 per $100 of payroll as say a rate of $1.01 per $100 of payroll. The insurance company just makes ten times as much revenue. If there is a claim it will be paid at the same amount regardless of what the premium was.

The insurance agent that supposedly has the employer's interest at heart makes ten times the commission if an employee is misrated as in the paragraph above. Is he going to take his time, energy and effort to deliberately cut his commissions by suggesting rate changes over his company's objection?

If as an employer you don't have an intimate knowledge of classification and ratings you need to either get the knowledge or hire someone who has it. You can't trust your agent to be objective about this. You are talking about taking money out of his pocket and out of the pocket of people that pay him. You don't pay him the insurance company does. It pays him a commission on what he sells you. Not necessarily on what you need. Your agent may be doing a bang up job but wouldn't you like to be sure?

Life Insurance Planning for Senior Citizens

Life Insurance has sometimes been described as a bet between you and the Insurance Company. The Insurance Company is betting that you are going to live and you are betting that you are going to die. If you do die, you win the bet. This approach has been the basis of life Insurance policies in the past. Despite the fact that it would seem this does not much benefit an individual, the truth was that the Life Insurance payout was designed to provide for those that you left behind.

Changes in health care and the increasing life span have brought some changes to this concept. The desire for senior citizens to spend their retirement in an active adult community where they can enjoy their golden years to the maximum has prompted many to take a fresh approach to the use of the cash value of life insurance. It has also influenced the type of policies that have become popular. When a payout upon death was the main purpose of an insurance policy, the only thing that mattered was the amount of the death benefit.

Today, people in increasing numbers are opting to not spend their last years in their homes. An Arizona active adult community that is located in an area without a harsh winter seems much more attractive. A Florida active adult community situated close to the ocean would be preferably to long cold winters. This is the new dream of senior citizens, but in many cases the funds needed to make this dream come true are not available at the time of retirement. It has become possible to redeem the cash value of an insurance policy prior to death through an annuity settlement. The basic idea is the seller of the annuity provides a cash settlement to you at retirement. In return, they basically become the new beneficiary of your policy.

The annuity settlement changes the conditions of the bet. Now, you are betting that you are going to live, and the new beneficiary of your policy is betting you will die. If you live, you win. Many senior citizens are seeing this as a better idea. It takes some careful planning, and each case must be considered individually. The debt situation and the situation of a spouse and of children must be taken into consideration. The increased popularity of Individual Retirement Accounts has lessened the need for a large death payout to some degree. The best time to plan for your life insurance needs as a senior citizen is long before you ever become one. Sadly, this is not always done until too late. In this case, the options can be considered. It is not a time to be rash and seeking the advice of a trusted Insurance agent or financial advisor is highly recommended. If you plan on spending your last years enjoying a California active adult community, start that planning as early as possible.

Is Dog And Cat Health Insurance Really As Stupid As It Sounds

You can insure your house, your car, your boat, and your life, and now, thanks to dog and cat health insurance, Fluffy and Fido can have their own protection, too. But what exactly is it, and is it really as stupid as it sounds? Maybe not. In fact, it could be quite sensible; read on.

This form of insurance isn't about paying you money if the pet dies; it's about giving the pet (or, more realistically, the person taking care of the animal) some money should you die. This option is particularly favored among the elderly, people who are fond of their pets, and know that there is a good chance that their animal will outlive them.

In essence, you pay a certain amount of money monthly to a trust, and, should you die before your animal does, the trust will then pay a certain amount of money monthly to the person designated your pet's guardian in your will. This is an especially desirable option if you already know who you want to look after your pet should you die--someone both you and your pet like--but you're concerned that they not be saddled with the cost of caring for your pet. This can be a wise investment choice for both you and Fluffy or Fido.

But dog and cat health insurance must be handled carefully. Don't purchase it and then start looking for someone to manage the money and care for your pet when you're gone; greed may cause your animal to get the rotten end of the stick. Instead, find someone you trust. Discuss the possibility of their taking care of your pet when you die. If it's someone you feel comfortable with, and someone your pet seems to genuinely like, then you may wish to let them know that you've purchased pet insurance to help with the costs of pet care after you're gone. Before that, however, it's never a good idea.

A similar idea, with similar problems, is a pet trust, where a certain amount of money is put into a special savings account, with the interest going to help pay for pet care after your death. The same problems exist here as with insurance--namely, finding someone you can trust to care for the pet--but there are some significant differences. For instance, with a trust, a large lump sum is generally required to start the trust, with the option of adding to it later on; with insurance, you make monthly payments.

Over time they can add up to more than the trust would cost, but the money is spread out. Plus, depending on the interest rate you've gone with, you can have to come up with quite a large sum of money to begin with, just to make those cat food payments. With insurance, you're guaranteed the amount you signed up for, no matter what.

But, in the end, it isn't as much about trust funds versus dog and cat health insurance as it is setting aside a little something ensure that your best friend isn't forgotten after you're gone.