Long-term care insurance helps cover costs.

You are getting older.

Your children are adults with their own families.

Now they are the "sandwich generation"!

Perhaps they have moved away because of their careers.

Either way, you cannot think of one who would be able to provide full-time caregiving should you eventually require it.

According to a recent Covering Katy article titled “How to Protect Yourself From Long-term Care Cost,” you will likely require long-term care services.

Long-term care insurance can save you from financial ruin.

About 70 percent of Americans who are 65 or older will require some sort of long-term care.

And long-term care costs can break the proverbial bank.

On average, a private nursing home room runs about $100,000 per year.

Home health aids cost about half of this, clocking in around $50,000 per year.

Medicare will only cover a minimal amounts of these expenses, if any at all.

What can you do?

First, you could save your own money to help pay for these expenses.

With all the other expenses you have in retirement, this option could be a challenge.

Another option is to purchase long-term care insurance (LTCi).

Different policies have different benefits.

You could select one to cover costs for a specific number of years or one to cover you for life.

Start shopping before retirement because the price of long-term care insurance grows as you get older.

Gretchen and I locked down our own long-term care policies when we were age 49.

[Yes, I do take my own advice.]

Another type of long-term care insurance is a "hybrid" policy, combining life insurance with a chronic illness or long-term care rider.

What happens with this hybrid policy if you do not need long-term care?

These unused benefits will pass to your beneficiaries as an inheritance in the form of income tax-free life insurance proceeds.

When it comes to long-term care, you cannot risk the financial burden of these expenses.

Long-term care insurance is an beneficial tool.

Reference: Covering Katy (Jan. 13, 2020) “How to Protect Yourself From Long-term Care Costs”