LTC Bullet--The New Retirees
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Seattle--
*** Don't let this opportunity slip away! Find out the real (and hidden) reason most people don't buy LTCI . . . Learn about the "800-pound gorilla of long-term care" and why it's headed for extinction . . . Discover why America's LTC service delivery system remains welfare-financed and nursing-home based . . . Explode the "Myth of Unaffordability" and see how two-thirds of Americans should, could and would insure for LTC . . . Find out why and how the only viable way to save LTC financing for the poor is to blow the lid off the LTCI market! Interested? These are among the topics we cover in The LTC Graduate Seminar, a full-day, small-group, intensive seminar with Steve Moses on advanced topics in long-term care service delivery and financng. For a full description, syllabus, schedule, testimonials, etc., go to http://www.centerltc.com/ltc_grad_seminar.htm . Tuition of $225 helps support the Center for Long-Term Care Financing. Here are your next two opportunities to attend an LTC Graduate Seminar:
ORLANDO, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2002 at The Disney Swan Hotel, ORLANDO, FLORIDA from 9AM to 5PM. If you wish to attend this session of the LTC Graduate Seminar, please confirm immediately with Amy Marohn-McDougall at 425-377-9500 or mailto:amy@centerltc.org . (Pre-registration is required. This "last-minute" offering may be cancelled unless we receive sufficient confirmed reservations no later than Tuesday, September 3.)
DALLAS-FT. WORTH, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2002 at the Holiday Inn Select (DALLAS FORT-WORTH Airport North) from 9AM to 5PM. If you wish to attend this session of the LTC Graduate Seminar, please confirm immediately with Amy Marohn-McDougall at 425-377-9500 or mailto:amy@centerltc.org . (Pre-registration is required.) ***
*** The current issue of Newsweek (9/2/2) contains a column by nationally syndicated financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn titled "Insurance: Is Yours Safe." We found the piece online at http://www.msnbc.com/news/798757.asp . Although Quinn sounds a warning that consumers should check the financial rating of LTCI carriers, she endorses the principle of long-term care insurance, encourages people to consider buying the product and warns about the consequences of going bare for the LTC risk: "Whether to spring for LTC isn't an easy call. People who earn enough to afford the premiums might gamble that they can pay their own way. Others choose an unethical route: they give their money to their kids, then claim poverty and apply for help from Medicaid, a welfare program that covers nursing-home care. But as the boomers age, Medicaid will be overwhelmed. The reach and quality of welfare services will decline. Even now, some nursing homes are reducing the number of Medicaid patients they'll take, and shuffling current residents into other facilities. BELIEVE ME: YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO PAY PRIVATELY FOR CARE, AND LTC INSURANCE IS ONE WAY OF DOING IT." (Emphasis added.) ***
*** New content added today to the donor-only zone includes "The LTC Week in Review for August 26 to August 30: LTC E-Alerts #206-#210" (donor-zoners can jump right to The Zone by clicking this link and entering your user name and password: http://www.centerltc.com/members/ltc_week_in_review.htm )
LTC E-Alert #206--LTCI in Canada
LTC E-Alert #207--Don't Look to VA for LTCI
LTC E-Alert #208--Medicare Home Care Easier to Get and Keep
LTC E-Alert #209--Nursing Homes Damned if They Do and Damned if They Don't
LTC E-Alert #210--HHS Initiative Will Hurt Seniors and LTCI
To Zone In, mail your tax-deductible contribution of $100 or more to the Center for Long-Term Care Financing, 2212 Queen Anne Avenue North, #110, Seattle, WA 98109. Then email mailto:damon@centerltc.org your preferred password and user name (up to 10 characters each). You can also contribute online at http://www.centerltc.com/support/index.htm . ***
LTC BULLET--THE NEW RETIREES
LTC Comment: Honorary Center for LTC Financing Board Member Ken Dychtwald of "Age Wave" renown was in the news again recently. He has profiled America's "New Retirees" in a typically perceptive and forward-looking Dychtwald way. Below are some excerpts from a New York Times article to give you a sense of the analysis. LTC Bullets reviewed Dr. Dychtwald's latest book, titled Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old, in "LTC Bullet #128: Age Power!" on September 3, 1999. Read our review in the LTC Bullets archives at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives1999/AgePower.html .
Fred Brock, "The New Retirement Comes in Four Financial Flavors," New York Times, July 7, 2002,
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/business/yourmoney/07SENI.html?pagewanted=print&position=bottom
"Want a look at your retirement future? Warning: What you see may change your behavior.
A recent study of current retirees by Harris Interactive and Dr. Ken Dychtwald, an author and gerontologist, has identified four main types of retirees - the 'four faces of retirement,' as it calls them. The study was sponsored by AIG SunAmerica, a financial services company that is a subsidiary of the American International Group.
"The research found that traditional notions of what retirement means are pretty much out the window. 'Even the language of retirement is changing,' said Dr. Dychtwald, who is also the author of 'Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old' (Putnam Publishing Group, $24.95). 'People no longer talk about not working or taking it easy; they talk about "reinventing" themselves and "new beginnings," of continuing to be productive but on their own terms.'
"Here are the four categories of retirees found in the study, which was based on a telephone survey last fall of 1,003 people 55 and older:
"THE AGELESS EXPLORERS These retirees represent 27 percent of those surveyed and are the leaders in creating a new definition of retirement. They see themselves in an exciting new phase of life and would rather be too busy than risk being bored. They have the highest level of education and have saved for 24 years, on average, for retirement. They have an average household income of $64,800 and an average net worth of $469,800.
"THE COMFORTABLY CONTENTS This group (19 percent) aims to live the traditional retirement life of leisure; its members aren't as interested in work or contributing to society. They have saved, on average, for 23 years and spend their time on travel or other recreational activities. Their average income is $61,200; their average net worth is $367,500.
"THE LIVE FOR TODAYS These people (22 percent) aspire to be Ageless Explorers and may be even more interested in personal growth and reinvention. But they have always focused on the present and didn't devote much time to retirement planning - having saved for only 18 years, on average. They have a great deal of anxiety about their finances and are likely to continue working during retirement. Average income is $46,300, and average net worth is $222,600.
"THE SICK AND TIREDS The largest of the four groups - 32 percent - its members are in the worst circumstances. They are less educated, have fewer financial resources and have low expectations for the future. They are more likely to have been forced into retirement by poor health and are less likely to travel, participate in community events or tap into their potential. They have saved for, on average, just 16 years; average income is $31,900 and average net worth is $161,200.
The survey was based on life style and attitude questions. The questions about incomes and net worth were added only after the categories were established. . . .
"The study is a powerful indicator of the importance of planning for retirement, no matter how much money you make. . . .
"'The Sick and Tireds are the most unsettling of the groups,' [Dychtwald said]. 'Many were dealt a bad hand in that they or someone in their family is ill. They are pessimistic; for many of them, life is a wasteland that holds no promise of security, optimism, hope or adventure. But some of their problems could have been helped by planning, which they did the least of. Long-term care insurance and more savings would have helped, for instance.
"'It's hard to know which came first. Were they sick and poor, and that put them into an unhappy situation? Or were they people who had no vision or dream for the retirement stage of their lives and didn't prepare financially or psychologically?'
"He added that the Live for Todays and the Sick and Tireds - which together make up 54 percent of retirees - ought to be a clarion call for the baby boomers, who are known for spending more than for saving."