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Elder Care
Preparing Financially to Care for Aging Parents
By Teri Brown
Bob O'Toole is the president of Informed Eldercare Decisions, Inc., as well as one of the founding members of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers. The goal of Informed Eldercare Decisions, Inc. (www.elderlifeplanning.com) is to help individuals and families to think about ways to pull together legal, financial, medical, housing and other solutions into a care plan that makes sense for everyone involved.
"If your aging parent does not have private long-term care insurance, explore other financing alternatives such as reverse equity mortgages, which can provide tax-free funds to help an elder remain in their home," O'Toole says. "These loans are federally guaranteed and do not have to be repaid until the homeowner can no longer stay at home."
According to O'Toole, another option is life settlements. Life settlements give policy owners a more desirable alternative to surrendering or terminating a life insurance policy. "In its basic form, a life settlement is the transfer of a life insurance policy from the policyholder to a third party that promises to make all future payments in order to keep the policy active," O' Toole says. "In return for turning over the policy (and its proceeds), the policyholder receives an immediate cash payment that is greater than any cash value that has accrued. Policies with no cash value, such as term policies, may have significant immediate market value."
These are just a few of the financial options that caregvers have. The problem is that most caregivers have no idea about where to find out about all the alternatives available to them.
