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Seminar Recap - Health Care affecting Retirement
35 clients attended our 2nd educational seminar of the year on Thursday, April 24th. Those in attendance heard from two great guest speakers about the challenges faced in finding a suitable Long-Term Care facility. They also learned about ways in which you might want to finance or insure the potential costs involved, to protect both your retirement and estate plans. The second part of the evening provided an overview of what can happen to those who become seriously ill during their working years, and how we may be able to protect ourselves from this risk with Critical Illness Insurance.
We were fortunate to have Linda Vincent, Administrator of the McConnell Manor Retirement Residence speak about retirement residence living. She provided a terrific overview of what to look for when selecting a retirement facility and the differences between a Long-Term Care Facility and a Retirement Residence. As a recap, a Retirement Residence can offer a much better quality of stay (rivalling that of a combination between high end hotel and an apartment) than a Long Term Care Facility, which provides accommodations similar to that of a hospital. However, while Retirement Residence’s provide health care services through on site nursing staff they can’t provide the intensive health care services required by some residents with advanced Alzheimer’s or other serious conditions.
If you are looking at learning more about how to select a suitable facility, contact us for a copy of Linda’s handout with a universal checklist of things to look for, as well as a copy of the Community Care Access Centre’s guide to selecting facility care.
Our second speaker featured Casey Cerson, a Director from RBC Insurance. He provided a great overview of a relatively new product in the Canadian market; Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance. He provided statistics that showed that most of us could expect to celebrate our 80th birthday. While that’s wonderful news, he also showed that although we are living longer, nearly ½ of us would require some form of long-term care. Long-term care is a range of medical services designed for patients who require on-going care from medical professionals, like nurses or doctors. It is ordered by a physician and can be provided in either a long-term care facility or in the patient’s own home. Long-term care can be expensive and not all costs are covered by government programs.
He went on to show that should you require long-term care, you may be forced to put you or your spouse’s retirement savings at risk and that you can protect you and your family from this risk with LTC Insurance. LTC Insurance helps you maintain your lifestyle AND financial security by giving you the resources you need to remain independent. It also gives your children an alternative to providing you with the care themselves while protecting your estate for your beneficiaries. Most importantly, it gives you options, so that you can make decisions about personal care that are best for your needs. If you would like to learn more about LTC Insurance and how it may fit into your financial plan please give us a call, and we would be happy to provide you with the information.
The second half of Casey’s talk focused on critical illness. A critical illness could be a heart attack, cancer, stroke, or other condition that could dramatically change your life, your future, and your financial security. Casey again presented statistics that showed that a large number of Canadian’s would suffer from some form of critical illness. He also showed that there is good news in that due to advances in medical care, survival rates are much better than ever before. Today’s medical science and technology have made it possible for thousands of critical illness victims to survive and resume a meaningful lifestyle. However, the recovery period and expenses involved can have serious and potentially long-lasting financial consequences.
Casey went on to illustrate how Critical Illness Insurance provides a tax-free lump sum benefit in the event you are diagnosed with one of the covered illnesses. It gives you the financial security you need to focus on getting better and not worry about finances during your period of recovery.
If you would like to learn more about Critical Illness please click on the following link or give us a call. There are many companies offering plans and various options to suit your needs.
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