This is the Truth Network. Yeah. Welcome to Finishing Well, brought to you by CardinalGuide.com with certified financial planner Hans Scheil, best-selling author and financial planner, helping families finish well for over 40 years. On Finishing Well, we'll examine both biblical and practical knowledge to assist families in finishing well, including discussions on managing Social Security, Medicare, IRAs, long-term care, life insurance, investments, and taxes.
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Well, welcome to Finishing Well as certified financial planner Hans Scheil, and today's show is amazing, I think. It's who is going to be your caregiver or Care manager. And so as I thought about this idea that Jesus The ultimate uh Caregivers/slash planner for all of us. When you think about what he did from the cross, you know, one of the last seven words that he used was specifically on this subject as he said to the Apostle John, Behold your mother. And to Mary, he said, Behold your son.
And when you think about what happened there, Is he was actually Uh Illustrating how to designate your care manager, right? And I can't help but just see the fruit of Jesus' planning. in that no doubt What we'd read in the Gospel of John, or what we read in 1st or 2nd, or 3rd John, or in the book of Revelation, would have been the same. Had he not cared for Mary? And by the same token, the care that Mary got From the one that Jesus loved is is well, you know, uh something that Um Would it help us all to see why it's so important we pray about this very issue because there is coming these days and these decisions will have to be made and you may not be in any capacity to help in the decision.
And so, while there is still time, right, Hans, it's a good time to talk about it.
Well, yes, and You know, long-term care, long-term care insurance is one of the seven worries. That we talk about every seven weeks on this program, every seventh Saturday.
So Today, I read all the time about all seven of these subjects. as much as I possibly get my hands on. What we're talking about this week is A study at UMass in Boston where they created these focus groups. of in-home caregivers. of people who And my guess is in this, most of them are family members.
Um not all. And then Some of them are care managers. that are hiring caregivers uh that work for an agency. But it's interesting to look at this study where they had these focus groups. Half of the people that they're studying had long-term care insurance.
and half of the people no long-term care insurance. And I was a little biased when I went into this thing. I thought this is going to be just... I mean the the people that Our our But for us Or that have the long-term care insurance, they're going to say, oh, well, yeah, we're so happy we had long-term care insurance. And the people that don't have it, oh, I wish we had it.
And it was nothing like that. As soon as I got into reading what the caregivers and care managers But for their loved ones, actually had to say, I said, these are talking to real people here. And so it was. I thought this is a good chance for me to learn. What these people have to say that are in the problem right now.
They're in the situation. Yeah, when I'm listening to you, Robbie. Talking about back in biblical times. You know, this problem was still there where we'd get old and we'd need. care from people younger than us and the way it was taken care of then is People would just have younger people, their family members would just take care of them until they're passing.
And in modern times, things are not so easy. I mean, it's just. Uh people your children. Your adult children have jobs in other towns, and they just can't quit their jobs and leave their families to come take care of you. Or I think in this study, a lot of these people end up doing that because they have to.
And then finding out about their well-being and this this was just real interesting. Oh, absolutely. And there is a wonderful show along the same lines at CardinalGuy.com. Under this, you know, long-term care tab, it's a YouTube show. where it describes Um That's how real these people's work.
You know, it has the show notes with the actual answers and those kind of things. And as you said, the the The information that we can glean from that is the reason why we're doing this show.
So you can see this from people that are actually in the middle of this crisis. And boy, the one thing's for certain. They didn't see it coming, Hans.
Well, they did. And so this Focus group or this study, they broke it into five areas where they got the reaction or had a discussion around. You know, number one is financial impact.
So we're going to talk about that a little bit. Finding paid help.
So now you're in a situation where you're going to hire somebody. to give you this care. What do you got to say about that? The third thing is support resources.
So talk Talk to us about what resources are available to you. Which resources have you used? that you're aware of, that you know what's your reaction to that? Fourth area. awareness and attitudes about long-term care insurance.
So it took them till the fourth area to get into what This study was paid for by a few insurance companies, so that's what made me a little suspect in the beginning. You could tell by these comments, they were done by the people at the university. This was genuine. I mean, these people were not giving out polyanna for the insurance companies when we get to that. And the fifth area was What's your future planning?
What are you doing for yourself? And then what do you see as the future for the person That you're giving care to right now.
So, we got a lot to talk about today, so let's get started. Yeah, let's do it.
Okay, so the financial impact area, I just wrote down some of the common themes that I got in there is one is they said cost and quality trade-offs. You know, in other words. you know, it's kind of the old adage, the more you're willing to pay, the better caregivers that you're going to get. I mean, it's not. dollar for dollar.
I mean certainly you could get many of these people aren't paid anything at all, but they're just making the point from is the more money you have available, the more access you're going to have to quality care. Um you know, is that this is going to involve high costs and it's going to go on for a long time.
So you put those two things together, that's the financial impact. Um Talked about spending down their savings, and that's the financial impact that it's had. On these families, where the caregivers are within the family, we've been, and then we're paying caregivers.
So we're spending down our savings to pay these people. Yeah. You know, the next area was just personal sacrifices, the things that these caregivers and care managers have had to give up. personally to be doing and providing this caregiving.
So That's the financial impact that I got out of the notes. How about you want to react to that, Robbie? Yeah, I No, I can't even imagine because again, we went through this. with my father and and As you know, his idea was always that if he needed that kind of thing, he would pay for it. But when he saw the actual financial impact of it, he wasn't so ready to pay for it.
And when we tried to get it for him one weekend when we had to be gone, you know, he sent him packing. Oh, yeah, I remember it well. I helped you find those people. Right. And so.
You know, that's part of the reason that this is such an important thing to talk about and to think about and to pray about, right?
Well, it is and he sent them packing over the money. Exactly. Even though he had plenty of money to pay for it, he just wasn't going for it. And that's fairly typical.
So, yeah, and we want to think spouses here of people. that have money. You know, and we want to think about all spouses, but Just because you have a bunch of money doesn't mean your wife or husband In a lot of cases it's the wife. who's the healthy caregiver of the person that's that needs a lot of care. the the talk about personal sacrifices And difficulty.
I mean, you're 81 and you're taking care of your 83-year-old husband. And it's about killing you.
So Just because you have money doesn't mean you can take your money and make this problem go away when it happens. Mm-hmm. Finding paid help, that's the second category. you know what With the first comment that I read in there, and I heard this more than one place, is they couldn't find any you couldn't get any help. like finding the care.
I mean, this is something I do. certainly for all my customers, but I do it for a lot of people that aren't even customers or somebody's calling me in in a crisis. from some distant place. It's pretty easy for me to find an agency in a small town, just like I did for your father. many years ago.
I do that all the time, but there is little help out there in finding the right agency. that's then going to provide the care. Yeah, it's it's it's hard. And in another part of the planning process, Um That that's well worth you know, looking into. Uh Yes.
You know, that certain family members can be paid. I've got friends that found somebody that. Um you know, did that kind of work There's just a lot of options. But something def definitely again to do some planning around.
Well, yeah, and these people that are caregivers that were just doing this, they're just saying there's little help. out there finding it.
Okay. Um It says that long-term care insurance Um A lot of those long-term care insurance companies have people that will help you find care But they were saying they're not much help. Few people had tried those and Finding and keeping help once you find it. Keeping it is a struggle. and you're dealing with all kinds of personal issues with the caregivers and things come up and then they got to be replaced and it that whole thing, because you're in the human resource business as well.
Once you start that routine and Um So finding paid help just under that category, I didn't read much. positive um positive stuff there. Even though uh I I know a lot of the insurance companies they Part of their deal is they have an advocate for you, right?
Well they do. And they mean well. But I'm just not so sure that the customers even know about that. Um And A lot of times the agent who sold these people that are now 85 and they sold him the insurance twenty years ago. The agent's not around.
That's part of what I've tried to fix with my business, having all these young people here. To serve people later on. But we do a lot of this service for people. But The answer to your question. The insurance companies have them, but apparently these people are not finding them.
Okay. Yeah, well, this would be a good time actually to remind you that this show is brought to you by the people he's talking about, Cardinal Guide, and at CardinalGuide.com. Again, the people that are actually. trying to get real boots on the ground to help you is at cardinalguide.com and there if you go you'll find the seven warriors tabs kind of like menu items and if you you'll see that there's one of those that is long-term care. If you click on that, you're going to see a wonderful video along these same lines.
Show notes that include some of this study that Hans is talking about, which is really helpful to me as we begin to process what we all may well face. When we come back, we've got a whole lot more to talk about. CardinalGuide.com. We'll be right back. Investment Advisory Services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, abbreviated BCM.
a registered investment advisor. BCM and Cardinal Advisors are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents. Cardinal Advisors is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency. Welcome back to Finishing Well with Certified Financial Planner Hans Scheil.
Again, this show brought to you by Cardinal Guide. This show today, we're talking about who's going to be your caregiver or care manager. And the care manager part is kind of where we left off on this, Hans.
Well, it is, and so we're talking about this study of focus groups and Um, we're in the third area, they had five. topics that they discussed and got feedback from uh all the different caregivers uh people that were actually taking care of somebody when the study was being done. And we're on the third one, which is support resources.
So what resources are there to support you. You know, the first thing that they brought up is these people were unaware of the ancillary benefits. On long-term care policies, which is, I'm going to, you know, respite care.
So these policies will pay for you as the caregiver to get a vacation. and to take some time off. And then there's training programs.
So when you mentioned earlier about hiring a friend or a daughter or daughter-in-law or somebody that's going to come in that you know personally. Who's not trained in this. These these insurance companies have training programs. Um that you can for unpaid caregivers that is very helpful. I've gone through some of those.
And then they have care coordination. which is what we were talking about earlier. Um and then they have devices, they have access to devices that will help you in the delivery of care.
So there's a bunch of ancillary benefits on long-term care that we need to do a better job of explaining to people. Um And then there's, you know, what was generally said by the group is there's no central resource for finding. Programs for support for caregivers. as much of a I mean, there's something like 60 million caregivers. or 60 million people have are giving care at some level in the last month in the United States.
I mean, it's just a huge number. uh of caregivers and a lot of that is unpaid care and to have access to resources and specifically some training. and how to do the care. properly is um This is an area we need to grow in. Oh, let me tell you, because You know, you may be big and strong and healthy, and you think, oh, that, you know.
When someone can't walk steady or they begin to fall, or you got to get them up off the ground. Uh I I was shocked at how weak I felt because I wasn't doing it right. And then when Sean. You know, how to do it right, this kind of thing. You know, oh man, some of the messes you find yourself in where you're you're you're Mother-in-law falls in the bathtub, right?
And you got to go in there and get her out. And it helps to know exactly how to do that in that situation. I can assure you, that's one of the moments that my family will never forget. Yeah. So next next category, attitudes.
awareness about long-term care insurance just in general. And what they got out of this, the policies are complex and confusing, which I'd agree with that. Um what I try to do in my video series is get out of the details and just kind of get into the general picture. Yeah, and simplify things, but Um these consumers just say, man, these things are complex and confusing. We don't really understand them.
They're talking about customer service lacking, and I'm going to own that one, not in my business here at Cardinal. All right. Our customer service, I insist on that we put ourselves between you and the insurance company. And we can deal with them a lot of times by email and We have a back door where we can get in and call somebody. But just the general customer service that they provide out there is not too spiffy.
Um And just the basic low trust of insurance companies. These caregivers just don't really trust insurance companies. Even if they have long-term care insurance, they They don't do much.
So those are all things that we we we need to work on on our end. Um Now, future planning.
So, this fifth category was: okay, so now that we've heard all these things. How is your own as a caregiver? How are you planning the future for yourself? And how are you planning the future out for the patient here? or the person that's receiving the care.
Um And so they, you know, the first ones, the ones that have insurance said they worry that the coverage will be enough.
So And the people that are caregivers, they're looking into the future and saying, I wonder whether what I have is really enough. Um People talk about planning driven by the anxiety. of being a burden so Uh that one rings true with me is that there's a people that I'm doing planning for which is a lot of them every month. and I really get down in learning about them. That's one of their biggest statements that they make is they don't want to be a burden on their kids and grandkids.
Okay, and that's to the point of anxiety.
So having a good long-term care plan. I'm not talking about the insurance. The insurance supports that, but just having a plan of what you're going to do.
Now while you're in healthy, Um Could relieve a lot of that anxiety as you get older, where you're going to know that at least. you know, your kids are going to have the benefit of this plan that we're going to put together. And then Planning talk. is mostly When these people were talking about what planning they've done, it's mostly wills, advanced directives. and discipline savings.
And that kind of rings true with me, the disciplined savings. I have a lot of people in retirement. that I do retirement planning and they've got Quite a bit of savings. and where they're going to have this discipline savings is like, don't touch it. Don't spend any of it.
Don't enjoy any of it. Don't give any of it away. because you might need it for long-term care. That really rings true. Yeah.
So maybe you could react to that a little bit, Robbie.
Well, that's it. And for me, as I experienced caring for my family, my father and my mother-in-law, I just immediately knew that Tammy and I had to have a different plan. And of course got with you, and which you can do it, you know, contact Hans or Tom at the Cardinal Guide. I mean, excuse me, at the Cardinal I don't know why that link escaped me right this second. CardinalGuide.com.
CardinalGuide.com. Right. CardinalGuide.com. But you to link up with them. But you guys.
Walked me through a plan that I could afford because my financial situation was not such that I could. get the plan I wanted, nor was my health that I w I wanted to get one of those h hybrid type of long-term care plans.
So it was it was really wonderful that you guys saw my need, saw what I was wanting to do with this situation and yet found a way between all the barriers that I'd had that I had just to show you that there is no cookie cutter approach to the thing at all, right? No, Ed, you're exactly right. And don't ex count yourself out or exclude yourself like I'm either got too many health conditions, I don't have enough money. I mean, we can have a conversation.
So let me give you some of my conclusions that I got and I shared in the video. Because first of all, most care starts at home.
So this was about in-home caregivers. And for most of us, Our care is going to start at home. For some of us, it's going to finish at home too. I mean, there there I have clients on claim that never go to an assisted living or a nursing home. They just the whole thing souped to nuts is at home.
And most of those people have insurance. because there comes a point later where it becomes more expensive to get it at home. Because the people got to come to you. In the beginning, it's less expensive at home because you can have intermittent home health care. You can just have a few hours a day can keep people.
operate. Um Most long-term care insurance Pays either way. It's going to pay in a facility or it's going to pay at home. The dollar amount you buy, it doesn't matter to the insurance company where you get the care. Um that care managers and caregivers are exhausted.
I mean, I got that out of reading this, and I get that out of every caregiver that I talk to. which is a lot of them. These people are exhausted. I mean, it is very exhausting to take care of a another person. Um Especially 24-7.
And when they're related to you, it's more stressful because you love them and you hate to see them hurt. You hate to see him hurting? Um And old you know, struggles. Team Surface? As well as the struggles you have with your siblings.
And those all fit into the plan from my perspective is You know, what are those brothers and sisters going to do when all this stuff, you know, begins to collide? And, um, You know, that's why I think it's so amazing when you think about what Jesus' statement was. 'Cause Mary had sons. Obviously James was one of them. But that isn't who Jesus picked.
He didn't pick the sons. He picked. Charm. Yeah. So The people that planned for this.
are much better off than those that don't. And just saying I've got money and I'll pay for it myself if it happens to me, that's not a plan. A plan is a written document that tells your kids what to do. And even better if you've got an insurance policy in there. that backs up.
And you're essentially telling them, hire people. And your kids are going to still end up caring for you. I mean, they're going to be care managers at the very least. Um even if it's from afar. But the people that have planned for this are a lot better off than the people it just happens to.
Yeah. Most families didn't see this coming. They just didn't. Um And they they know the dead. has got problems and it's getting worse.
But they just didn't see. that he needs care around the clock. or he needs care most of the day. or he needs to be in a facility They just didn't see it coming. and nor did they see the cost of it coming and where the money's going to come from.
And so Those were my conclusions that I got out of the study. And what I'd like you, if you're listening, to get out of this. Yeah. Let's start putting together a plan for you. Like, what?
Who's going to take care of you? How are they going to get paid? Where do you want to be cared for? Is that practical and reasonable? And again, if you go to cardinalguide.com and you click on the long-term care tab, you can find those solutions in many different videos that are there, many different radio shows we've done on it, as well as a show exactly by this title: Who's Going to Be Your Caregiver?
It's all there at CardinalGuide.com, as well as Hans' book, The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement, and the study guide to go with that. And you make it easy, just go to contact Hans or Tom Page. Click on that one. It's all at CardinalGuide.com. Thanks, Hans.
Great show. Yeah, thank you, and God bless you. The opinions expressed by Hans Scheil and guests on this show are their own and do not reflect the opinions of this radio station. All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable, although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice.
Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Past performance cannot be used as an indicator to. Determine future results. Any strategies mentioned may not be suitable for everyone. Information Express does not take into account your specific situation or objectives and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for you.
Before acting on any information mentioned, please consult with a qualified tax or investment advisor to determine if it's suitable for your specific situation. Finishing Well is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject covered. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstrone Capital Management LLC, abbreviated BCM, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Cardinal Advisors are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
Cardinal Advisors is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency. We hope you enjoyed Finishing Well, brought to you by CardinalGuide.com. Visit CardinalGuide.com for free downloads of this show or previous shows on topics such as Social Security, Medicare, IRAs, long-term care, life insurance, investments, and taxes, as well as Han's best-selling book, The Complete Cardinal Guide to Planning for and Living in Retirement and the Workbook. Once again, for dozens of free resources, past shows, or to get Han's book, go to CardinalGuide.com. If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for future shows, click on the Finishing Well radio show on the website and send us a word.
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