Preparing For Tomorrow podcast

Joanne in Alabama wants to know what are the potential drawbacks to waiting to buy LTC insurance.  There are several, but one has more severe consequences than the others.    Ask your question from the Contact Us tab at   Schedule time with me to learn how to prepare today and avoid these consequences tomorrow.

This episode is from 2022, and Diane shares stories from her family and from clients who have shared with her over the years.  These are things our parents have done that caused much stress to the whole family, and they are things that could have been avoided if parents were really thinking about the consequences of their decisions (or non-decisions).  We need to learn from the mistakes of others and use this knowledge to get this right when it's our turn to need help living.  Over half of us will need some kind of help as people are living longer.  Someone told me they read that 50% of babies born today will live to  age 100!  Listen, learn and make a difference in your family.  Let me help you prepare for tomorrow by helping you plan for future LTC needs today. Schedule with me to learn more at   Contact me to request a free LTC planning guide at

When a traditional LTC plan's rates are increased, it's vital to seek out an expert to learn options rather than just get angry.  This week, Diane shares how her clients, Jim & Linda, can avoid future rate increases and still keep meaningful LTC coverage. Protecting our family, assets and choices are more valuable as we hope to age in place during our final years. If you or a parent receives a letter stating that their LTC premiums are increasing, let me help you determine the best course of action.  Schedule some time with me at   You or they had decided to own a plan to protect family members from having to go through an LTC event isolated.  If ther eis ever anything you don't understand, seek out help to understand your options before making a decision too quickly.

Thomas in New Mexico wants to know why sharing his financial details is needed to run a quote for LTC insurance.  Diane offers  multiple reasons why it's important to understand how you expect retirement to be like in order to determine the best way to protect your family and your savings with LTC coverage.  We may uncover a way to pay for coverage without impacting your monthly budget.  It's important to work through ideas to learn the wisest way to be Prepared for Tomorrow. Schedule some time to start working on your LTC plan at Ask me for a planning guide to help you decide what you and your family can do to help you live at home longer during an extended care need.

Kevin in Colorado asked what a tax-qualified LTC plan is and wants to know how a tax qualified LTC plan can benefit his family.  Diane shares when tax-qualified plans were put into effect and how they benefit consumers and business owners when both paying premiums and receiving benefits.  Thank you in advance for sharing this with those you care about most. In 2023, 100% of LTC premiums are tax deductble for a C corporation.  S corporations, self employed, and partnerships can deduct amounts based on age Age <40 = $480 41-50 = $890 51-60 = $1790 61-70 = $4770 71+ = $5960 Schedule with me to learn how you or your business or employess can obtan tax-free LTC benefits while securing additionalk tax deductions for the business.

Irene in Nebraska wants to know if she should include inflation protection on her LTC plan, at a significantly higher cost. The real decision is to either pay more for insurance by adding inflation growth or pay more out-of-pocket for care at claim time.  Nursing home costs have averaged a 5% annual increase in cost over the last 30 years! Diane shares how inflation protection works and how plans with the rider help so much more when care is needed  She shares how her mom-in-law's plan had grown over 25 years and the value it provided during her home care journey since April, 2020.  If it's in the budget, inflation protection is a must for almost everyone. So many have made preparations for we die, but very few have planned for living and needing help to get through each day for an unknown amount of time. Schedule with me to design your LTC plan

This episode was first published in 2022, after hurricane Ian hit Florida a couple of hours south of us in Tampa.  As I work to republish this still very relevant info, hurricane Idalia is getting ready to pass Tampa and hit the "armpit" of Florida.  Unless somethng causes a sharp right turn, we'll miss the  worst of the storm again. There are coastal areas who are expecting over 6' of storm surge tonight.  That will flood homes and businesses throughout our region.  Please send thoughts and prayers to those here and north of us who will experience the wort=st of this category 3 storm. When storms enter our lives, we are either prepared or we aren't.  This is true with weather - like hurricanes Ian and Idalia, bothpredicted to hit Tampa Bay - and with dementia,, which can hit any family without notice. Amazingly, there are many similarities and also stark differences between these two kinds of storms.   The three parts to a long term care plan and to a hurricane preparedness plan are eerily and coincidentally alike. 1) Where do you want to be? 2) Who do you want to ahve with you? 3) How do you plan to pay for this? Are you prepared for the storms that may hit your family?  Ask me for your LTC Planning Guide to help you prepare at

Matt listened to last week's episode about using an annuiy to fund LTC insurance and wants to know if life insurance values can also be transferred to fund a long term care plan.  The answer is yes, and Diane shares how a 1035 exchange can help reduce or eliminate premiums. With Matt's new plan, both the LTC benefits and the death benefits are 100% tax-free and won't impact any tax obligatio9ns or future Medicare premiums. If you have cash value built up in your life insurance policy, and your financial risk of needing extended care is greater than the financial loss to your heirs upon death, we should talk... Schedule some time with me at

This episode was originally published in May, 2021.  Diane shares how she helped Tom and Kay use a 20 year old annuity to design a long term care plan that pays tax-free benefits for care or pays your family back if care is never needed.  If you recall, interest rates were much lower in 2021 than they are today after the Fed raised rates multiple times this year.  There are more companies offering annuities with LTC benefits worth three, four or five times the cash value of the annuity. If you have a non-qualified (non-IRA) annuity that has been earning interest for several years, you've never paid taxes on those earnings and wil have to when you start withdrawing money - UNLESS YOU TRANSFER THAE VALUE TO A NEW ANNUITY WITH AN LTC RIDER!   Listen and learn unique ways we can avoid taxes while we protect our families, our assets AND our choices when we need help living.

Rick in Vermont will need to start withdrawing $50,000 annually from his IRA the year this was recorded.  He already owns LTC insurance and wants to buy a plan for his wife.  He wants options to use his IRA to pay for her insurance.  Diane shares why they contacted her and how she's helping them prepare for tomorrow. Don't let an unscrupulous agent trick you into "seeing what you can qualify for" without telling you that they are applying for insurance.  There are numerous consequences in this circumstance, they worst of which would be a decline on your health history, which makes it more difficukt to apply for coverage elsewhere. Thankfully, Rick & Maureen did not, but could have faced that problem priorto finding me. Schedule a phone or Zoom meeting tolearn what can be avau=ialable to help you protect your family at

In this episode, Melanie Erb-Wokurka with Juice Plus in Tampa, Florida, wants to know how LTC insurance is different than the long term disability plan her company is offering.  Listen as Diane shares how the products are different and where each fits into our planning puzzle.  For asking, we'll send Melanie a gift to say thank you for helping listeners understand what to consider when preparing for tomorrow.

This week, I ask you a question rather than the other way around. What consequences are there to waiting to buy LTC insurance that you may not have considered?  Many people want to wait until they are at optimum health or until they fit in those old jeans before they apply, thinking that a better health and build will lower their premiums.  Insurance companies can release new plans or adjust discounts when they see the need, and when states approve the changes.  If you're considering LTC coverage, sooner is almost always better than later.   Thankfully, my husband and I bought our LTC insurance (at age 35) five years prior to a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis.  The illness is not affecting my health much today,but at age 56, I am an uninsurable risk with almost every company. Schedule some time with me to look at your options while those options are available to you.

Beth in Tampa, Florida asks another great two questions!  She wants to know what are some critical or costly "items" that may not be covered by LTC insurance.  Diane shares how LTC insurance works and what to pay attention to when planning and also when opening claims so you can be sure to get the most from your plan.   Use the Genworth Cost Of Care site to find bot tody's costs and projected future costs of care anywhere in the United States at Schedule a zoom or phone meeting with me to design your plan at

There are a lot of numbers in this eposide.  I recommend you listen to it the first time all the way through and then listen again to grab the math.   The younger we are when we plan, the less total premiums we'll pay over our lifetimes.  And if we shorten the premium duration to 10 or 15 years, we can save significantly more while building a much stronger plan when we need it most. More importantly, this episode shares how, by waiting, we significantly reduce the amount of LTC benefits we can obtain when they will be most needed.  Diane shares typical premiums for a 31 year old and a 51 year old, and the corresponding benefits.  Would you rather have $840,000 or $2,200,000 to pay for care?  Would you rather cover half of your monthly home care or assisted living bill or 20% of it?  It's so important to plan early to protect your family, assets and choices to the best of your ability.

This week, Diane shares how LTC insurance can help us to remain independent and maintain our freedoms.  Eleanor Roosevelt said, "With freedom comes responsibility".  When we have a plan for when life doesn't go as planned, we give ourselves permission to live out our retirement years the way we choose.  We won't have to wonder if we have enough money set aside to pay for extended long term care needs because we already have a bucket of tax-free money dedicated for that purpose.  Connect with Diane to customize a plan to protect your freedom, family, assets and choices.  Celebrate safely with family and loved ones.  Schedule a meeting with me at   Ask me for a FREE Your Life Planning Guide   Never an obligation to buy...Always an opportunity to learn

Meet my client who was declined several years ago for LTC insurance.  Learn what options she has today to protect herself, her family and her assets from the risk of needing long term care at home, in assisted living or wherever care is needed.  Once a decline is in your history, it's important to know which companies are more likely to approve an application.  Ask me, I can help you find answers. The episode was fies published in February, 2022, and more tax-free LTC products have been released in several states since then.  The LTC insudtry is continually searching for better options to help us be able to grow old with dignity. Schedule q phone or zoom meeting with me to discuss your planning options

This episode was originally published on July 19, 2022, and we heard from the kids.  What do they want to know about our LTC insurance plans?  How will it help them if we have a plan to provide for our needs?  It's important to include our family when planning for what could easily be the most fragile and most expensive part of our lives.   Having a plan for when life doesn't go as planned shows our kids that we value our relationship with them and their families.  We don't want to burden them by placing them in a position to have to change their lives dramatically to care for us during our last chapters.  It's also important to let our kids know what we would want, and what their roles could be during an extended care situation after a stroke, or if Alzheimer's disease takes our memories.  Let me help you help your kids to help you better during thise times.  Contact me at to request an LTC Planning Guide, or schedule a meeting at

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was put into effect in 2020.  It delays our RMDs on IRAs until age 72 (yay!), but it also requires most inherited IRAs to be fully liquidated within 10 years rather than allowing beneficiaries to stretch withdrawals over our own lifetimes.  Listen and learn how LTC planning can leverage those distributions to create  tax-free benefits for care.  If you don't need extended care, there is a tax-free death benefit that goes back to your estate, offsetting other taxable monies.

Kim in California wants to know how long premiums will need to be paid on a LTC policy.  You decide that, based  on what your income and asset levels are today and will be throughout retirement.  Some plans use lifetime premiums, while others offer shortened pay and single deposit options (like getting a 15 year mortgage vs. a 30 year mortgage).  Which is right for you? When designing a plan, it's important to also design a sustainable funding strategy. Let's figure this out together as we create predictable outcomes for unpredictable situations.  I can help in all 50 states. Schedule with me at https://calendly.com/diane-p4t/

This episode is from August 10, 2021.  Kristina asks about mistakes people make or things people fail to consider when planning for future long term care needs. There are several, but three stand out to me as I have worked too often with people who looked at options many years ago and are looking again today.  Others planned ahead but didn't consider future costs in their strategy.  We also need ot consider that, the longer we wait, the m,ore likely a chronic health condition may prevent us from purchasing a plan in the future. Listen and learn, and schedule with me at what they are.  Thank you Kristina, for helping to educate families who want to make wise choices.