Complimentary web class - limited seats available
"Don't Go Broke in a Nursing Home"
In This Exclusive Web Class, You'll Discover the Crucial Things That Seniors, and Children of Seniors, Need to Know About Long-Term Care
Hosted by Lane Martinsen · 35 years guiding retirees
The risk you planned around may not be the one that gets you.
You did the hard part. You saved. You stayed disciplined through more than one downturn. You have a number in your head for what retirement looks like, and you are close to it or already living it.
Here is what almost nobody plans for. Most people who reach 65 will need long-term care at some point, and the cost has been rising faster than inflation for years. A private room in a nursing home now carries a national median of roughly $129,575 a year. The typical need runs around three years. Do the math and you are looking at a sum large enough to undo decades of careful saving.
Medicare does not cover it. People are surprised by that every day - usually at the worst possible moment.
The three answers most people reach for - and why each one leaves you exposed.
You pay for it yourself
What most people end up doing by default - and the fastest way to watch an estate disappear. The money you meant to leave behind goes to a facility instead.
You buy traditional LTC insurance
The idea is sound. The execution has gotten painful. Premiums have climbed, carriers have left the market, and many policyholders see their rates raised in retirement.
You spend down for Medicaid
To qualify, you generally have to exhaust nearly all of your assets first. That is not a plan. That is what is left after the plan failed.
There is a fourth path
And it is the reason this class exists.
When long-term care is treated as part of a complete retirement plan rather than a standalone insurance purchase, the options change. There are modern, asset-based strategies that let a portion of your money do two jobs at once, so the dollars are not simply gone if you never need care.
There are tax provisions - including parts of the Pension Protection Act - that allow certain funds to be used for qualified long-term care on a tax-advantaged basis. And there is a way to coordinate all of it with your income, your investments, your taxes, and your estate so that one decision does not quietly break another.
That coordination is the whole point of holistic planning, and it is what Lane will walk you through.
What you will learn in this free class.
The real number for your state and your situation, and why the figure in your head is almost certainly too low.
Why Medicare does not pay for long-term care, what it actually does cover, and the gap that catches families off guard.
The trouble with traditional long-term care insurance, and the asset-based alternatives that let your money keep working whether you need care or not.
The Pension Protection Act provision that lets certain dollars fund qualified care on a tax-advantaged basis, and who it does and does not fit.
How to position care inside a complete plan so protecting against this risk does not wreck your income, your taxes, or what you leave behind.
The one question to ask before you buy any long-term care product - the one most salespeople hope you never ask.
Your host
Lane Martinsen
Founder and principal of Martinsen Wealth Management and the author of the 5W Retirement Blueprint. He has worked in financial services since 1988 and hosts the educational YouTube channel The Financial Fast Lane. His firm uses a holistic method that coordinates the five areas that decide a retirement: income, investments, taxes, healthcare, and legacy.
Frequently asked questions
Don't Go Broke in a Nursing Home
Pick your time. Save your seat. Bring your questions.
Two live sessions available. Choose the date that works for you - we'll send a calendar hold and your private join link. Free to attend.