Bob, the LTC industry is in great flux right now. Several big insurers have dropped out as costs have sky-rockets and premiums often are raised beyond what was originally quoted. Most of our clients choose to self-insure in the environment but you need to calculate the risks. I like Bonnie's plan of at least getting some quotes.
Alright, great. Here's one from Mcintosh.
@plainoldbob: Most of our clients choose to self insure. Long-term care insurance is expensive, and they save the money and keep about $250,000 or more to self-insure.
Most LTCI need is at age 85 for the last six months of life. Most policies have a maximum benefit in years and don't adjust for inflation.
The LTCI policy I would want would start *after* 3-5 YEARS of out of pocket care and run for the rest of life with inflation adjustments. That policy would be inexpensive. Unfortunately they don't offer that policy.
Mc - How do you file? Single? Jointly?
The 2012 zero percent capital gains rate is for capital gains which fits below the 15% tax braket: $70,700 MFJ or $35,350 for Single. So if you are Married Filing Jointly and your income is $50,000 you can realize $20,700 in capital gains at the zero percent rate. Check with a tax advisor to be sure you know what you are doing!
Alright, while a few of the advisors tackle Mcintosh's question, I'll go ahead and post this last question from Carol.
mcintosh, you'll need to run through the IRS capital gains worksheet a few times to see if you qualify. You can find this in the 1040 instructions at irs.gov.
The primary issues with ETFs have been pricing during market turmoil. In order for the market makers to price an ETF they have to know (that second) the price of all the underlying securities which they have to deliver in order to create that share of the ETF.
As a result, there have been some momentary anomalies in pricing during some minutes on the exchange.
Carol - I wouldn't be comfortable saying mutual funds are really any more protected than ETFs - you're correct that SIPC and FDIC protects the broker-dealer and banks (up to a point)
carol - regulation for ETF's is across the board, from the SEC to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. There is pending legislation to get it more cleared up. In the meantime, most of my clients prefer ETF's over MF.
Alright, unfortunately it’s time to wrap up today’s chat. Thank you so much to all who participated! We’re always impressed by all of your great questions, and even more so, by all of the planners’ great advice.
A special thanks to Bonnie, Randy, Brent, David and Matt. We can't tell you how much we appreciate your time and help!
Mcintosh-if you google most tax questions, you'll notice that one after another are very specific examples. It's not a great idea to model your actions on those examples unless they are your actual situation. When I want a solid tax answer, I pay a small fee to have a tax expert run it - then as an advisor, I can use that information to make a decision. Please run your question by a tax expert with your specific details.
It's always great fun to join these events. Thanks for hosting K. Adios
And remember, we host these chats with NAPFA planners on the third Thursday of every month. That means the next one will take place on Thursday, September 20, from 1pm-3pm ET.
You can also join us next Thursday, Aug 23 for a live chat about mutual funds with Kiplinger's investing editor, Manny Schiffres.
As Randy said, until next time. Thanks, all!
Bob, the LTC industry is in great flux right now. Several big insurers have dropped out as costs have sky-rockets and premiums often are raised beyond what was originally quoted. Most of our clients choose to self-insure in the environment but you need to calculate the risks. I like Bonnie's plan of at least getting some quotes.
@plainoldbob: Most of our clients choose to self insure. Long-term care insurance is expensive, and they save the money and keep about $250,000 or more to self-insure.
