Laura Peery

Most people plan for aging in pieces. A Medicare plan here, a retirement account there, maybe a will in a drawer. The pieces rarely talk to each other, and that is where families get hurt. November is National Family Caregivers Month, Alzheimer's Awareness Month, and Home Care and Hospice Month. Together, they point to one truth: aging is a family event, not an individual one. A complete plan answers four questions. Who will help? Name your caregiver and your backup before a crisis, and talk...

Once someone accepts that they need a plan for long-term care, the next question is usually: what kind of plan? There isn't one right answer — there are four major categories of products, each built for a different financial picture, risk tolerance, and set of goals. Here's how they compare, in plain language. 1. Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance This is the original long-term care insurance model: a standalone policy purchased specifically to cover care costs. How it works: You pay a...

If you've read news stories about long-term care insurance policyholders facing steep premium increases, sometimes 50%, 90%, or more, it's easy to assume that buying an LTC policy today comes with the same risk. That assumption misses an important detail most coverage of this topic leaves out: not all long-term care policies are priced or regulated the same way, and the rate increases making headlines are overwhelmingly tied to older policies sold under very different rules. The Rule That...