Conversations around elder care planning can be complicated; bringing up health and old age can be difficult for advisors. On the other hand, clients know it’s important, but don’t like to think about it. As painful as it is, elder care planning can not be ignored forever. To make things easier and more effective, Genivity is working to empower advisors to make these conversations a positive experience!
Positive conversations around elder care open the door to stronger relationships between advisors and clients. We’ve compiled a few strategies for elder care planning from the success stories of one of Genivity’s partners, Kevin Baranczyk. Despite his initial skepticism, Kevin now regularly incorporates HALO into his presentations after realizing that HALO helps him better illustrate longevity calculations and more accurate cost of care projections. Here’s how Kevin became an expert in elder care planning.
Use Real Time Data, not Averages
Retirement years will be different for everyone. People are now regularly working well past the traditional retirement age of 65, either by choice or necessity. Some people will remain healthy and active throughout their retirement years, while others may need to plan for additional health costs.
HALO incorporates the most relevant health and lifestyle factors to project what these years will look like for each client. By understanding your clients individual background, HALO provides a much more holistic view of retirement years than actuarial tables can provide.
“Customize” Insurance Plans to your Client
Without an accurate sense of what their retirement will look like, it can be difficult for people to know if long-term care insurance is right for them. Relying on averages, rather than personal data, can leave clients over- or under-insured. It is also difficult for people to recognize that they may not always have the benefit of being in the same physical condition and health as they may be presently enjoying.
With HALO, advisors are better equipped to identify their client’s living and health care costs. They can pinpoint gaps in existing coverage and savings by addressing specific needs. The HALO experience also helps clients better visualize how their health and physical condition may evolve during their retirement years. HALO also often creates that “Aha!” moment for a client that results in more buy-in to the importance of financial planning.
Open Up Conversation About Retirement
Starting the conversation around retirement can be the hardest part. The HALO assessment serves as a natural starting point, by asking about the main health and lifestyle factors relative to longevity, in a quick and user-friendly assessment. After finishing, clients use an interactive health optimizer to see what lifestyle changes they can start making to improve their active retirement years.
Using the HALO assessment to introduce the conversation of retirement lays the foundation for further conversations about long term planning. Advisors can position themselves as experts in health and wealth to earn trust and continue to have productive conversations. HALO will help clients visualize how they can start improving their retirement years now with lifestyle changes, and advisors can ensure they meet their goals for those years.
There is no one cookie-cutter solution to elder care planning. Each client will have different needs and goals for their retirement years. However, many financial advisors still rely on one-size-fits-all solutions whereas HALO software provides a simple way to start retirement planning and addresses many of the client’s most important questions and concerns.
Read the whitepaper about Kevin Baranczyk’s success in elder care planning below.