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...[A] scrutiny of cash flow calculations found that purchasers of age 65 years of a typical LTCi policy recover only about two-thirds of every premium dollar in policy benefits in the aggregate. When analyzed by gender, women, living longer on the average, stood to recover 87 cents while men get only 45 cents on the premium dollar. Thus, the 67 cent average return. In contrast, the same person investing in a life annuity would recover 75-85 cents of every premium dollar. ...

A reverse mortgage is a special type of loan for homeowners aged 62 and older that lets you convert a portion of the equity in your home into cash. But unlike a traditional home equity loan or second mortgage, the borrower doesn’t have to repay the loan until the borrower either no longer lives in the home as their principal residence or they fail to meet the obligations of the mortgage. The amount of money received depends on the home’s value, current interest rates, and the borrower’s age. The vast majority of reverse mortgage loans offered today are insured by the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) as part of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (“HECM”) program....

Beginning in tax year 2013, new Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 1411 imposes a 3.8 percent surtax on certain passive investment income of individuals and of trusts and estates. The tax helps pay for the Affordable Care Act, or “ObamaCare.” I propose that, instead of protesting the tax on principle, the more efficient use of resources is to properly plan around the tax by understanding to what income it applies and how the tax is calculated. There are two kinds of strategies for minimizing exposure to the surtax: (1) strategies that reduce both NII and MAGI, because any reduction in NII will produce a corresponding reduction in the MAGI excess amount and (2) strategies that reduce only MAGI....

Most of the discussion about health reform has centered around issues like the "public option" and abortion restrictions. But buried in the newly enacted law are important provisions that would make long-term care more affordable, help the elderly and disabled remain at home rather than move to a nursing home, and make nursing homes safer for those who have no choice....

Many Americans have the misperception that estate planning is simply preparing for one’s death and is only necessary for the affluent. To the contrary, estate planning is as much about passing values to loved ones as it is about passing material possessions....

Do Living Wills Always Mean "Pull the Plug" or "Do Not Resuscitate?" It's important to understand the scope of a Living Will. Your Living Will may state that you do not want to be resuscitated if you have a terminal illness. But, it might state the complete opposite, saying that you want every treatment possible including experimental treatments. Of course, an accident does not equate to a terminal illness. So, if I have an accident that causes my heart to stop, by all means I intend emergency personnel to "jump-start" me with appropriate CPR procedures. On the other hand, if I have lived to an advanced age such that I become frail and I have exhausted all medical options that will provide me with a reasonable and appropriate quality of life under the circumstances, heroic measures such as CPR that might fracture my bones would be undesirable, especially if such medical options and/or treatments serve only to prolong the inevitable. ...

The Terri Schiavo story highlights the critical need for clear instructions as to health care when the patient is unable to make those decisions for him or herself. A recent New York Times Editorial highlights a 2006 Pew Research Center poll , wherein only “22 percent [of respondents] said a doctor should always try to save a patient’s life, while 70 percent believed that patients should sometimes be allowed to die. More than half said they would tell their doctor to end treatment if they were in great pain with no hope of improvement.” Notwithstanding these numbers, surprisingly “only 69 percent had discussed end-of-life care with a spouse; just 17 percent, or 40 percent of those over 65, had done so with their children.” Furthermore, only “one-third of Americans had a living will and even fewer have taken the more legally enforceable measure of appointing a health care proxy to act on their behalf if they cannot act for themselves.”...

An Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) is one of the most popular wealth planning devices. It is a trust designed to own a life insurance policy, usually on the lives of you and your spouse. You gift funds to the trust periodically and the trustee uses the funds to pay premiums on the life insurance policy. The trust is designed to produce benefits for your family....

The general rule of thumb probably told by the casual life insurance agent concerning the safety of cash surrender value (“CSV”) of life insurance policies is that the various state legislatures have protected CSV from creditor attachment. Not necessarily so, at least in Arizona and Georgia. If you want to ensure your CSV is protected in those, some estate planning is necessary and timing is critical. Here’s why:...

We live our lives generally as though dramatic change won’t surprise us and, if it does, we’ll deal with it at that time. But, as Whitney Houston’s untimely death shocked us all last Saturday, we realize that we need to prepare for the unexpected. Beyond the traditional methods of estate planning for the ultimate event, the fact that technology has been a game-changer in our lives and legacy cannot be overlooked or overstated. Just take an inventory of how much of your life, memories, information, financial and otherwise, is stored digitally and on social media. Now, ask yourself what would happen if a sudden, unexpected event happened to you or yours. Would anyone be able to access certain vital information? ...

Rumors abound as to what the Super Committee will recommend for the estate and gift tax, if anything. And at this point no one knows what the future holds in this area. That said, we do know that the deadline for the Super Committee's proposal, November 23, 2011, is rapidly approaching....