Once someone decides they want to protect against the cost of long-term care, the next question is almost always the same: should this be a traditional long-term care policy, or one of the newer hybrid life insurance policies with an LTC rider?

If you've decided that final expense insurance makes sense for your situation, the next question is: how much coverage do you actually need, and which company should you buy it from? These are practical decisions that deserve more than a quick guess - the right answers depend on your wishes, your family's situation, and some basic math.

You've saved. You've planned. You've built a retirement nest egg that's supposed to last the rest of your life. But there's a risk that derails more retirement plans than almost anything else - and it barely gets mentioned in most financial planning conversations: the cost of long-term care.

Long-term care refers to ongoing assistance with the activities of daily living (ADLs) that a person needs due to a chronic illness, disability, or cognitive impairment. The six standard ADLs used by insurance companies to define this need are: bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, transferring (moving from a bed to a chair, for example), and continence. Most long-term care insurance policies will pay benefits when a person can no longer perform two of these six activities w

One of the most common fears in retirement isn't running out of health - it's running out of money. Living longer than your savings is a real and underappreciated risk. Social Security helps, and a pension helps even more - but most retirees today don't have a pension, and Social Security alone rarely covers all of life's expenses. Annuities designed for retirement income exist to solve this problem.

As we age, the potential need for long-term care becomes a reality many retirees must consider. Planning ahead can help protect your finances, ensure quality care, and reduce stress for your loved ones. Here’s what you need to know about long-term care and how to prepare for it.