Use Annuity Proceeds to Pay for Long Term Care Premiums

Help your clients protect all of their assets by taking a partial withdrawal from their non-qualified annuities to pay for long term care insurance. Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, money can now be transferred from a non-qualified annuity (SPDA) to pay for long term care premiums tax-free. The tax savings from this strategy effectively reduces the cost of long term care insurance in comparison to funding it with taxable income or withdrawals. The tax is only deferred, however, until the annuity is surrendered and then taxes will need to be paid pro-rata on any gains. Income payments from a SPIA can also fund a LTC insurance policy tax-free.

Example: If your client has a non qualified deferred annuity worth $100,000 with $20,000 in gains and $2,000 is used to pay for a long term care premium, 80% (or $1,600) will be subtracted from the principal and 20% (or $400) will come from taxable gains in the annuity. If enough money is transferred over time from the annuity to pay for long term care premiums, the taxable gain could be erased completely.

The process of transferring the money from the annuity to pay for the long term care premium is a Partial 1035 Exchange. If the annuity and the LTC policy are with the same carrier this process is made very easy by providing a form that will automatically initiate the annual partial 1035 exchange process to fund a LTC policy. If two different carriers are involved it is important to check with them to find out what their requirements and restrictions are regarding partial 1035 exchanges.

Prior to participating in any 1035 exchange, you should help your client carefully consider factors such as the features, provisions, and crediting rate(s) of their current product, applicable surrender charges, any new surrender charge period on the purchase of a new product, as well as the various features and crediting rate(s) of the new product.

Get 1035 Exchange FAQs answered here.
View Funding Long Term Care Insurance Using an SPDA Case Study.

MVP is not offering legal or tax advice. Your clients should consult independent tax and legal professionals for advice based on their particular circumstances.

ING White Paper: Valuation of Life Insurance Policies

Life insurance has become an important tool for advanced techniques used in the areas of estate planning, business planning, and executive benefits. Such techniques may include the transfer of an existing policy by gift or sale, or may include the use of a life insurance policy to create benefits for employment or retirement. In each of these situations, it is important to be able to provide an accurate valuation of the life insurance policy in order to determine the income, gift, generation-skipping transfer (“GST”), or estate tax consequences of the transfer or benefit at issue. Read more...

5 Tips for a Successful Executive Benefits Sale

The April edition of Life & Health Advisor features an article by ING Life Companies' Randy Kemnitz, director of business planning and executive benefits for U.S. Insurance.

Randy offers advisors five tips for a successful executive benefits sale and explains the benefits of Self Owned Life and Retirement (S.O.L.A.R.) insurance arrangements as an effective executive benefits solution.

Click here to read the entire article....

Alternatives to Traditional Long Term Care Plans

As an advisor, you help guide your clients on a responsible path toward protecting their families, businesses, assets and estates. Unfortunately, an unexpected health crisis can disrupt even the best-laid plans, forcing clients to deploy assets they had hoped to save for other purposes. At least 70% of people over age 65 will require some long-term care services at some point in their lives.* So despite the uncertainty of the long term care industry as a whole, insuring the risk is still the most cost-effective way to protect oneself from the potentially devastating expense of long-term care. As an alternative to the traditional long term care insurance plan, several carriers have introduced Life/LTCi and Annuity/LTCi combinations that DO provide some long-term care guarantees.

MoneyGuard® is a linked benefits policy from Lincoln National Life Insurance Company; it combines universal life insurance and long-term-care in one policy. The MoneyGuard® policies provide benefits no matter what the future brings — a death benefit, long-term-care benefits or both. One version of the MoneyGuard product has various funding options and Return of Premium is provided automatically with every policy. Compare MoneyGuard Reserve Plus to MoneyGuard Reserve.

John Hancock has a Long Term Care Rider that can be added to their permanent life insurance policies. This optional LTC Rider allows policy owners to accelerate their death benefit to help pay for long term care expenses, should that need ever arise. Any portion of the death benefit not used to cover LTC expenses remains in the policy, and is later paid as a death benefit. They also have LifeCare which is a single-premium whole life plan with long term care benefits that addresses the need for guaranteed life insurance protection and LTC coverage.

Genworth Financial's Total Living Coverage (TLC) links universal life and long term care insurance into one product. It provides a pool of benefits to cover long term care expenses and a death benefit for beneficiaries. Even the entire death benefit amount is used to pay for long term care expenses, a Residual Death Benefit is available. The Return of Premium (ROP) rider is an optional rider that is available for purchase at the time of application. If the client decides not to keep the TLC policy before the end of the 15th year, the owner will get back at least their initial premium (less any LTC benefits already received). The ROP rider automatically terminates on any Partial Withdrawal or Loan from the policy.

United of Omaha has a single-premium deferred annuity with long term care benefits that is guaranteed to pay up to three times the annuity value at time of first claim for long-term care benefits. The Living Care Annuity provides a guaranteed rate of interest and tax-deferred growth and pays clients if they need long-term care and if they don't, the annuity value will pass to beneficiaries without probate of funds.

MVP Financial Services has the LTC solutions your clients need. Give us a call.

*Statistics taken from www.longtermcare.gov. Administration on Aging: 202 619-0724.

Prudential is out -- Who is still in?

A financial services leader, Prudential Financial has announced that they are pulling out of the individual long term care business, citing "the challenging economics of the individual market" and their "desire to focus...where we see the greatest opportunity." This announcement has no effect on their group long-term care insurance business and they expect to continue as a leader in the group market.

Just 39 carriers sell LTC insurance Nationwide. Of these, just 2 have paid more than $2.2 billion in LTC insurance claims. Only one carrier has paid over $5.4 billion in claims. Only one carrier has provided long-term care insurance for over 35 years*. So where does that leave us as advisors helping people plan to protect themselves when they are most vulnerable?

According to Pat Foley, President of Genworth Distribution and Marketing, "Genworth is unwavering in our commitment to the long term care industry, our policyholders and our distribution partners." Genworth Financial is the largest seller of LTC insurance in the U.S. and a leader in the industry since 1974. Their premier plan, Privileged Choice Flex combines innovation with rich, flexible benefits, making it one of the most comprehensive long term care insurance products available.

Transamerica LTC is celebrating just 25 years in the industry. They had pulled out of the individual LTC market several years ago and are now back in it; recently introducing their new TransCare II product.

John Hancock LTC has been in the business since 1987 and touts their 150 years of experience and stability in the insurance industry. Their signature Custom Care III product provides comprehensive coverage and a variety of valuable support services.

United of Omaha and American General are two more carriers that have individual LTC products available. United's Cash-First addresses the progression of care by paying cash on day one. American's LTC Plan is simple to understand and flexible enough to fit almost any budget.

Another industry giant, MetLife pulled out of the individual and group long-term-care insurance sales last year but continues to service existing policies. Allianz Life Insurance issued their last stand-alone LTC policies in 2010. They have re-directed their focus to combination products.

Almost every LTC insurance carrier has raised their rates at least once on their inforce blocks of business. In 2008 and 2010 John Hancock LTC announced rate actions seeking premium increases for inforce blocks of business on individual LTC policies. Genworth's first rate increase in 2010 was nearly 33 years after their first policy was placed. Transamerica raised their rates as much as 70% on one block of their business. United of Omaha raised rates in 2010 and American General, the newcomer to the LTC business, has not had a rate increase yet.

We have been taught that insurance is only as good as the company behind it so if the company is highly rated, financially strong and profitable...Well maybe there just aren't any traditional types of guarantees when it comes to long term care.

However, despite rate hikes and the uncertainty of the long term care industry as a whole, insuring the risk is still the most cost-effective way to protect oneself from the potentially devastating expense of long-term care. And, several of our carriers have introduced Life/LTCi and Annuity/LTCi combinations that DO provide some long-term guarantees.

MVP Financial Services still has LTC solutions for your clients. Give us a call.

*Genworth Financial long term care insurance website.

Bankrate.com: Just Another Solution

If you have never seen this website, it is a great informational tool to have handy as a link on your iPad or your website. This will give you current, local mortgage rates as well as the highest current rates for CD’s, treasury bonds, etc.

If you have clients thinking about re-financing or purchasing a home this is a good website to be aware of if you want to offer "value added" service by directing them to this site.

If you are in the annuity market, the bank interest rates on this site may help convince your clients that annuities are excellent alternatives.

Check it out: http://www.bankrate.com/

Contact MVP about this blog or anything else that is on your mind... mvpinfo@mvp4me.com.

Life Insurance is the Solution

Americans are facing new economic realities. Today’s safety nets are disappearing. Older generations are realizing that their children and grandchildren may not have nearly the same opportunities that we have today.

The industry is in a unique position to help families protect the long-term security of their loved ones using life insurance.

View this video from Transamerica to find out why it matters and what insurance agents need to know.