http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/finance/long-term-care-insurance-what-am-i-protecting.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/long-term-care-insurance-what-am-i-protecting.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0600
Having come from a family where my mother was the primary care giver for my grandmother after her onset of Alzheimer's disease, I can truly concur with many people who absolutely do not want to, and will not put their own children in peril of being a caregiver.

I actually saw my own mother age probably 10 years, over an actual 2 year period of care giving, before my grandmother was admitted to a 24-hour skilled care facility. This definitely made its mark on me, something one will never forget I assure you.

Other than the transfer of burden of away from your own children, there is one other item that sticks in my mind. That is the choice involved with your own care or your spouse’s care.

Most people prefer to stay at home as long as possible. Long Term Care insurance is one way to accomplish this without dipping into family funds or care giving. Let's face it, a LTC event is costly, both mentally and financially. One year stay in a long term care facility can cost up to $90,000. That cost will rise significantly within the next 10 to 15 years. Without long term care insurance the options are very bleak unless you are independently wealthy. Having a plan that can offer financial means as well as a feeling of being in control is an alternative to having everything taken from you.

Secondly, your assets are being protected. There are basically three phases of money: Accumulation, Protection, and Disbursement.

Accumulation Phase
The accumulation phase is what you work for all your life to build up for retirement and to pass on to your heirs. Without a Long Term Care insurance policy, an event like Alzheimer's or a Stroke could definitely put this nest egg of accumulated wealth in jeopardy.

Protection Phase
The protection phase of money is just that, protects what you have worked for and earned over the years. You cannot look at LTC insurance as a cost, but rather a simple way to protect your assets so that they are there when you need them. If these assets are diminished from a LTC event, it could leave you, and or your spouse impoverished for many years to come. Not to mention not being able to pass assets on to your heirs in the disbursement phase of money.

With a Long Term Care insurance policy in hand, the possibility of having choice, being well cared for, not putting a burden on your kids, and being able to live out retirement in the manner of which you are accustomed becomes a real possibility!

In conclusion, long-term care insurance serves two purposes. The first is to provide money to help cover a long term care and event without having to burden our family are children with this responsibility. The second is to protect our nest egg from the financially devastating impact of a long term care event.




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Neil Gholson, President LTC Financial Solutions began his career in the Insurance industry in 1989. . LTCi experience includes Regional Sales Manager for LTPC from 1999-2003, and Regional Manager for the National Education Association’s Long Term Care Program. For more info visit: http://www.longtermcareinsurance-guide.com/long-term-care-insurance-protect.html

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/internet/site-promotion/search-engines-101-paid-vs.-natural-search.html http://www.articletrader.com/internet/site-promotion/search-engines-101-paid-vs.-natural-search.html Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0600
Paid search is when your ad shows up at the very top of a Google search or down the right hand side of the results page. These are called “sponsored ads”. You pay for those positions. When every you click on one of those ads the owner of the ad pays Google. This is also called “pay-per-click”. The amount you pay is determined by several factors including what you are willing to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.

Natural Search is when you type in a “keyword" and a link and a description shows up on left hand side of the search result page. The only way to get on the first page is to have very relevant content on your web site and links to your site from other relevant sites. This is a long process for people in it for the long haul. There are a lot of companies that claim to be able to get you on the first page of Google. That may be true if the “search term” is very specific and no one else would ever search for it but you or they are using a “black hat” method that could get you site banned from the search engine.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are really just data bases. When you do a Google Search you are not searching the “world wide web” you are searching Google’s data base. There are two ways to get in to these databases. One is to submit your site to the different search engines. In about 6 to 9 weeks the search engine will index your site. They have software that comes to your site and index every page and adds it to the database. They come into your main web URL and follow the links to all the pages of your site. They capture key elements from the code on your page to the content. These are then stored in the data base. When someone puts a keyword in the search box the “algorithms” determine the best page or links to the best pages for your search.

The other way to get added to the search engines data base is to have the search engine software find you through a link to your site from another web site back to yours. The software, called “spiders” will periodically comeback and re crawl your site to see if you have updated it.

One important thing to know is that each page on your site is indexed individually and each page stands on its own. The ranking are based upon the combination of correct meta tags, relevant content to the keyword they are trying to get rankings for and link popularity. Mostly one way links back to their site from relevant sites.

As long as the search engine can index the site, clearly read the meta tags and content, the better. The big issues come when a site is built in flash with very little content (search engines cannot read or index "flash" sites. Also, if the bulk of the relevant content is in PDF format this is bad because the search engines cannot read PDF. If the search engines cannot index the relevant text there will be no rankings.

You all ready know this but "sites" are not ranked, individual pages are ranked for specific terms found in the content of that page as well as link popularity, (relevant links pointing back to that specific page) for the term that you are trying to get ranked on.
This is why each page has to be giving very specific attention.

Bottom line: Paid search means you pay for your position. The benefit is if you have the $$ you will get instant traffic. Stop paying and the traffic goes away. Natural search is free traffic but it is built over time. The advantage is that if done right, it can provide traffic for a long time.

Search traffic (paid or natural) is the BEST traffic to have because you are being found by folks who are specifically looking for what you have. It does not get any better than that.



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Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information on Search Engine Marketing come and see us.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/insurance/is-your-financial-planner-going-to-pay-your-long-term-care-bills.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/insurance/is-your-financial-planner-going-to-pay-your-long-term-care-bills.html Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
The senior has now become the GREATEST financial risk that Americans face today. The majority of them are unaware of it because let's face it: No One wants to think about needing Long Term Care. It is going to happen to someone else!

Long term care bills are the biggest reason for financial failures among seniors today. Yet there are a lot of Financial Planners and Investment Advisors who will say that you don't need Long Term Care Insurance. If you already have a lot of money, perhaps you don't! The question is: Would it be a smart decision to have this coverage?

What we are seeing today are many Financial Planners split on the subject of LTC Insurance. You will hear some say that if you have any resources you should not be without it, that it is an integral part of financial planning, while others think if you have enough money you should self-insure. Who is right?

Every financial advisor I talk with would recommend long term care coverage if he knew in advance that his client would need several years of long term care.

Do the math. In a state where long term care bills are averaging $170 per day, and the average premium is $4000 a year for a couple, aged 60, and they live another 20 years, they have paid out $80,000 in premiums for the peace of mind that they will not go broke. Without the insurance, they could end up paying over $80,000 in less than two years for ONE OF THEM on the advice from a Financial Planner telling them that they DON'T NEED IT!

It must be concluded that Financial advisors who recommend against LTC Insurance figure you are not going to need care since they would recommend you obtain coverage if they knew you were going to have to spend several hundred thousand dollars. You should find out from the advisor what is the BASIS for their prediction? Also, be aware that Advisors are sales people. They are in the business of making you money. If you purchase Long Term Care Insurance, you have less money for them to manage!

The decision is yours. At this point in your life, are you more interested in making a few more thousand dollars a year or are you more interested in protecting what you have already earned from the most DEVASTATING financial risk that people face in America today? One of the biggest financial mistakes a person can make today is needing Long Term Care and having no coverage! Is this a mistake you want to take a chance on making? Seek out a LTC Insurance Specialist to help you make the best informed decision for you and your family.

Remember, your Financial Planner or Advisor is not going to pay your long term care bills. You will!




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Georgia McClure is a Long Term Care Finance Specialist residing in Tampa, Florida. A recognized expert in planning for the cost of Long Term Care, Georgia consults regularly on this subject with individuals, organizations, businesses, financial planners and attorneys. For more information on Long Term Care Insurance please vistit http://www.longtermcareinsurance-guide.com/long-term-care-bills.html


Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/insurance/baby-boomers-and-long-term-care-part-ii.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/insurance/baby-boomers-and-long-term-care-part-ii.html Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0500
What is long-term care?

Long-term care is needed when a person can no longer perform the activities of daily living. The activities of daily living are eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, continence and transferring. These "ADL's" usually are caused by chronic illness, a disability due to aging or an injury. Long care insurance is also needed in the case of severe cognitive impairment. This includes Alzheimer's, dementia and other brain disorders.

Who needs long-term care?

Anybody could need long-term care at any point in their lives. Approximately 40% of people receiving long-term care are between the ages of 18 and 64.


1. More than half of the US population will require long term care at some point in their lives.5


2. More than half of the US population will require long term care at some point in their lives.5


3. One out of five Americans over the age of 50 is at risk of needing long term care in the next 12 months.5


4. For couples 65 and over, there is a 75% likelihood that one partner will need long term care.6


5. 60% of people over age 75 will need long term care and need care for approximately 3 years.7


6. There's a 68% probability that people age 65 and over will become disabled in at least two activities of daily living or of being cognitively impaired.8


When Should I consider getting long term care insurance?

Most experts agree that, for many of us, we should start looking into it in our mid 50"s. LTCi is like most insurances , it takes into account your age and current health condition. Also, there are big discounts and benefits if both you and your spouse sign up together.



In my next article, baby boomers and long-term care part three, we will look at the cost of long-term care without long-term care insurance.


Source:


1. Americans for Long-Term Care Security, www.ltcweb.org, August 2000.


2. The Wall Street Journal, June 2000. www.wallstreetjournal.com


3. Business Week www.businessweek.com


4. AARP. Beyond 50: A Report to the Nation on Independent Living and Disability, 2003. www.research.aarp.org





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Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, http://www.clickadvant.com Terry has written several aticles about long term care insurance and "Baby Boomers". For more information visit http://www.longtermcareinsurance-guide.com/baby-boomer-couples-cutting-health-care-costs.html

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>