Our Only Guarantee… Death and Taxes!

As we sit amid a pandemic, it is not our intention to be morbid, but as the saying goes, the only thing we are guaranteed in life are death and taxes. So, our question to you is, are you prepared for both? 

Coming up over the next few months at ICOR, we have two related and relevant events. March’s ICOR Meeting focuses on areas you will encounter as investors from start to finish, literally. Our friend, Larry Stone, Stone CPA will give a broad 30,000 ft view of building your portfolio: 

• protecting your assets

• insurance for your properties…AND YOURSELF

• winding down and limiting your tax liabilities
  
  
• ensuring that your estate lands where it was intended to land.

followed by an unprecedented educational opportunity in our two-day event, “The Lifecycle of a Real Estate Investor: Assets, Entities, Insurance, Trusts, & Estate Planning.”

For some of you, you may be flying solo with your partner’s blessing. Or perhaps you and your significant other are in the trenches together. No matter which scenario you find yourself in, we beg of you to have a difficult conversation on post-life planning before life decides to force the conversation on you. Because the sooner you have the conversation, the more prepared you will be to answer the other side of the conversation, taxes, and asset preservations. 

At our May event, we focus in on the areas of a real estate entrepreneur's life cycle. Many of us know the basics of setting up business entities and asset protection, but for many others, we see this to protect our real estate from what has become a very litigious society. Unfortunately, you are more likely to encounter end-of-life expenses that could be a complete drain on what you have worked so hard all your life to either pass on as generational wealth or perhaps to charity.  

Join ICOR for...

"The Life Cycle Of A Real Estate Investor"
 Assets, Entities, Taxes & Estates

Wednesday, March 10, 2021
 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (MST)
Click Here to Register

Following is a partial list of reasons why waiting could be incredibly detrimental to you, to your partner, to your estate, and to the next generation: 

9 Reasons Not to Delay Long-Term Care Planning 

1.) In America, a senior citizen (65+) has about a 70% chance of needing some type of Long-Term Care support later in life. Considering the realities of life, being prepared for the unforeseen simply makes good practical and financial sense. 

2.) Nursing Home costs are on the rise.  The average length of a nursing home stay is more than two years, and in Colorado, the annual cost of nursing home care during 2017 was between $78,000 to $100,000 per year. Double those amounts if both you and your partner require LTC. 

4.) Most private insurance policies don’t pay for Long-Term Care. If you are depending on your health insurance to pick up the costs of long-term care, think again. It is just not a part of the package, which means you will need to find another way to pay, should you need LTC. 

5.) Long-Term Care Insurance: you may not qualify. Purchase your LTC insurance policy when you are younger and healthy, and Long-Term Care Insurance will cost less. Wait until you are older, or until you have got a health condition, and it may be too late, because you may no longer qualify. When it comes to Long-term Care Health Insurance, the earlier the better. 

6.)  The surviving, healthy spouse may pay the price for the delay. If you haven’t planned and either you or your spouse end up in a nursing home for a number of years, your estate could be drained. And because of LTC expenses, the surviving, healthy spouse’s quality of life could be deeply impacted. 

7.) Your children’s inheritance could be spent on your LTC. Even if you do manage to pay for those Long-Term Care costs out-of-pocket, without strategic planning, it’s possible the inheritance you intended to pass on to your children could be spent on your LTC expenses. 

8.) Medicare will not pay for more than 100 days of skilled nursing care (and that’s if you qualify). If you are eligible, those 100 days must be medically ordered and follow a 3-day stay in the hospital. After that, you will need to pick up the tab, another reason to plan in case you or your spouse ever need a more extended stay. 

9.) Waiting too long to transfer assets to your children could disqualify you for Medicaid. If you are banking on Medicaid as the financial solution to pay for LTC, and you want to protect your financial assets by transferring them to your children, you’d better plan ahead. Medicaid has a “Look-Back” policy that gives them the right to refuse coverage if you have made certain financial transfers within five years of your request for Medicaid. 

10.) Custodial Care is not covered by Medicare. Medicare will not cover custodial care, which is not medical in nature but provides help for those who cannot care for basic needs like bathing, dressing, or feeding themselves. Unless you have planned, ongoing custodial care could deplete your financial assets and create undue financial pressure.