An advisor invited me onto a call with a lovely couple in their late 40s. Well, invited is the wrong word. The advisor has my calendar link and the meeting appeared. I had some very basic info and took this on as a fact-finding call. The husband earns about $1 million per year. But after business expenses, the spouses each draw about $300k from their two-person LLC. What is a domestic Disability Insurance carrier going to use for his income? $300k. That results in a benefit of about $15,000/month. They recognized that if he goes down with a Total Disability, then they suffer a much bigger loss. There are a few things we can do in this situation. I started with the option of Key Person disability insurance which could pay up to 3x salary to the business. We broached filling the gaps with a Business Overhead Expense policy. Then we discussed Retirement Security which could pay another $5,000/month into a retirement fund. None of those really resonated for some reason, so I introduced Long-Term Care Insurance. They perked up out of their chairs. As it turns out, one of their good friends is currently experiencing a sharp cognitive decline (in his 50s). *It was this long-term care scenario that initiated the disability planning discussion.* We set the stage for what LTC is, how it works, what it pays for, and the different approaches. They immediately wanted to see some solutions and we were able to drill down on a few plan designs right on the spot. They loved the idea of sharing a pot of $1M for care needs. And it wasn’t too much more to secure a death benefit for their beneficiaries if they end up not needing care. Everyone walked away with a much better idea of how to plan for their immediate and most relevant concerns. And we may have a combo sale for this advisor. Not bad for a one-hour meeting that showed up on my calendar two days before! My only regret is I wish we had time for a health prequalification. But that presents a good reason to follow up and keep the conversation going.
-Max