A long-standing, dangerous industry view: For decades, the majority of expert advisors to the wealth management industry have been saying that long-term care insurance (LTCi) is not right for wealthy clients, mainly because they can afford to self-insure. In terms of risk mitigation that’s not much different than saying, why waste money on fire insurance for a vacation home because they can afford to build another if it burns down!

Why this belief? Originally, LTCi was ‘nursing home insurance’ which truly is irrelevant for the affluent, who will use the best 24/7 home care they can find. Insurance industry product and marketing traditionally focused on the middle market, which also contributed to misinformation promoted by wealth management experts. Two other contributing factors are the fact that long-term care is an emotionally loaded topic that’s difficult to discuss, combined with the general lack of product training and information available to high net worth financial planners.

A responsible view of LTCi: Clients will pay for extended personal care directly out of their portfolios. Because this erosion is avoidable, we view long-term care insurance to be as essential as property and health insurance in protecting client assets. While it’s not the wealth manager’s area of expertise, you are inevitably in a unique position to introduce your clients to quality LTC and wellness resources.