Twenty years of data indicate there is a strong correlation between nursing home admission and the presence of certain unhealthy lifestyle-related factors in middle age.
Researchers at the Institute for Health at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, found that, by and large, the same factors that increase the risk of disease and early death also increase the risk of requiring nursing home care later in life. Most of these factors — including smoking, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes — are modifiable, according to researchers.

The risk linked to each lifestyle-related factor was higher for middle-aged people at the start of the study than for those who were elderly. For example, a middle-aged person (someone age 45 to 64 at the start of the study) with diabetes had three times the risk of admission to a nursing home over the next 20 years, the study found.

According to Investment News www.investmentnews.com:

Optimal benefit period for LTC insurance debated
Gary S. Mogel
April 25, 2005
NEW YORK – Long-term-care insurance with a two- or three-year benefit period often makes more financial sense than a lifetime benefit for most clients, according to several LTC-insurance experts.

Plugging gaps in insurance knowledge
Gary S. Mogel
April 3, 2006
NEW YORK – From empty nesters to young singles, one thing that adult Americans of all ages seem to have in common is an inability to incorporate insurance into their financial planning effectively.

That was among the key findings of a conference of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners here last Tuesday. The Kansas City, Mo.-based NAIC said that it has developed an insurance education program, Insure U, designed to fill in the knowledge gaps.

One of the biggest blind spots for the oldest group – the elderly and empty nesters – is their potential long-term-care needs. According to an NAIC survey, just 12% of people age 65 and older thought that they would need long-term care, despite statistics showing that about 60% in fact will need it.

LTC age 55 requirement is bunk, experts say
Gary S. Mogel
March 13, 2006
NEW YORK – Advisers who recommend long-term-care insurance only to clients age 55 or older are dropping the ball, according to experts in the coverage line.

Many boomers have bucks – but no adviser
Gary S. Mogel
March 20, 2006
NEW YORK – About half of affluent baby boomers don’t have a financial adviser, and most who have an adviser don’t have a written financial plan.

Canadian boomers are not aging gracefully – Generation hitting 60 is not as healthy as their parents
Heather Ennis
February 2006
Baby Boomers are in denial about their health, according to a new Heart and Stroke Foundation report.

In the past 10 years, obesity rates among Boomers have soared by nearly 60 per cent. More than half of them don’t exercise and 20 per cent of them smoke. Despite intense research and education campaigns, Canadians between the ages of 45 and 59 are in worse shape today than they were in 1996.

“Baby Boomers, who should be the most educated, need to start getting off their seats,” said Ottawa cardiologist Dr. Beth Abramson. “The numbers are staggering.”

The report also shows Baby Boomers don’t know how bad things are. More than half of them don’t think their weight has any effect on their health and an overwhelming 80 per cent think they will live longer than their parents.

Canadians rank saving for retirement top priority
Carlise Peterson
January 23, 2006
CHICAGO – Canadians consider saving for retirement their most important financial priority, according to a recent survey from the Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto.

Website to offer support for advisers
Charles Paikert
January 9, 2006
NEW YORK – There’s a new practice-management portal in town.
Industry veterans Kristofer R. Behn and David Drucker have launched Practicelifecycle.com, which offers financial planners and advisers a wide range of resources, information and contributions from well-known advisers.