Examples of life resource planNING

Examples of Life Resource Plans

We include 4 samples of Life Resource Surveys based on actual planning scenarios we have produced as a Society. These Surveys are for individuals who are not real. Although all 4 Surveys are focused on couples, large numbers of our surveys are also done for single individuals. Each of these Surveys demonstrate an application of Life Resource Planning under certain circumstances. By far, these do not represent all applications of Life Resource Planning. There are many more issues out there to deal with than these Surveys reveal. This is just a sample to see how valuable the planning can be. As one of these Surveys demonstrates, there do not have to be large assets in order to do the planning. In fact, we do a lot of planning for people who do not have assets.

With each Survey below we will explain the circumstances and offer a brief explanation of the various strategies that were recommended. You can then click on each link below to open the entire PDF file and study each Survey to see how it addresses the various issues in detail.

Comprehensive planning survey binders produced by the Society for Life Resource Planning can average about 225 pages. These pages are divided in a three ring binder under 3 different tabs. The first tab contains the analysis and recommendations. The first tab will usually consist of anywhere from 10 to 15 pages depending on the complexity of the planning process.

The second tab contains 14 pages of instructions on how to put together a family care plan and family care agreement. If the family decides to use a geriatric care specialist to help plan for long term care, the specialist will use the information from tab #1 to insert under this second tab a care plan for this purpose.

The third tab may contain a textbook entitled "Understanding the Fundamentals of Life Resource Planning," which was written specifically for the education of the planning recipient and for the family. It contains valuable information about all kinds of issues pertaining to aging seniors and their families. The textbook is 178 pages long. The Life Resource Planner as an option to insert other educational material under this third tab as well.

Sample SURVEY #1

Mary Smith age 72 and Larry Smith age 74. Children live nearby to help them with care issues. They have $38,000 in retirement savings – not including their home equity – and $31,730 in annual income. Their home is worth $220,000 with a remaining mortgage balance of $59,000. They also have $19,000 in credit card debt. Mary has significant health issues. Their assets will be entirely depleted within a few months if Mary needs serious long term care services. If they choose to stay at home, they can pay off their primary mortgage through a reverse mortgage and have some additional cash to fix up the home. Larry is a veteran and if he ever develops serious disability problems connected to service, he might be able to obtain extra income. He is not a war veteran and could not qualify for Pension Aid and Attendance. Currently, he does not qualify for any VA disability benefits either for him or his wife.

Click here to download this PDF Survey

Sample SURVEY #2

care if it is ever needed. Ralph and Gertrude both have significant health problems. They will soon be in need of long term care services. They own a home but have no other assets. Market value of the home is $250,000 with no mortgages. They have $11,000 in consumer debt. Their income is $50,900 a year which includes $23,800 a year for Ralph for his service-connected disabilities as a veteran. Ralph is unaware of an additional VA disability benefit called Individual Unemployability which could add an additional $14,112 a year to his income. In addition, because he is housebound, he could get about $4,000 more a year on top of everything else. He might also develop the same $14,112 a year by applying for more service-connected disabilities at which point he could be eligible for an aid and attendance benefit of about $11,000 more a year on top of everything else. The planner will make sure that he gets assistance finding this extra income. Overall, he has the potential of adding about $25,000 more a year in additional income from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Sample SURVEY #3

Dirk Heilman age 88 and April Heilman age 73. This is a second marriage for each and they have a blended family. Proper estate planning must be done in order to ensure that the inheritances go to the right children of which there are 6 from previous marriages. Dirk has tried to take care of April by purchasing a significant life insurance policy for $300,000 and by purchasing long term care insurance for both of them which will help if he ever needs care. They also own about $221,000 in retirement assets between the two of them, but they have purchased a new home with a $225,000 mortgage. Dirk is planning on the insurance to take care of the mortgage or to assist April when he dies. They make $67,200 a year between them, but if Dirk dies, April's income drops to about $32,600 a year. Since Dirk is a war veteran, if April needs long term care services, they could bring in $12,652 a year from Pension Aid and Attendance in order to pay for her care. If Dirk needs long term care services they could bring in $25,022 a year from the Veterans Administration to help cover his care. They can coordinate this veterans benefit with their long term care insurance. Currently, they are both in good health. They have a dilemma. Several years ago after they got married, Dirk purchased the life insurance policy without a guaranteed death benefit. The policy is eating itself inside out. Currently he is paying $15,600 a year in premiums and the policy has about $65,000 in cash value. Because there is no guarantee, within five years there will be no cash value and his premiums will have increased to $37,000 a year. The next year the premiums will be about $55,000 a year again with no cash value and each year premiums go up. He has to die within five or six years or they will not be able to afford the policy. This risk was not disclosed to them when they purchased the insurance.

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Sample SURVEY #4

Brenda Jack age 58 and Clive Jack age 59. They are both currently employed and bring in about $160,000 a year in income. They also have investments and retirement savings of about $440,000. Most of this is in tax qualified retirement accounts and they are adding significant amounts to these accounts probably in order to save income taxes at their higher tax rates. There is an additional planning questionnaire for free retirement clients. We use this retirement planning questionnaire to put together this Survey. Our experience with doing these plans and with folks who have large amounts in tax qualified accounts has shown that they may save taxes when they are working, but when they are retired these accounts are a great burden. This is not only true for tax purposes but also for estate planning purposes. The analysis centered around their planning for long term care which for most of us is inevitable. Suggestion was made to purchase long term care insurance under state partnership as part of this planning since they are young enough and healthy enough to afford it. Suggestion was made not to put any more money into tax qualified retirement savings except for the amounts that are matched by the employer. Clive only has a group life insurance policy and no other life insurance. This policy will disappear when they are older. Brenda has no life insurance. Suggestion was made to put $35,000 each into Medicaid funeral trusts in order to provide funds for burial and funeral in the future and also to do some preplanning to preserve assets from Medicaid spend down. Medicaid planning strategies were discussed and recommendations made for the future.

Click here to download this PDF Survey