For our first Senior Living LIVE! webinar for the new year, we will be examining one of the most common questions we get from families considering a move to senior living— how will I pay for it?
Our host, Melissa Lee, talks about financial resources and more with Elderlife Financial Services agent, Jeff Hudson. Click below to watch the recording below to hear as Jeff briefly explains some of the resources seniors and their families can use to finance senior care, as well as some of the services offered by Elderlife.
This is only a preview — make sure to register at www.ArborCompany.com/Financial to get access to the full webinar and learn more about the financial resources you can use to pay for senior living.
Video Transcript
- Hello, everyone, and welcome into "Senior Living Live". My name is Melissa. We hope you are enjoying this holiday season. I have a very special guest joining me today, Jeff Hudson of Elder Life Financial. Jeff, how are you? How are the holidays going?
- I'm doing great, Melissa, thank you. It's definitely a busy season, but a good season for everybody. So happy holidays to you as well.
- Yeah, and you'll be a part of our very first webinar to kick off 2021, which we hope will be a much better year than 2020 for a lot of us. We certainly thank you for joining us. Your webinar is entitled Financial Resources to Pay for Senior Living. And I know that a lot of people are going to want to tune in for this one. It is one of the, probably the number one question we get in regards to senior living. And you will be here to not only present that for us, but also answer some questions January 7th at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. So Jeff, tell me a little bit about Elder Financial, what services are offered, and how does your company help seniors?
- Yeah, absolutely. So at Elder Life, we work in the same way as a financial aid office at a college or university. So when you go start touring senior living communities, light bulbs are going to start going off, "How am I gonna afford this?" So Elder Life is your one-stop shop to ensure that you're utilizing and maximizing all of your available financial resources. So if the family needs help with VA benefits or selling their home, maybe they have a long-term care insurance policy or a life insurance policy they have questions about. There's potential tax deductions behind paying for senior living. And we also offer a short-term bridge loan if a senior needs to move in immediately and get the care they deserve today. So really, we're the one-stop shop for a family to make sure that they're paying for senior living in the best way possible.
- Yeah, well you talk about that bridge loan, and I want to get to that in just a minute. But first, as you know, that entire process of making that transition into senior living can absolutely be overwhelming for not only the people who are making the move, but for the families as well. So when you have people come to you, what are they most surprised to find out about when it comes to paying for senior living care?
- We see that all the time, that the family is very focused on the health and wellbeing of their loved one and picking the best community for them. And that really makes the financial aspect of this kind of be an afterthought and something that's not really considered upfront. So really what I think surprises most families is that there are resources available. Over 85% of the families that connect with the Elder Life are able to utilize at least one of our resources. It's different for every family situation, so we like to understand that family's unique situation, and we're gonna provide recommendations based off that situation.
- Okay, so let's go back to that bridge loan now. I promised everybody we'd go back to that, and I want to go back to that because it sounds like it may be something new that a lot of people may not have heard about. What is it exactly, and how can it help seniors?
- Yeah, so the Elder Life bridge loan is the only financing option that's designed specifically for senior living. It helps bridge the gap from the time that a senior needs care until the time that they can really afford care. So a lot of families struggle with the upfront cost of transitioning a loved one into senior living. They might have to do repairs to the home, pay month one, month two, month three rent and care as well as the community cost upfront. So that can become a burden on the family. So if a family has a short term funding gap such as the waiting period before VA benefits begin, or they're in the process of selling their home and it's gonna take a couple of months to clean out the home and list it and sell it on the market, and they need those funds to pay for the community, those are all short-term funding gaps that could delay a move into a senior living community. A couple other options are around maybe a long-term care insurance policy that has a 90-day or 180-day waiting period, or even just liquidating financial assets can be expensive. So the bridge loan's there to get that senior transitioned right away and get the care they deserve today.
- Yeah, that sounds fantastic. And I'm gonna assume you'll have quite a few questions about that during your webinar. Now you just touched on long-term care insurance. And like a lot of insurance policies, it can be pretty convoluted and pretty difficult to understand. How does your company help seniors sort of figure out what their benefits are?
- Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head, Melissa. There's over 400,000 different long-term care insurance policies in the market. Each state regulates the verbiage different as well. And a lot of these policies were written 25 years ago when everything was a nursing home, so to say. So it causes a lot of confusion between different policies and different states. So really with the long-term care insurance policy, how we help families is, it all starts with the free review of their policy. We're gonna help them understand who, what, and when it's gonna start paying. If they do want to take advantage of additional services, we can help them manage each piece of the long-term care insurance policy to make sure they're maximizing that as well. So again, long-term care insurance policies, they're a great asset and a great resource to have. But they can be confusing and a challenge because insurance companies don't necessarily want to pay out. They like it a lot more when you're paying them. So we're here to help with those long-term care insurance policies and provide that free review to help families better understand their policy.
- That right there is worth its weight in gold. Your company really prides itself on not only being thorough, but also being able to act quickly. If someone is in need of care right now, and they need to make that transition into senior living maybe today, what is the turnaround time that you can offer to get them there?
- Speed is very important in this industry. A lot of times you might have a senior that's moving directly from a skilled nursing facility, or they can't live independent in their home anymore by themselves. So speed is important for us. The bridge loan, speed is what differentiates the bridge loan from other financing options. Just yesterday, we took a call in the morning, took a bridge loan application, and had funds sent directly to their senior living community that same day. So yes, speed is important in this industry. Getting the care that they deserve right away is important. So speed is something we definitely pride ourselves on.
- That is incredible. And we hope to hear some more of those situations that you've been involved with that other people can maybe relate to, and then look to your company to help help them out as well. So you will be available January 7th, four o'clock Eastern time for this webinar not only for the presentation portion, but also to answer questions as well, which is huge. If someone is watching this today and they need help right now, how can they get in touch with you?
- Absolutely, yeah. The easiest way to connect with our team is to give us a call at 228-4500. That's gonna connect you directly with the financial concierge, and we're going to go straight into that conversation to see what resources are available to your family and to make sure that you're creating that game plan, to have that longterm game plan, and keep your loved one in the community as long as possible.
- Fantastic information, and excellent preview for your webinar. Jeff, thank you so much. We want everyone to RSVP. Again, the webinar is called Financial Resources to Pay for Senior Living. It is 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Jeff, we look forward to seeing you again then. Thank you.
- Absolutely, Melissa. Thank you, guys, and thanks for the opportunity. We look forward to working with all the families.
