Laura Lynn Morrissey (00:00):

It really took a tough conversation and me basically drawing that line saying, “I can’t do this alone, and guess what, I’m not going to do it alone, you need to help me.” And I think a lot of women don’t always really understand that that. They feel as though, this is my role, this is my job and if I have to ask for help, there’s something wrong with me.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (00:19):

And I think that that’s one of the things that I talk about. I do quite a bit of public speaking around women and being a caregiver, and what it means to really define those boundaries and that it’s okay to ask for help, and it’s okay to be honest about what you need, that it doesn’t mean failure. It just means that you’re taking care of yourself as well as your loved ones.

[Music Playing]

Stephanie McCullough (00:46):

Hey, dear listeners, we need to let you know that Kevin and Stephanie offer investment advice through Private Advisor Group, which is a federally registered investment advisor. The opinions voiced in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations to any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you. Consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision. Now, let’s get on with the show.

This is Take Back Retirement, the show that’s redefining retirement for women. Retirement is an old-fashioned cultural concept. We want to reclaim the word so you can make it your own. I’m Stephanie McCullough, financial planner and founder of Sofia Financial, where our mission is to reduce women’s money stress and empower them to make wise holistic decisions so they can get back to living their best lives.

Kevin Gaines is my longtime colleague with deep knowledge in the technical stuff: investments, taxes, retirement plan rules. He’s a little bit nerdy and quantitative, I’m a little bit touchy-feely and qualitative. Together, through conversations and interviews, we aim to give you the information and motivation you need to move forward with confidence. We’re so glad you’re here.

Stephanie McCullough (02:10):

Coming to you semi-live from the beautiful Westlakes office park in suburban Philadelphia, this is Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines of Sofia Financial and American Financial Management Group. Say hello, Kevin.

Kevin Gaines (02:21):

Hello, Kevin.

Stephanie McCullough (02:22):

Today, we’re talking to Laura Lynn Morrissey. She is a nationally recognized advocate for proactive aging, blending over two decades of leadership in finance with real world experience in senior care. This is the stuff we love to talk about, Kevin.

Stephanie McCullough (02:39):

For 20 years, she held executive roles at Fidelity Investments (a company we know very well), She specialized in client strategy, operations, and long-term planning. After transitioning into healthcare, she built and sold two successful home care companies in the Boston area. And then in 2023, she founded SilverSavvy, a platform dedicated to helping people age in place, maintain independence, and plan confidently. Let’s dive into our conversation with Laura Lynn.

Stephanie McCullough (03:11):

Laura Lynn Morrissey, welcome to Take Back Retirement.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (03:15):

Thank you so much. I’m excited to be here.

Stephanie McCullough (03:18):

So, help our listeners understand a little bit about your backstory and how you came to be doing what you do now.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (03:25):

Absolutely. Well, I actually started my career in financial services. So, I worked for a very long time for Fidelity Investments. I was in San Francisco and Boston, and I also was in fixed income trading technology.

Stephanie McCullough (03:39):

Whoa.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (03:40):

Yeah. So, I did that for a while. And so, as I was growing my career in financial services, I was also behind the scenes a caregiver. So, I was a caregiver for my mom since I was seven-years-old. And so, that was always kind of in the back of my mind as my responsibility.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (03:54):

And I think it’s gotten better now. We can kind of live a little bit more out loud about what’s going on in our personal lives, but for so many years, especially for women climbing the corporate ladder, you really couldn’t talk about the responsibilities that you had.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (04:08):

So, in the midst of growing my career, my mom’s health was in decline. We got care for her, I was in San Francisco, she was in New England and it wasn’t going well. And for all sorts of reasons. And then I was at that point in my career where I thought, you know what, I would like to have my own business.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (04:23):

My family are all entrepreneurs. And it was really then that I decided I would get into home care, believe it or not, with no healthcare background, which was an interesting dynamic. And I bought a couple of home care companies in the Boston area, and I learned how to apply putting client first. And I applied my financial services, customer service in taking a patient making sure that their front and center in everything that you do.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (04:52):

And we grew this incredible home care agency with amazing caregivers, and I often told people that my clients were my clients, my caregivers were my client. Because when you have amazing caregivers who like to come to work and enjoy where they’re going, they’re going to provide excellent care and they’re going to stay in their shifts, which is I think one of the big challenges in the marketplace.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (05:12):

So, I grew that company and a few years ago decided to sell it, but I wasn’t done. I feel as though there’s such a need for advocacy and there’s such a need as there’s going to be so many of us over 60, there’s going to be so many of us aging, we don’t all know what that means.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (05:28):

And I decided, what if I could build a roadmap based on my financial services background, based on my healthcare background, and really helping people to become even more informed, highlight things that I think people need to know, especially daughters and daughters-in-law, and women who are often caregivers. No offense given.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (05:47):

But at the end of the day, I started SilverSavvy and it’s just really been an amazing opportunity for me to stay in touch with clients that are looking to stay informed. So, I serve two demographics. I serve folks that are over 60. The parents, the loved ones, the friends that may need some sort of support, but also daughters and daughters-in-law. And so, that demographic anywhere from 35 on up.

Stephanie McCullough (06:13):

I mean, it is such a need and a growing need. And it’s one of those things I kind of think of it a (and this might sound odd) somewhat similar to divorce. Like when you’re going through it, it’s the first time you’re going through it. Plenty of other people have gone through it before you, but this is your first time and it’s a foreign landscape and there’s this crazy language, and all these things you have to learn how to navigate.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (06:36):

I believe that. And I know for myself, it was bizarre as I was growing the home care company and working a zillion hours, my mom started to really decline, and she ended up living with me.

Stephanie McCullough (06:46):

Oh, wow.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (06:48):

And it was fascinating that I would leave a client’s house, and then run home to get my mom her meds at noon, and then run back out. So, I was living what I was supporting, I was living what I was seeing, and those experiences they really helped formulate how I would approach this business ongoing.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (07:08):

But yeah, I think at the end of the day, it’s important to let folks know that you’re going through this and this is your journey and this is something that we’re going to take good care of you. But at the same time, just so you know, you’re not alone, and there are best practices here, and there are things that we’ve all learned that we can share if you want to know.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (07:24):

But you never want to one up anybody and say, “Well, that happened to me.” Because everybody goes through their aging journey with their parents, and it can be very traumatic.

Kevin Gaines (07:34):

So, were there any particular insights that you got or that you feel you got from taking care of your mother at the same time running your business that you were able to say, “You know what, other agencies aren’t talking about this or thinking about that, but I’ve just seen this, so let me bring it into my company?”

Laura Lynn Morrissey (07:54):

Well, it was interesting. What I experienced with my mother was incredible trauma, really. I mean, my mother went from being able to live independently with some assistance, to being completely dependent. And I watched my family, my brother specifically not respond immediately.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (08:11):

And so, families need to understand that a lot of times daughters and daughters-in-law pick up that role for all sorts of reasons, but that there was a way for me to engage my brother that I had to learn. Because I had done it all my whole life. I had taken care of my mother, “I’ve got this, Jay, don’t worry about it.” (That’s my brother’s name).

Laura Lynn Morrissey (08:27):

And then at some point, I had to really make it clear to him, “I need your help because this really isn’t my problem, Jay, this is my mom’s problem, and we need to be doing this together.” My brother’s an attorney. And it really took a tough conversation, and me basically drawing that line saying, “I can’t do this alone, and guess what, I’m not going to do it alone, you need to help me.”

Laura Lynn Morrissey (08:45):

And I think a lot of women don’t always really understand that that. They feel as though this is my role, this is my job, and if I have to ask for help, there’s something wrong with me, and I think that’s one of the things that I talk about.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (08:59):

I do quite a bit of public speaking around women and caregiver, and being a caregiver, and what it means to really define those boundaries, and that it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to be honest about what you need. That it doesn’t mean failure, it just means that you’re taking care of yourself as well as your loved one. So, I think that was my biggest lesson.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (09:19):

The second thing was making sure that you listen to that person. So, as I was watching … because I would often be in the room with attorneys or doctors or caregivers or whatever and whomever, and they would often direct the conversation to the power of attorney, or they would direct it to the daughter or whatever, and the parent in the room, the loved one in the room was ignored. And so, I found-

Stephanie McCullough (09:42):

The person who’s actually receiving the care.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (09:45):

Yes. And I found that to be a secret sauce that I would walk in the room, sit down and I would immediately engage the person for whom the care was going to be given, and what a difference it meant in terms of me building my business and potentially winning over some of my competitors because I put that person in the center of the care that I was going to provide.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (10:05):

And a lot of times, they still had decision making authority. So, it really meant treating them with the same dignity and respect as they’re getting older that they were given when they were younger.

Stephanie McCullough (10:17):

I like that. And it seems like such a simple and human and I don’t know, respectful thing to do, yet it’s often overlooked.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (10:24):

Well, it was interesting, my dad and I didn’t experience as much responsibility with my dad. My dad had glioblastoma and he passed away pretty quickly. But I remember going down a floor, my father was a very tough guy. He was an inner city guy, Boston and he could make his needs known. He was a pretty tough guy.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (10:41):

And I remember when he was sitting in a wheelchair and he was starting to lose his ability to speak, and the way people spoke to him, I was like, “This is not who my father is and I know he would have something to say if he could say it.” And so, I think to myself, you know what, always treat that person as though they’re able-bodied, as though they’re of sound mind and just treat everyone with the dignity that you’d always want to be treated.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (11:03):

So, I think Kevin, those are my biggest lessons coming out of home care. And then one of them was long-term care insurance. The majority of our business was long-term care insurance. So, we filed the claims, we managed the invoices, we followed up on payment, we reconciled invoices and what have you. So, we really became experts in long-term care insurance which was a real differentiator for us as well.

Stephanie McCullough (11:27):

And that’s valuable and we’re going to get into that. But before we go there, can you talk to us about this idea of life care planning and what it means? Because I don’t think people have zeroed in on this as an important part of planning to get older.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (11:43):

I would agree. And I think life care planning came about as I started looking at my own life. I learned so much being in home care, some of the way that I was living my life coming out of financial services changed, and I would say dramatically, honestly when I saw how people with a plan experienced better outcomes than people without a plan. And I thought, “What if I could put a process in place?”

Laura Lynn Morrissey (12:09):

And so, I basically, did things in my own life that were a result of what I saw. And one of the foundations of SilverSavvy is helping people to age well and to stay informed. So, I built this process around life care planning, which treats the aging process just as thoughtfully as you treat planning a wedding, planning your college tuition for your children, planning vacations, buying a house, all of the major events in your life that you know you need to sit down and put steps in place.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (12:42):

You really, as we’re living longer, the average age right now is around 79, statistically the last 10 years of your life are typically the ones where you’re going to need some level of care. We know the hospital environment has changed significantly, where we’re all sent home. When I start talking to people, “Hey, how many of you have had loved ones sent home earlier than you’ve ever seen?” And everybody’s hand goes up.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (13:05):

That’s by design. So, imagine if you had a plan around purposeful living, where if you took an inventory of all the major areas of your life, identify the ones you’re doing really well, keep doing it, and identify the areas where you may want to shore up your plan, and then that plan ultimately dovetails into say what you do or say what an estate attorney does, or other areas of a well-planned life.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (13:34):

And so, what life care planning does is you sit down and you have a conversation around, as of today, you’re in your 50s, maybe 60s, or maybe even into your 70s. And you’ve discovered, you know what, I really need to do this. I’ve been winging it my whole life, and I want to really get my act together. So, let’s sit down and talk about what are your goals, what are your values? What’s most important to you?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (13:54):

And then we go through these seven areas of living well, and there’s lots of definitions around that, all sorts of books have been written. But I selected things like purposeful living. So, what are your goals as you age? How are you going to maintain lifelong learning? Because we know that helps with staying sharp and feeling engaged and purposeful.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (14:14):

How are you going to stay connected with relationships? What does your healthcare plan look like? Do you have all of the necessary experts, the physicians that you need in order to stay healthy? I know even for myself, there were things I was not doing, and I now do them based on my own life care plan.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (14:32):

And so, financial confidence, so you don’t necessarily need to be wealthy, but you need to understand how much money do you need to live on? What kind of a budget are you going to have two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now? And having that information, do you have a financial advisor that’s going to help you to execute that? So, once you inventory and decide where you want to focus and it’s all documented, and then we come up with a plan.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (14:59):

If you’re missing certain support, then I can connect you with folks that will help fill in those gaps like attorneys or financial advisors and what have you, or even doctors if you haven’t reached out to a certain doctor, if you like eye doctors for instance or hearing audiologists or what have you. Then we encourage our clients to put a plan together in order to do that.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (15:22):

So, once you have that plan, similar to an estate plan, you have a physical document with all of these compartments, with all of this amazing information that’s distilled down into your three or four major priorities for the next 6 to 12 months.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (15:38):

And some folks will walk away with the book and they’ll take care of it from there. But other folks say, “You know what, I really need to check in with you every six months because I want to make sure I’m on track here because I know I’ll put this thing away and I’ll never touch it again.” And that’s the most fun because it’s really great to see how folks progress in their plan.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (15:56):

A big one, I’ll give you an example. So, if someone says, “You know what, one of my goals is, I want to stay in my house.” Most people want to age in their homes. Most homes are not built for aging, and they don’t really understand that. They’re like, “Well, I’ll just put a chairlift in place. I’ll just put some grab bars,” which are important. That’s a good idea. But how about, what’s your exercise plan look like? Do you exercise at all? Do you do core? Do you do strength training?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (16:22):

So, I’m a certified fitness trainer and a certified nutritionist for folks over 50. And so, I have an idea around how the body ages and how to focus. My husband was trying to get up and down the stairs and fell a couple of times, and why? Why was he fine all these years, and now suddenly, he’s slipping down the stairs?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (16:40):

Well, his ankles had lost range of motion. And years and years of playing basketball, he had sprained his ankle several times, and it was getting stiff and that was causing him … he didn’t realize that he was losing mobility going down the stairs and he crashed down the stairs a few times. So, that’s just one way to help somebody understand what is your plan long-term if you want to stay in your home.

Stephanie McCullough (17:03):

And it might be these seemingly small things like losing ankle mobility which can lead to big things which can lead to big disasters if you’re not on top of it.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (17:14):

Some people say, “Well, I’m just going to sell my house and I’m going to move into a one story.” And it’s like that may or may not be necessary. And as you may know, housing for older folks is more expensive than ever before, and sometimes just selling your house and buying a smaller house doesn’t necessarily mean you get a less expensive house, it just means you get a smaller house. These days, the real estate market’s crazy.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (17:39):

So, I have clients that have been in their house for 50 years, and they bought their home far less expensive. And they might have a lot of equity in their home but it doesn’t mean that they can buy the home that they really need. So, let’s see how long you can stay in your home safely.

Stephanie McCullough (17:56):

And around me, every time I see a ranch, a one-story home, I note it because there are not that many of them. Where they used to be ranches, they have built two and three stories on top of it, so it’s harder to find.

Kevin Gaines (18:10):

Whenever I’m talking with real estate agents in networking groups or something like that, they’re always bringing up ranchers. It’s like, “I’m looking for ranchers. I have clients that want to buy ranchers, I need ranchers. I can’t find ranchers.”

Laura Lynn Morrissey (18:21):

And even one of the services that I provide, the big thing now is assisted living.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (18:28):

And assisted living has to be considered carefully for a couple of reasons. One, it may not provide you with the support that you think, it may provide you with exactly what you need. But it’s also in many areas of the United States, two to three-year wait. Whereas when I was in home care several years ago, I could get a client into an assisted living or a Harbor care unit, a dementia care unit within 30 days, within 45 days, and it was well within the family’s timeline.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (19:00):

Because a lot of times by the time they reached out to me, they were in some level of state of emergency. And now, you really have to be thoughtful as part of your life care plan. Do you want to go to assisted living for all sorts of reasons? And if you do, you need to make it part of your longer-term plan and get going and find those places, and make sure that they’re-

Stephanie McCullough (19:17):

Get on the wait list.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (19:19):

And make sure that they’re financially viable because a lot of these assisted living communities are being absorbed by others for financial management reasons.

Stephanie McCullough (19:28):

That’s the sad part. You don’t really realize that this is a big profitable industry.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (19:33):

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think some people feel as though well it’s just one type of medical care that I … and it’s like, “No, it’s not. It’s not.” They’re non-medical. Even though you might hear a nurse, you might see an RN running around, you might even have concierge medical care, all of that — that’s separate, and then at the end of the day, these assisted living communities are non-medical.

Stephanie McCullough (19:54):

So, let’s dive into that a little bit. Because I think when I talk to the people about that, and when we talk about the potential for long-term care need, I’m licensed to sell long-term care insurance, it’s been drilled into my head what that means. But for a lot of people, they’re not clear on the kind of custodial, non-skilled care versus medical.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (20:12):

Well, yeah, I mean as you know, long-term care insurance pays for certain things outside of Medicare. And some people think, “Well, Medicare will pay for assisted living.” It’s like, “That’s not true.” So, it’s a big misnomer and really making sure people understand the differences.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (20:28):

But the neat thing about some of these insurance programs that are available now, is they recognize assisted living and nursing home is medical. So, we know that long-term care insurance could potentially pay for a nursing home, a nursing home support, and that is in fact medical.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (20:47):

But assisted living is now part of what a long-term care insurance policy will pay for. And it can basically provide a bit of a hedge or a bit of an offset to the expense of assisted living, which can be maybe not initially as expensive when you first move in, but when you start to add on additional care that you may need or any other services, that a la carte menu can potentially become quite expensive.

Stephanie McCullough (21:11):

Because when we talk about someone who’s helping you get in and out of the shower and get dressed, you don’t have to go to medical school to provide that care. That’s what we’re talking about, non-medical, it’s those assistance with kind of getting around and doing the basic things.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (21:26):

It is, and there is certification programs that help with best practices on how to help people in and out of showers, in and out of cars, on and off the couch and whatnot, especially if there’s major injury involved or major chronic skeletal issues involved.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (21:43):

And I talk about that as well with regards to people think, “Oh, I can just bring in my niece or my friend down the street, and she can help me.” But they may not be trained on the mechanics of helping people perform what they call activities of daily living, and that you want at the end of the day when you need assistance, you want to make sure that you’re working with people that are qualified and that have been certified and trained.

Stephanie McCullough (22:08):

That’s a good point.

Kevin Gaines (22:09):

And I should have asked this question in the beginning, but part of the issue or the problem with a lot of this as far as aging is, it’s a numbers game. It’s baby boomers that are aging and they’re the biggest generation. So, there’s this increasing demand for these services, and we don’t have the infrastructure in place, I guess, you would phrase it, to support all of these people as this demand is ramping up. Am I oversimplifying this?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (22:46):

No, not at all. Absolutely. And it’s funny, I just did a workshop with a large insurance provider and a state attorney group, and I had to really think about what I wanted to say so I didn’t horrify people because at the end of the day, to your point, Kevin, we’re facing a primary care physician shortage of like 60,000 doctors for all.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (23:10):

So, what I try to talk about is, alright, all of these things, it’s good to know that you’ve got these pressures out there facing you as you age, what can you do to control your own destiny to the best you possibly can?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (23:23):

And that is be aware of your health, screen your health, screen your eyes, screen your ears, do your annual physicals, keep yourself in tip-top shape, and make sure you understand where you are in your journey. Make sure that you’re eating as well as you can, and that your nutritional needs change, make sure you’re engaged.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (23:48):

So, what are the things that you can do to control your own health journey while all of these pressures are going to continue to come at us, these I call them headwinds or whatever, because they’re not going away anytime soon.

Stephanie McCullough (24:01):

Now, what about a lot of our listeners are women who are aging on their own. What special considerations would you point out for them? You know, they don’t have a spouse, they don’t have a default person to come to the doctor with them or to give care in the home.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (24:15):

Well, again, I think you can always take a look at where are you right now, and where could you make improvements on your care. So, again, how is your diet, what’s your exercise routine look like? Are you using those pink weights or are you looking at lifting weights that are heavier so that you can keep your muscle and your bone mass as strong as possible? So, again, that goes back to being screened.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (24:44):

So, being informed as to where you are in your healthcare journey and where you are in your social life. So, so many of us, I know I’m going through huge changes in my social life right now, people are unfortunately passing away or they’re moving away, or they’re retiring. So, take a look at do you have the social construct to support yourselves?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (25:03):

My husband and I don’t have kids, so we’re thinking … we have to make sure that we have support in place so that we have the care that we need and the support that we need going forward. So, that means we have to stay very connected to outside our house.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (25:18):

And I know there’s a lot of people that like to spend time by themselves, which is A, okay, but I think you have to be very aware of it may not be the most healthy thing. We saw this after COVID, people being isolated. We saw a decline mentally..But again, I go back to the life care plan, making sure that you have a purposeful living plan, you’ve got your healthcare in place, you’ve got your social network. Even if it’s one or two people, you don’t have to have a thousand people; that you’re financially sound. You understand what your budget is, and that you’re thinking about it on a very proactive basis.

Stephanie McCullough (25:50):

So, way back when we had a little bitty baby podcast in episode 17, we talked about what women need to know about long-term care. So, Laura Lynn, you mentioned you’ve become an expert in long-term care insurance. Let’s first talk about what’s the biggest misconception you see about long-term care insurance and then we’ll get into mistakes.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (26:10):

Well, it’s interesting. I think you either find people that are older that say, “Well, I’m too old and I can’t get long-term care insurance.” And for those that what is long-term care insurance? Long-term care insurance is an instrument that you typically, a financial advisor will help you to determine if it makes sense to have that as a tool in your toolkit to help you manage costs over time specifically around cost of aging.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (26:37):

Whether it be assisted living, nursing home, home care, durable medical equipment, and a bunch of other stuff, it depends on the policy. But at the end of the day, I think what people don’t understand is that anyone can apply for it if it’s something that their financial advisor feels is a good fit. That what I’ve seen is typically people that are in their 50s because it is somewhat, it is tied to your health.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (27:02):

And so, the younger you are, the healthiest that you are, you have a better chance of being approved, and then typically your premiums are a little bit less. But I think also people think that once I get my long-term care insurance, I’m just going to pay my premiums, I’m going to buzz along, and then when I need it, I’m just going to file my claim like a GEICO car insurance, and I’m going to be approved.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (27:25):

And I think that’s one of the biggest misnomers, is that it is a very complex process and that life, I think insurance companies, back in the day when they first invented this amazing instrument, they didn’t think all the people were going to maintain their policies. They thought it was going to be like life insurance, where at some point, they’re just going to kill it, and that didn’t happen, people kept their policies for-

Stephanie McCullough (27:46):

And more people needed care and more people needed care for longer time.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (27:50):

Absolutely. So, I think insurance companies have gotten smarter around the process for deciding how benefits are going to be paid out in the whole assessment process once you file that claim. So, I think those are the two biggest misnomers around life. I don’t know if you agree with any of that.

Stephanie McCullough (28:08):

Yeah, for sure. Share with us some of the mistakes you’ve seen around the claims. And when we say claims, we’re talking about like, “Oh, I need the coverage that this insurance policy offers.” So, you fill out your paperwork and you ask for the benefit, and this is what you’re saying, the process is more complex than people might think.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (28:30):

I think what I see folks do is they have this amazing policy and the policy holder forgets what it’s capable of, or maybe they haven’t informed a loved one who oftentimes are the ones that dig the policy out because something’s happened.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (28:46):

So, really, if you have a long-term care insurance policy, I think it’s really important to understand all of the particulars and the elements of the policy. What are the benefits? What will this policy pay for? Make sure that that’s still in place because some things change, when do the benefits payout? Is it based on a daily amount? Is it based on a monthly amount?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (29:09):

One of the biggest challenges I think families face around these policies is what they call the elimination period, the waiting period. I’ve worked with so many folks who are brilliant people who will say to me, “I did not understand what the elimination period was all about.” And what the elimination period is, is kind of a goofy word for deductible.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (29:32):

So, typically if you have a lower premium amount, chances are you have a longer elimination period. And what that means is once you file your claim and you have enlisted whatever service you’re looking for, you have to pay for that service out of pocket.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (29:51):

I can’t tell you how many folks have said, “I don’t have to pay you or anyone else. I have this policy and it will pay you.” I’m like, “No, no, you have to pay out of pocket for a certain amount of time clearly outlined in, usually in the first few pages of the policy for that limit whether it’s 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days.” It’s very rare that I have seen a policy with a zero-elimination period. It usually means your premium is pretty sizable, that that lever has been taken care of within the premium.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (30:20):

So, the elimination period, to me, I spend a lot of time educating folks on what the elimination period is, and once you pay it, do you have to pay it again. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. It depends on the policy. So, really, making sure you know where the policy is, making sure that you understand what that policy can do, and kind of run through some scenarios on how you would utilize that policy.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (30:40):

Because we know it’s all about cost and we were talking about that earlier. It’s all about a numbers game that if you’ve got a policy with a 90-day elimination period, do you want to wait until you need care seven days a week, 24 hours a day at 35 to $37 an hour?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (31:01):

Or if you’re having a knee replacement or if you have some other situation going on that within that policy you can engage maybe three to four hours and limit the amount of money that you pay out of pocket maybe 20 hours a week or maybe 15 hours a week or 10 hours a week. Because a day of care is still a day of care whether it’s one hour or three hours or 24 hours.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (31:26):

And how I educate folks is if you can get away with and be safe with as few hours as possible, get your friends and family to fill in the rest of the hours, that way you pay out of pocket the least possible amount until you get your benefits approved, and then you can go from there. So, really understanding that elimination period to me is the biggest part of the policy.

Stephanie McCullough (31:49):

And it’s kind of implicit in the name: long-term care. Like if you break your hip and you go to rehab and you have physical therapy and then you’re back up and running within 90 days, that’s not long-term in the definition.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (32:02):

That’s right. And I think too, there are … I was talking earlier before we went live, a client that I’ve been working with – understanding your entire health profile and sometimes when folks will apply for their long-term care benefits, there may have been an incident, maybe there was a fall, maybe there was a broken bone, but maybe there’s some other chronic issues. Maybe there’s spinal stenosis, maybe there is some other chronic situation going on.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (32:27):

You want to make sure that you’re talking about your entire healthcare profile because maybe that particular situation, that broken bone might be short term, but the chronic issue could be … spinal stenosis is one that comes up so many times when I deal with clients, osteoporosis.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (32:45):

There are other chronic issues that you may not realize or in this case of this client that I’m working with, she’s legally blind, and that had everything to do with why she fell. So, even though she had a broken bone, she’s legally blind. And so, that is an important part of her health profile that the insurance company needs to know, and that could trigger long-term care.

Kevin Gaines (33:06):

So, we’re talking about the elimination period, and did we file, did we not file and everything. From a policy perspective, when does that elimination policy or elimination period start? Is it when you contract for the care or when you actually notify the insurance company?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (33:26):

So, I always say you can do either. So, you can file the claim, but they’re not going to do anything until you get that care. So, I say get your care. “Yeah, but I need to make sure that the claim’s filed.” Yep, understood. Get that care first, get that assisted living contract signed. Again, you have an elimination period out of pocket, and if you work with an advisor that can sort of go through what’s your likelihood of being approved, nobody outside of the insurance company is going to be able to validate that.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (33:56):

But what’s your likelihood of being approved, then at that point, you file your claim. That way you’ve shown, yes, I do need whatever I’m filing the claim for, and then the goal is that you’ve got records already being submitted to the insurance company. Once the claim is filed, you’ve already been paying bills, you’ve shown that you need whatever it is you’re filing that claim for and it shows good faith that this is real, this is valid.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (34:22):

So, I always advise, get the care first, get it online first. You can do it the same day, you can do it the next day, but don’t file the claim because it will sit if you haven’t done whatever you need to do to trigger the claim assisted living if you’re not in a nursing home, if you don’t have home care, a licensed home care provider in your house.

Kevin Gaines (34:44):

But say you’re helping mom or dad and you’ve been helping them and they’ve arranged for care for them for four or five months, and then you’re going through their desk one day and you discover this long-term care policy, it’s like, “Hey, great.” Are you going to run into an issue saying, “Yep, nope, you got to wait another 90 or 120 days,” or it’s like, “Nope, you’ve been having the care for the last six months, the elimination period has already been met.” How does that work?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (35:20):

So, is this care professional, accredited care or is it a friend down the street?

Kevin Gaines (35:24):

Professional care, yes. Because long-term care doesn’t necessarily, or not very often cover you helping stepping in and helping mom and dad.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (35:33):

Perfect, perfect. Then the answer is yes. So, you say you find this policy in the drawer and you say, “Mom, I didn’t know you had this policy.” Boom, file the claim and then you say, go back to date of X when the chronic issue or the qualifying healthcare scenario triggered it. And then the goal is that you would be reimbursed all the way back to that first day of care.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (36:00):

So, I have a client right now, the claim that I filed, it took four months and there’s all sorts of reasons why it took four months. They’ve been paying out of pocket for four months, they will be reimbursed back to home care day one. They’ll get a nice chunk of change. And then usually, most of these policies have this nice little (and I say this is a little bit of an offset) – the premium that you’ve been paying will stop you no longer will owe that premium.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (36:30):

So, you can add that back in for the time that you have benefits and that could take a little bit of the sting out of having to pay out of pocket because home care has gotten really, really expensive just in the past five years.

Stephanie McCullough (36:45):

And when you say they were going to get reimbursed back to day one, that’s day one after they met the elimination period, right?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (36:50):

That’s right. That’s right,  right. But that care goes towards the elimination period. So, if you say-

Stephanie McCullough (37:00):

It starts counting up your days.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (37:02):

Yes, it does. So, either way, it’s fantastic. You don’t lose any momentum by finding that policy sometime down the road.

Stephanie McCullough (37:11):

So, let’s just do a quick review of that. When you say, okay, if you’ve got a long-term care insurance policy and you want to know the features of it, what are those features? We talked about elimination period, what else do you want to make sure you know about a policy and what’s the lingo to look for?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (37:28):

So, the first most important thing is what is the benefits? So, what are the benefits that your policy will pay for? Make sure you’re clear on that. You know, assisted living, home care, nursing home, durable medical equipment.

Stephanie McCullough (37:41):

So, the types of things it will pay for.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (37:44):

The types of things that it’ll pay for, and then what is the benefit period? What is the coverage – it’s called coverage duration. So, some benefits, some of the older policies are unlimited, but the newer policies will have two to five years, that’s typically on average. And again, we all know that every policy’s different for two to five years.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (38:03):

And we talked about the elimination period, is there an inflation rider? That’s sometimes a really nice feature so that over time, your benefits will increase with X percentage of an inflation rider, could be 1.5%, 2%, 3%, but that makes the policy valuable. Even if you’ve had it for 20 years, the value of that policy will go up with inflation every year.

Stephanie McCullough (38:30):

And then you mentioned before the benefit amount. Whether it’s a certain dollars per day or dollars per month, like how much will it cover? There’s no guarantee it’ll cover all of your costs but say if you have $3,000 a month of your benefit amount.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (38:45):

And I usually say up to … I always try to qualify that because a lot of families will say, “Well, I’ve got $10,000 a month.” And I say “up to” because the insurance company will often give you a range of dollar amount up to the total amount. And I know that’s frustrating for some policy holders to see or to hear or to learn but it is basically it is what it is.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (39:12):

And then what are the benefit triggers? That’s the most super-duper next to the elimination period, I spend the most time on that. What triggers your benefits? And we get into activities of daily living, and it’s very, very specific, and it is around your physical care. So, it’s not about cooking, it’s not about going to the store, it’s not about whereas families need a lot of support around that.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (39:38):

It’s about can you shower safely? Can you go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet and get up and down safely without accidents? Can you get on and off the couch, in and out of the car safely? Can you dress yourself properly and safely? Can you ambulate and can you feed yourself. And feed yourself means some people say, “Oh, well, I need someone to cook for me.” That’s no, no.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (40:02):

What feed yourself means is can you take that fork and bring it up to your mouth and safely bring it into your mouth again and again and again. I spend a lot of time on that one. And so, we go through scenarios around what does a care plan need to look like that you need two out of five or six (some policies have five, some have six) you have to meet-

Stephanie McCullough (40:28):

Activities of daily living.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (40:30):

And you have to be able to say … you have to prove that you can’t do them safely before your claim and your benefits will pay out. And one of the things that I talk to clients about is when you file a claim, you will have some level of assessment. So, you’ll have an RN, a qualified RN will either conduct a 90-minute assessment over the phone via Zoom, and it’s very, very particular how that’s conducted or they’ll do it in person.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (40:58):

By the way, let me just qualify; most policies have an addendum to the ADL requirement that if you have memory loss or any kind of-

Stephanie McCullough (41:07):

Cognitive.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (41:08):

Yeah. If you’ve got cognitive decline that has in fact been diagnosed by a doctor, then that will be a chronic issue that will basically, if it’s vetted and proven, then it’ll automatically means you’ll get benefits. So, the ADL thing no longer qualifies or becomes part of the criteria, but the assessment is very important.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (41:29):

And I tell my clients that the assessment is the time when you really want to be honest about what you cannot do anymore. And we’re all very proud, we all have a lot of dignity, we do not want to acknowledge we need help, and it’s really hard for someone that has been independent and successful and run their lives the way that they’ve run them, and suddenly you’ve got to talk about what you can’t do in front of someone that you don’t even know.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (41:51):

And I say that it’s a test you don’t want to pass, it’s a test you don’t want to pass, and you want to be as honest as you can. If you cannot tie your shoes anymore and you use slip-ons or you stopped buttoning those blouses and you use pullovers, you might look fabulous but the bottom line is you would not be wearing those pullovers if you could still button your clothes. Anyway, there’s a whole bunch of scenarios there.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (42:13):

But the assessment is very, very important, you need to take it very, very seriously. And you make sure that you’re answering as honestly as you possibly can. And again, having an advocate in the room to make sure that you’re being forthright (with dignity) about what’s happening, will absolutely make your case a lot stronger.

Stephanie McCullough (42:30):

So, let’s dig into that just for a sec. What does that advocacy service look like? What does an engagement look like? How does someone pay for that service?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (42:39):

Well, an advocate can be a friend or family member that you feel trusted. But the services that I provide are … we do a lot of proactive role playing, honestly. So, you engage someone like me, I can file that claim, I will interact with the doctors, I will get all the paperwork that we need, I will write the cover letters so that it is very clear what is wrong and comprehensive, which I think is very, very important because you want this to be lock, stock and barrel accurate.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (43:10):

Then when you get to the assessment, we do a lot of pre-meetings and we go through, here’s what you might be feeling and here’s what you might want to say, but here’s what I’d like you to say because this is actually the truth. And we go through that and get that person comfortable with the same because the questions are typically the same.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (43:28):

They’re going to go through a mini mental, they’re going to ask questions about your ability to remember things, they’re going to go through your ability to perform physical tasks, and you’re not going to want to talk about how you get around not being able to do those tasks, you’re going to talk about the fact you cannot do those tasks.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (43:42):

The goal is when I’m in those assessments, I say almost nothing because you really want that person to be the one answering the questions, you don’t want any confusion. However, I do have clients, they really want people to know how they’ve worked around these awful limitations and the pain that they’re in.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (44:00):

And I will follow up with a letter basically saying, “I know they said this, but here’s what they really have to go through on a day-to-day basis.” Again, that advocacy. And that is a very acceptable way to clarify what that very proud person might say during an assessment.

Kevin Gaines (44:15):

I’m actually picturing a scenario where, again, let’s go, you know, mom or dad, you’re trying to get all of this arranged for them and they’re not ready to admit they need as much help as they really need, and on the assessment, they’re there saying, “Oh no, I can still do this.” And frankly, I can picture me doing this as I get older.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (44:39):

I know, me too.

Kevin Gaines (44:39):

“No, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.” And as a caring child, you just sit in there, it’s like, “No, you can’t, but they’ve just blown up the assessment because they’re denying there’s issues or minimizing them.”

Laura Lynn Morrissey (44:52):

That’s a real challenge and that is real. That scenario is very common. Honestly, some insurance companies kind of hoping you’ll do that because they’re like, “Hey, he said he is fine.” And so, someone like myself will gently interject and say, “Actually, I think what we talked about is this is what it looks like on a day-to-day basis for you. You actually have, because of your condition, you are unable to A, B, C, D, E or because of your condition, you can’t step into the bathtub and you have admitted that you take sponge baths in the bathroom sink on the first floor because you can’t get upstairs.”

Laura Lynn Morrissey (45:25):

The nurses are certainly working for the insurance company, but they understand they need to qualify that. “Oh, tell me a little bit about that, is that true?” “Well, yeah.” Now, if someone continues to be difficult, to the extent that they don’t understand that this is for them, then sometimes that happens.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (45:43):

And I will still write the letter and honestly I haven’t been denied yet, but I could see that still happening where I could get denied that the person was just so convincing that it just … but I will tell you, Kevin, they then crossed reference the medical records with whatever the person says, and if someone says, “I’m probably fine,” but yet they’ve got incredible spinal stenosis and there’s no way they can bend over and there’s no way they can lift their legs.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (46:06):

Then sometimes between my advocacy letters and the doctor’s records, they know that this person probably needs care more than they’ve even admitted. But it’s true. It’s a very common issue. We’re very proud people as we get older.

Stephanie McCullough (46:26):

Yeah, for sure. I mean, there’s all these losses of dignity and I can see wanting to stand up for yourself a little bit.

Kevin Gaines (46:32):

What recourse do you have if the assessment comes back and go, “Nope, they’re fine.” And you’ve presented yourself honestly and it’s like, “No, you actually can’t do this,” but they either misread the situation or for whatever reason – can you appeal the decision or how soon can you go back for another assessment?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (46:53):

Very good. Yes, that’s a very real scenario and I have been involved in that, especially with remote assessments. So, the remote assessments are particularly … what’s happening now is long-term care insurance has outsourced a lot of these assessment processes for cost purposes.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (47:10):

So, you have nurses who are out of state a lot of times on a Zoom call, asking questions, watching how that person responds. And by the way, Kevin, they often don’t have access, these nurses purposely don’t have the records that the insurance company has regarding the medical diagnosis.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (47:37):

So, they’re asking their 150 questions, 90-minute assessment without knowing much about the background. Whatever they learn is from the questions that they ask the policy holder. So, if they come back because the policy holder is they’re having a really good day and they just aren’t exhibiting any issues, especially cognitive issues that can happen while they’re having a good day – then yes, you can appeal that and say, okay, based on … that’s why it’s good to have someone like me to take good notes, then you basically refute the main areas where you know that could impact the approval of the claim, and they have to take that into account.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (48:09):

Any letter that I would write, they have to take that into account, any disconnect. And they might do another assessment and you can do it immediately after the assessment. So, you don’t have to wait a certain period of time. You can file and if you do get denied … so say you get denied, you can appeal right away. And if you get denied again, then you have to wait.

Stephanie McCullough (48:29):

Laura Lynn, you are a wealth of information and knowledge. We so appreciate your sharing with our listeners.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (48:35):

Thank you.

Stephanie McCullough (48:36):

How can people learn more? How can they follow you? What have you got available to folks out there?

Laura Lynn Morrissey (48:42):

I’m on LinkedIn under Laurel Lynn Morrissey, silversavvy.com is my website. It is filled with resources, both informational and educational, and also to reach me directly, my phone number is (it’s a new number by the way) (617) 925-9712, and my email is hello@silversavvy.com.

[Music Playing]

Stephanie McCullough (49:05):

Awesome. We will be sure to put all those in the show notes.

Laura Lynn Morrissey (49:08):

Awesome. Thank you so much. This has been great.

Stephanie McCullough (49:12):

Thanks again.

Kevin Gaines (49:12):

Thank you.

Kevin Gaines (49:19):

Stephanie, these are the type of episodes I really like because it kind of touches on what we do but it’s also the bigger picture, and it’s to the stuff that people don’t think about. You say long-term care policy is like, oh, if I need to start getting home healthcare, I just call up the insurance company and they start sending the check.

Kevin Gaines (49:43):

And especially as we learned in this conversation, it’s a lot more like medical insurance or auto – if you’ve got to file a claim on your auto insurance, there’s a lot of, I’ll be generous, give and take potentially between you and the insurance company as far as if a check comes and how big the check is going to be.

Stephanie McCullough (50:03):

And kind of hoops to jump through, and I really take her point about knowing those key features, and I’m glad she went through each of the key features to know about your policy. Because if you buy it and then 20 years later, you’re filing a claim, of course you’re not going to remember how long was my elimination period? Exactly how long is my benefit period, what do these terms even mean? You just know you did it and you’re glad you have it, and now, the details come back into place.

Stephanie McCullough (50:31):

I appreciate her focus on making a plan before the emergency. So, she talked about planning to age well, but also, I think a piece of that is planning before the emergency. Like having thoughts in place and talking to your people, okay, if I do need to get assistance, I really want to be at home or I’d like to start thinking about getting on a waiting list to a continuing care community near me.

Stephanie McCullough (50:57):

But it might not be pleasant, and we don’t want to think about the time when we might lose our capacities, but doing it ahead of time, oh, Kevin, how many times have we said this? The planning is a gift.

Kevin Gaines (51:10):

It is. I mean this is especially this topic, it’s not like McDonald’s where you can go on the spur of the moment, “Oh, I can go get a burger immediately.” No, if you need to go to a community, how long is it going to be a wait to get in?

Kevin Gaines (51:25):

Or you go into the hospital, they patch you up, they slap on a little duct tape or whatever, and boom, all of a sudden, they sit right back at your house, you don’t always have time to get all the ducks in the row. So, having these conversations, thinking through it and hopefully having conversations with others, “Oh, if I need this to happen, how was all this going to evolve?”

Stephanie McCullough (51:54):

What are the parts, who are the people that we need to involve? And I appreciate that she said a lot of her clients are the daughters and the daughters-in-law because we are the ones upon whom these obligations disproportionately fall.

Stephanie McCullough (52:10):

And she said she had to have some harsh conversation with her brother. I have clients and friends who have had to have those sibling conversations. Like, “Dude, this is not just my obligation here. We are both children of these parents,” but the assumption in this society we live in is that caregiving is a women’s thing.

Kevin Gaines ([inaudible 00:52:31):

And it’s also a local thing. Meaning whoever is closer, it’s going to fall on.

Stephanie McCullough (52:38):

Usually, yeah.

Kevin Gaines (52:39):

My mother is a fairly, healthy 80-year-old, but she lives 500 miles away from me. She lives with her sister.

Stephanie McCullough (52:50):

You live 500 miles away from her to be clear?

Kevin Gaines (52:53):

She moved, I stayed. Anyway. But she lives with my sister, so almost by necessity, it falls on my sister a hell of a lot more than it falls on to me. In that case, it’s the little things. My sister has to take off of work to take my mom to the doctor appointments and things along those lines.

Kevin Gaines (53:18):

I can’t do that. I mean, I guess I could, but then I’m taking a week off because I got to travel and everything, so yeah. Again, those are the things people don’t always think of is who can help and how can the other ones help take some of the pressure off.

Stephanie McCullough (53:35):

Well, and I like learning about Laura Lynn’s role as advocate. She can go to doctor’s offices with clients and be that extra set of ears and be the expert who’s seen it and been there and knows the key questions to ask. So, it’s interesting to learn that that is a job, that’s a profession out there that it might be smart to know, oh, who are health advocates in my area in case you or someone you know and love needs to call on them.

Kevin Gaines (54:08):

I mean, and that’s a trend we’re all dealing with. She said she doesn’t have kids, I don’t have kids. This is going to be an issue I’m going to need to deal with.

Stephanie McCullough (54:20):

And then of course, we have had other guests who’ve talked about this too, but the idea of to the best you can controlling your own health journey, meaning being on top of it, the screening, the knowing what the issues are …

Stephanie McCullough (54:34):

I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, so I’m doing many things I can to try to improve my bone density, but had I not gotten the screening, I might not have known that I had the osteoporosis, even though it runs in the family and everyone has had it. But those types of things what can you do on a proactive basis to try to age healthily.

Kevin Gaines (54:55):

Yeah, absolutely. Anything you can do to slow down some of these issues, it’s just going to help you in the long run.

[Music Playing]

Stephanie McCullough (55:06):

For sure, for sure. We all have to invest in our future. Well, dear listeners, we hope you found this episode interesting. We’ll talk to you next time. It’s goodbye from me.

Kevin Gaines (55:16):

And it’s goodbye from her.

Stephanie McCullough (55:20):

Be sure to subscribe to the show, and please share it with your friends. Show notes and more information available at takebackretirement.com. Huge thanks for the original music by the one and only Raymond Loewy through New Math in New York. See you next time.

Voiceover (55:35):

Investment advice offered through Private Advisor Group, LLC, a registered Investment Advisor. Private Advisor Group, American Financial Management Group, and Sofia Financial are separate entities. The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual security. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. This information is not intended to be substitute for individualized tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor regarding your specific situation.