Are You Talking About Healthcare Costs In Retirement with Your Seminar Prospects?

Knowing and addressing your prospect’s concerns in your seminars is CRITICAL in today’s competitive marketplace. When it comes to healthcare, your baby boomer prospects are worried.

Merrill-Lynch Global Wealth Management, in partnership with Age Wave, has recently published a new study that purports to take the pulse of the boomer generation. The study involved over 5,000 online participants, and ranged far and wide on issues regarding health, wellness, and retirement. If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t had time to digest what it may mean, I’ll try to encapsulate at least one lesson from it.

The main lesson from the study is found in these two statistics:

1. 81% of retirees (50 and over) say the most important part of a happy retirement is being in good health.
2. A plurality of subjects over age 50 said their greatest worry about finances in retirement is health care costs (41%). This percentage goes up to 54% and 60%, among people with over $250,000 in assets, and over $5 million in assets, respectively.

So, you can get a sense that many of your prospective clients probably think having good health is para­mount to enjoying their retirement years, and are likely worried about how they are going to pay for their healthcare. The problem is, the study also found that individuals don’t talk about this, even with family members. What’s worse, many boomers don’t have an idea of how much MORE they have to save for their healthcare expenses during retirement. The number is staggering!

The Employee Benefit Research Institute calculated that a 65‐year‐old couple with median prescription drug expenses would need $227,000 to have a 75 percent chance of being able to pay all their retirement medical bills, and $283,000 to have a 90 percent chance.
People who don’t have a large enough nest egg to set aside a quarter of a million dollars specifically for retirement healthcare expenses are likely to spend a growing portion of their Social Security checks on medical bills.

I recommend that you update your seminar invitations to include a discussion on the importance of planning for healthcare expenses in retirement. Adding this copy will show that you’re tuned in to their needs and you’re positioned to help them make informed decisions on how to address this critical part of their retirement plan.

Jorge Villar is President of Response Marketing Excellence (RME), with more than 26 years of direct marketing experience, he is known in several industries for his ability to create mail packages that garner the highest response rates. He is responsible for the Seminar Success program that for the last 17 years has accounted for more than 65% of the events being held in the nation, with over 17 million individuals making reservations. Mr. Villar has also been very successful marketing to physicians and business owners regarding Succession Planning and Asset Protection. RME’s marketing programs are presently being utilized by over 10,000 clients, including: top producing financial advisors, estate planning attorneys, large financial organizations, health care organizations, franchises, universities and many other industries. Mr. Villar is a frequent key note speaker at national financial symposium and marketing training conferences.

Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
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Phone: (800) 846-1555
www.aaepa.com