"There's gold in them there hills, son." Each day in the U.S, more than 10,000 people turn 65 and need to begin making critical decisions about Medicare enrollment. Unfortunately, very few resources exist to help them. This is why seniors and their family members are increasingly turning to professionals they know they can trust to help them understand their Medicare choices.
Financial advisors are starting to take notice of this trend – and the golden opportunity it offers.
If you have not yet started helping clients with their Medicare concerns, here are three compelling reasons to get started today.
#1 - Your best clients expect you to help them with Medicare.
Vanguard, "The affluent investor: Insights and opportunities for advisors"
According to a study published by Vanguard and SpectremGroup, when the top three groups of affluent investors (with a net worth of $100,000 - $25+ million who average 65 years of age in 2018) rank the services they plan to seek from their financial advisors in the future, “Planning for Long-term Care” is number one. This category includes planning for healthcare needs in retirement which includes Medicare.
Unfortunately, today's advisors are largely not addressing these types of concerns, passing their highly valued clients off to insurance brokers or government hotlines.
According to the study, “This is fertile territory for advisors who wish to mine the gold.”
#2 - Your inability to provide Medicare guidance could be costing your clients thousands.
Medicare enrollment can dramatically impact other aspects of financial planning — many of which could be costing your clients thousands of dollars.
Take Medicare’s Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) as an example. IRMAA is essentially higher Medicare premiums for higher income Medicare beneficiaries.
When you recommend capital gains distribution strategies or Roth conversions, are you calculating any increase in Medicare premiums in addition to your tax calculations? Unfortunately, if you’re like most financial professionals, the answer is no. As a result, you could literally be costing your clients thousands of dollars in additional Medicare premiums without even knowing it.
Organizations with a proactive approach to Medicare can literally show their clients how they’re saving them thousands in potential Medicare mistakes.
#3 - Medicare opens the door to address other high-value and potentially difficult conversations.
In the process of talking to clients about Medicare, professionals have the unique opportunity to address any number of related – and high value – topics of conversation. These can include Social Security timing, required minimum distributions at age seventy and a half, estate planning, and more.
Plus, Medicare can make it easy to open the door on difficult conversations, most notably long term care planning. Despite the common myth held in this country to the contrary, Medicare does not cover long term care. Yet 50-70% of people in this country will need it at some point with the average price tag being around $250,000.
Save yourself some trouble. Let Medicare start this difficult, yet highly valuable, conversation with your clients.
How to start using Medicare to help your clients and business alike:
When you decide to incorporate Medicare into your business, here are some different ways to get started:
- Consider utilizing Medicare-related software tools, like i65 Medicare mapping software or the Plan Finder tool available through Medicare.gov.,
- Hire a new team member with Medicare expertise,
- Create an outsourcing relationship with an independent Medicare specialists who consults with clients on a fee-for-service basis, such as 65 Incorporated or GoodCare.com, or
- Take the time to educate yourself about Medicare through conferences, publications, and/or webinars.
No matter what you choose, creating a Medicare strategy today can help to ensure your future success.