Ensuring Your Legacy Lives On

(ARA) - You have a lifetime to live. Proper planning can reduce your chances of having to depend on others for financial support and help ensure that you have a legacy to pass on to your loved ones; two of the top worries for seniors.

Working toward those goals isn't as complicated as it might seem. In fact, if you have a savings account, 401(k) or investments, you're already on your way. But that may not be enough. It is important to consider how insurance can help to protect your savings from unexpected costs.

"One of the most common mistakes we see seniors make is to short-change themselves when it comes to life and health insurance coverage," says Scott Perry, president of Bankers Life and Casualty Company, a national life and health insurer focusing on seniors. "A serious illness can eat into even large savings accounts and investment portfolios in a very short time."

Many people fail to realize their risk for illness and the impact that can have on their savings. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), over 30 percent of adults over age 65 fall each year. A study of seniors, age 72 and older, cited by the CDCP, pegged the average health care cost of an injury caused by a fall at $19,440.

The non-profit organization Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) notes that even when their children are grown, life insurance can still play an important role in preserving a couple's retirement plans.

While many nearing, or at retirement, think they no longer qualify for coverage, LIFE says that's not always so. According to their statistics, Americans, age 60 and older, are among the fastest growing markets for life insurance purchases. The key is to purchase while you are still healthy, and since premiums increase with age, waiting can mean higher rates.

For those at risk of needing care in the future, long-term care insurance can play an important role in protecting savings too. And, while it may seem expensive, it's still much less than the cost of care. According to America's Health Insurance Plans, one year in a nursing home can average more than $50,000, and in some regions, it can cost twice that amount.

"There are many insurance products that people can benefit from," adds Perry. "However, it's important that they take the time to understand what's available, so they purchase a product that meets their needs and ensures protection from an event that could be financially devastating."

Once your plans for the future are made, share them with your children. Bankers' "Aging in America" survey found gaps in perception between elder adults' actual decisions on long-term care issues and younger adults' perceptions of what their parents' viewpoints were.

Misconceptions like these reinforce the need for communication between parent and child, and not just about health care plans. Parents should also share their preferences on how they would like be cared for in the future as well as how they would like to be remembered.

Addressing these issues today can prevent future family conflicts and ensure that your legacy lives on according to your wishes.

For more senior topics, visit www.bankers.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Weather system threatens Caribbean

As Tropical Storm Fay began losing her punch over the Gulf Coastal states residents and visitors in the Caribbean were keeping an eye on Invest 94 in the southeaster Caribbean Sea.

Invest 94 was a tropical wave producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

Atmospheric conditions appeared conducive for some sort of development over the next few days and a tropical depression could form as it moves west to west–northwest at 10 to 15 miles per hour over the eastern and central Caribbean Sea.

Computer models at www.wunderground.com have Invest 94 tracking all over the map with two of the models putting the system near Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

As for Fay, it was downgraded to a tropical depression, but cities along the Gulf Coast still weren’t in the clear.

Forecasters say the storm could continue to dump six to 12 inches of rain from the Florida panhandle to eastern Louisiana through the next several days.

As a tropical storm, Fay set a record with four landfalls in Florida and was blamed for at least 11 deaths there and another in Georgia.

Though the storm weakened as it traveled inland Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph, cities from Pensacola to New Orleans were still preparing for possible flooding.

"People automatically assume that if it weakens, the hazards go down with it, but in the case of rainfall, it’s not a function of wind speed," said Jamie Rhome of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "Slow–moving systems dump a lot of rainfall."

At 11 p.m. EDT Saturday, the tropical depression was 30 miles north–northeast of Pensacola and 60 miles east–northeast of Mobile, Ala. It was moving west–northwest at 8 mph.

The forecast indicates the depression could slow in the next few days and possibly stall Monday over southern Mississippi or eastern Louisiana, Rhome said. It was expected to bring heavy rain to southern Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Mobile closed numerous ports and waterways between Panama City in Florida and the Alabama coast to the east.

In Alabama, Gov. Bob Riley declared a state of emergency and officials opened shelters Saturday in the coastal counties of Mobile and Baldwin. Trucks capable of rescuing people from floodwaters were also in place. Utility officials said thousands of people lost power.

In the New Orleans area, which is approaching the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, forecasts called for several inches of rain. In St. Bernard Parish, site of some of the worst post–Katrina flooding, emergency officials were handing out sandbags Saturday.

Officials in Slidell, La., said emergency vehicles had been fueled and workers were on call.

Sandbags were also distributed in Ocean Springs, Gulfport and Biloxi on the Mississippi coast. The Air Force Reserve’s 403rd Wing evacuated aircraft Saturday from Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi to locations in South Florida and Texas. The 403rd includes planes known as "hurricane hunters" that officials said would be available to continue to monitor Fay.

The Gulf Islands National Seashore closed a campground area and four barrier islands to the public.

Thousands of homes and businesses in Florida were inundated with flood waters this week as the storm worked its way north from its first landfall in the Florida Keys and zigzagged across the peninsula.

Fay’s center made its fourth landfall early Saturday about 15 miles north–northeast of Apalachicola, Fla., according to the National Hurricane Center.

Rains and strong wind gusts blitzed Tallahassee, the state capital, for more than 24 hours, knocking down trees and power lines and cutting electricity to more than 12,000 customers.

In southwest Georgia, officials said a boy drowned Saturday while playing in a drainage ditch swollen by 10 to 12 inches of rain.

His death, along with the 11 deaths in Florida, brings the toll from Fay to at least 35. A total of 23 died in Haiti and the Dominican Republic from flooding.

Fay’s wake caused widespread flooding along Florida’s east coast, especially in Jacksonville near the storm’s third landfall.

The Office of Insurance Regulation reported Saturday that roughly 6,700 homeowners filed claims, although only some were because of flooding.

Gov. Charlie Crist has asked the federal government to declare the worst–hit areas major disaster areas.

Fay had been an unusual storm since it was named Aug. 15. After hitting the Keys on Monday, it crossed open water again before hitting a second time near Naples on the southwest coast. It limped across the state, popped back out into the Atlantic Ocean and struck again near Flagler Beach on the central eastern coast. It was the first storm in almost 50 years to make three landfalls in the state as a tropical storm. Its fourth landfall as such was the first in recorded history.

"This is unprecedented in terms of the slow nature of this storm, the large circulation and the fact that it’s impacted probably about 90 per cent of the state with heavy rains and severe weather," state meteorologist Ben Nelson said.

Text message and cannabis cook up an explosive mix

A cell phone text message is believed to have sparked a fireball which razed a house and almost blew up a man who was cooking cannabis oil in his bedroom with the door closed, a court has been told.

Police said Darren Jeffries, 23, was caught in the fireball and ran "smoking from his head" to alert his partner and two children who were in the house.

Detective Constable Daniel MacIntosh said police speculated a text message sparked the fire.

Heavy vapour had formed as the cannabis and alcohol were heated on a small electric element in the Johnsonville house in January. As Jeffries opened his cellphone, the text lit up more than its screen - lawyer Noel Sainsbury said Jeffries "nearly blew himself up".

In Wellington District Court yesterday, Mr Sainsbury said the explosion had turned Jeffries' life around. He had been making the cannabis oil to feed his addiction.

"The good that has come out of that is that the shock - one can only imagine the shock - seems to have brought him to his senses."

He says he has sworn off cannabis. He pleaded guilty to trying to make cannabis oil and recklessly damaging the Philip St house with the fire that also burned his face and hands.

Jeffries, a furniture mover, was sentenced to eight months' home detention, to be followed by alcohol and drug treatment and anger counselling. Insurance covered the $88,000 damage.