As people near retirement, they tend to become increasingly concerned with asset preservation. One strategy people can use to help preserve their assets is purchasing long-term care insurance, says Mark Singer CFP®.

As many of the options that used to be available within the world of Medicaid planning disappear, long-term-care insurance has become a sound component of an asset protection strategy for many individuals. Long-term-care insurance is a type of coverage that will help pay for the costs of a nursing home stay, in-home health care, adult daycare or other types of assistance a person receives. Since long-term care can be extremely expensive, and programs such as Medicare and Medicaid provide very limited assistance, people often turn to LTC insurance to help manage the costs.

However, long-term care insurance can also be expensive, and people need to carefully evaluate whether or not it's the right option for their needs. The biggest question people must answer is, "If I pay long-term-care insurance annual premiums, how will it impact my cash flow today, and tomorrow?" Fortunately, if a person has created a clear Retirement Roadmap, they can easily determine, before purchasing a policy, whether or not long-term-care insurance is a smart choice.

Mark Singer is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and the author of The Changing Landscape of Retirement—What You Don't Know Could Hurt You. He has been The Retirement Guide to thousands of investors for close to 25 years and is the creator of the Retirement Roadmap and the Financial Organizer System, both of which contribute to a solution to investors' greatest concerns—properly coordinating their financial affairs.