The protection plan

Four risks. Four shields.

Most people buy one policy for one worry and never look at the other three. A plan looks at all four together — the cost of care, the loss of an income, the mortgage that doesn't pause, and what's left behind. Here's each one, with the numbers that make the case and where they come from.

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01 · Care Shield

Hybridlong-term care

One policy doing more than one job: it pays for care if you need it, and pays a death benefit to your family if you never do. That is the whole argument for the hybrid design — traditional standalone long-term care policies pay nothing if the care is never needed.

  • 70% of adults who live to 65 develop severe long-term care needs before they die1
  • $6,200/mo national median cost of assisted living in 2025 — $74,400 a year2
  • Not Medicare Medicare doesn't cover custodial care when that's the only care you need. Part A covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing after a qualifying hospital stay — that's the extent of it3

Hybrid policies vary widely by carrier and design. Benefit amounts, elimination periods, inflation options and what happens to unused benefits are all contractual and differ product to product.

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02 · Paycheck Shield

Disabilityincome protection

For most working people the largest asset isn't the house — it's the ability to earn. Disability coverage replaces part of an income when illness or injury stops it, with short or long benefit periods and options built for the self-employed.

  • 1 in 4 chance that a 20-year-old worker becomes disabled before reaching full retirement age4
  • 31.2 months average length of a long-term disability claim — over two and a half years5
  • 50–60% of income a typical group long-term disability policy replaces; individual policies are commonly written higher6

Definitions of disability, elimination periods and benefit periods vary by carrier and occupation class, and they are what decide whether a claim pays. Whether benefits are taxable depends on who paid the premium.

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03 · Home Shield

Mortgage protectionwith living benefits

Term life sized to the mortgage, so the house is paid for if you die. The living-benefit riders are the part most people haven't seen: on a qualifying critical, chronic or terminal illness, part of the death benefit can be accelerated to you while you're alive.

  • $2,067/mo median monthly mortgage payment in the United States as of September 2025 — the bill that doesn't pause7
  • Sized to the balance coverage is built around what's actually owed and how long is left on the term, not a round number
  • Underwriting varies some carriers offer accelerated underwriting at certain ages and face amounts, others require a paramed exam. Which applies to you depends on the carrier, the product, your age and the amount

Using a living-benefit rider reduces the death benefit payable to your beneficiaries, and may affect the policy's other values. Riders are optional, may cost extra, and are not available on every product or in every state.

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04 · Legacy Shield

Permanentlife insurance

Coverage designed to last a lifetime rather than a term of years, with cash value that builds inside the policy. Whole life and indexed universal life are different instruments with different guarantees — which one fits depends on what the money is for.

  • Generally tax-free death benefits paid to beneficiaries are generally excluded from gross income under IRC §101(a). Exceptions exist — transfer-for-value, some employer-owned policies, and interest paid on top of the proceeds8
  • Whole life premiums and guaranteed cash value are set in the contract. Dividends, where a carrier pays them, are not guaranteed
  • Indexed UL credited interest is tied to an index subject to caps and participation rates that the carrier can change, and the policy is not an investment in the index itself

Indexed values and any illustration of them are hypothetical and not guarantees of future performance. Permanent policies can lapse if they are not funded as designed. Nothing here is individualized financial, legal, or tax advice — talk to your own tax professional about your situation.

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One conversation

Which of the four is actually exposed?

Usually it's one or two, not all four. Fifteen minutes on the phone is enough to find out which — and there's no cost to work with us.

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Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) — roughly 70% of adults who survive to age 65 develop severe long-term services and supports needs before they die. ASPE separately projects that 56% of people turning 65 between 2021 and 2025 will need LTSS in their lifetime; the two measure different thresholds of need. aspe.hhs.gov
  2. CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey, 2025 results — national median assisted-living cost of $6,200 per month / $74,400 per year. investor.genworth.com
  3. Medicare.gov — long-term care and nursing home coverage. Medicare does not cover custodial care when that is the only care needed; Part A covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing care after a qualifying hospital stay. medicare.gov
  4. Social Security Administration — a 20-year-old worker has roughly a one-in-four chance of becoming disabled before reaching full retirement age. ssa.gov
  5. The Council for Disability Income Awareness — average long-term disability duration of 31.2 months. thecdia.org
  6. Industry-standard replacement ratios for group long-term disability coverage; individual policies are commonly issued at higher percentages of income. Actual benefit percentages are set by the policy.
  7. Median monthly U.S. mortgage payment as of September 2025. Reported averages run higher — around $2,300 including escrowed taxes and insurance — and all such figures move with rates and home prices.
  8. Internal Revenue Code §101(a). Death benefits are generally excluded from the recipient's gross income; §101(a)(2) (transfer for value), §101(j) (employer-owned contracts) and §101(d) (interest on proceeds) are exceptions.

Figures are national and are included to describe the size of a risk. They are not predictions about any individual, and they are not quotes, offers of coverage, or quoted rates.