"This is something that I learned the hard way. In my own family, my mother purchased a long-term care policy, but my father always figured he would use other assets such as his retirement accounts, real estate and more to fund any long-term care needs he might have. 

Fast forward several years, and we experienced the drastic difference between having a plan in place, and not having a plan.

When my mother ended up needing care, the process was smooth, simple, and we even had a dedicated care department through the insurance company we bought her policy from, that helped coordinate the entire process.

With my father, however, we ended up having to sell his real estate just to cover the bills... and since we needed the money quickly, we had to accept less than fair market value prices.

Let me tell you, it was MUCH easier to spend the insurance company's money than it was to spend our own.

And it's why I want to help you plan for this "what if" scenario as much as possible.