Approximately 17 million Business Owners in the United States are beginning to realize that a successful business exit isn’t just about maximizing enterprise value or minimizing taxes — it’s about preparing both the business and the owner for what comes next.  Yet, the cost and complexity of Long-Term Care (LTC) are routinely overlooked as a significant risk to post-exit financial security, with fewer than 20% having any formal planning in place.¹ 

This omission is more than an oversight — it's technically an unfunded liability on their balance sheet!   

The Business Owner – and those around them in an advisory role – must anticipate obstacles before they arise.  While many owners will never face a fire sale or legal dispute, most Americans over age 65 will need some form of LTC during their lifetime.  Ignoring that reality can unravel even the most carefully constructed exit plan.  The financial consequences are only part of the equation.  An unplanned care event can disrupt gifting strategies, compromise legacy intentions, create family discord, and eliminate personal autonomy.  For a Business Owner who spent decades building their wealth and control, it's ironic that so few advisors help them protect those values when care becomes necessary.  Despite being a natural fit across personal, financial, and business readiness, LTC risk remains curiously absent from the discussion — a gap that, if ignored, can quietly erode even the most well-constructed exit plan.

Business Owners go to great lengths with their advisors to project earnings, apply multiples, and model taxes — that’s the asset. But what about the liability — the future Long-Term Care costs that could erode those post-exit assets?  Ignoring that liability distorts the entire picture because the plan is incomplete when quantifying the business, but not the LTC exposure that could erode retirement income, disrupt legacy goals, or force asset liquidation.  The Business Owner’s “exit plan” shouldn't end at the liquidity event — it must also protect what comes next.  That's where a tool like the HALO™ (Health Analysis and Longevity Optimizer) Assessment becomes critical.  The HALO quantifies the client's future care risk based on age, health, geography, lifestyle, and family dynamics, offering a data-driven foundation for identifying the LTC liability and building a strategy to fund it before the exit occurs.

Perhaps LTC Planning belongs in the Value Acceleration Methodology because it intersects with every pillar of readiness.  On the personal side, Business Owners must navigate the difficult but necessary conversations about how they want to age, where they want to live, and who they expect to help.  These are often the most avoided discussions in family dynamics, yet they directly affect personal independence and long-term quality of life.  Financially, the exit planning discussion presents an opportunity to implement a practical, tax-efficient LTC component in their planning, while the owner is still younger and healthier, and the business can provide funding leverage.  Without accounting for future care needs, post-exit income, legacy plans, etc., will be exposed to a predictable and potentially devastating liability.  From a business perspective, this is an effective way to position and integrate insurance-based LTC Planning as part of the broader personal planning strategy before the exit, when the planning window is wide open.

LTC Planning isn't about paying for care or selling insurance; it's about protecting the Business Owner’s exit and what comes after.  The same rigor the advisory community applies to business valuation, tax modeling, and estate transfer must be applied to personal risk management, where LTC is a predictable and devastating financial threat.  If they calculate a post-exit burn rate, and HALO projects a five-year, $7,500 per month LTC event, this becomes a critical missing variable if it's not included.

Unfortunately, many Business Owners are told they can rely on their affluence – self-funding – to serve as a fallback, assuming that paying for care is the same as planning for care.  But in reality, self-funding is a default position and not a plan, and it can create an even greater liability when illness, cognitive decline, or aging forces a family into making decisions under duress.  It's not just an inefficient use of assets — it's often the wrong assets, liquidated at the wrong time, with tax consequences the original plan was supposed to avoid.

There's a growing expectation from Business Owners for a more holistic and fiduciary approach to planning.  For Business Owners, integrating LTC isn't just good client service — it's part of being comprehensive and compliant.  Those

failing to address LTC risks today may not feel the immediate consequences, but the Business Owner’s family and loved ones will, and they will pay the physical, emotional, and financial toll for that planning shortfall.  For every Business Owner client seeking guidance for the next chapter of their lives, it’s time to begin embracing Long-Term Care Planning and ensure it's more than a footnote.

1 - OneAmerica 2024 Long-Term Care (LTC) Consumer Planning Study

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