Fixed Growth LTC: Your long term care monthly benefit amounts will earn guaranteed 5% compound growth annually to help protect against inflation. Your monthly benefit with the Fixed Growth LTC option will start lower, but will exceed the LTC benefit amount with the Level LTC option when you are most likely to make a long term care claim, ages 75-90.

Indexed LTC: Your monthly long term care benefits will have the potential to increase with interest linked to a stock market index credited up to a non-guaranteed cap.

I really wish Brighthouse offered more guaranteed compound inflation protection options.  The only guaranteed factor Brighthouse offers is 5% compound.  

Almost every other hybrid policy in the marketplace offers a guaranteed 3% compound inflation option as well.

Instead of offering an affordable 3% compound guarantee, Brighthouse offers a non-guaranteed Indexed LTC Option.  Interesting.

We will discuss the pros and cons of this Indexed LTC Option later.

Step 3: Choose Your Payment Schedule

Brighthouse allows funding to be completed either as a single premium payment or in installment payments up to 5 years.

Comparing Brighthouse Smartcare To Alternative Hybrid Long Term Care Policies

So, let's take a look at how the Brighthouse policy compares with alternative hybrid LTC policies in the marketplace.

Brighthouse is a 100% cash indemnity policy, so let's compare for you the SmartCare policy to alternative market leading cash indemnity hybrid LTC policies, Securian SecureCare and Nationwide CareMatters II, Pacific Life PremierCare and Lincoln Moneyguard.

To begin, let's only consider fixed guaranteed policy benefits.  remember, Brightouse has a non-guaranteed policy option called Indexed LTC.

You are looking at these policies for guaranteed long term care coverage so it is important to buy guaranteed benefits since your long term care claim is likely to be many years from today.

Let's compare the Brighthouse policy first using its guaranteed 5% compound inflation option.

The competitor hybrid policies will have only guaranteed policy designs.

We will compare for you pricing for a 60 year old married couple.

Let's assume you pay a Single Premium of $100,000 with all companies.

60 Year Old Married Male, Non Smoker, Couples Discount, 6 year benefit periods

Company Age 60 LTC Age 80 LTC Death Benefit

Brighthouse 5%	$3626 mo	$9621 mo	$91,609
Securian 5%	$3958 mo	$10503 mo	$100,000
Nationwide 5%	$3987 mo	$10579 mo	$100,000
Pacific 5%	$3967 mo	$10525 mo	$100,000
Lincoln 5%	$3015 mo	$7999 mo	$100,000

In looking at these benefits, the Brighthouse SmartCare policy is certainly not your best overall option using a 5% compound inflation factor.

Although the Brighthouse SmartCare policy is in a reasonable 10% range of the better values today.

Unlike the alternative policies, however the Brighthouse policy will not return to you 100% of your premium as a death benefit if you elect the guaranteed 5% compound inflation benefit.

Here is the Brighthouse SmartCare illustration.

60 year Old Married Male Brighthouse illustration

So, will a married female applicant with Brighthouse SmartCare fare better?

Let's take a look.

60 Year Old Married Female, Non-Smoker, Couples Discount, Single Pay Premium $100,000 6 Year Benefit Period

Company Age 60 Age 80 Death Benefit

Brighthouse 5% comp.	$2714 mo	$7201 mo	$68564
Securian 3% comp.	$4842 mo	$8745 mo	$116204
Nationwide 3% comp	$4717 mo	$8519 mo.	$113201
Lincoln 3% comp	$3529 mo	$6373	$101500
Pacific 5% simple	$4171 mo	$8343	$100120

Well, if you are female, married and age 60, you have the same result here.  Certainly you will have better options to consider if you want to have a guaranteed inflation adjusted long term care plan.

You can obtain greater monthly long term care benefits with alternative policies through Pacific Life, Securian and Nationwide and your loved ones are guaranteed to at least receive your premium back as death proceeds.

The alternative policies through Nationwide, Securian and Pacific Life also have more flexible inflation protection options for females to consider such as 3% compound and 5% simple that will provide much higher initial long term care coverage.

Here is the Brighthouse SmartCare illustration with 5% compound inflation protection for a 60 year old married female.

SmartCare illustration 60 year old Female

So, you can clearly see that if you are 60 years old, and married, the Brighthouse SmartCare policy might not be your very best option using guaranteed policy benefits.

Possibly your results could be different if you are a different age.  Results for you can vary based upon your age, gender, and marital status.

Underwriting can also vary by company.  Possibly Brighthouse could be a good option for you if alternative underwriters will not issue a policy to you, and Brighthouse will issue coverage.  There are many factors to consider when selecting your policy.  You will benefit if you work closely with one good agent that can objectively help you to analyze all of your policy options for you.

So, far we have reviewed the guaranteed LTC coverage policy options.  If you recall, one option that Brighthouse SmartCare makes available to you is a non-guaranteed benefits option.  This is the Indexed LTC Option.

What is the Brighthouse SmartCare Indexed LTC Option?

Brighthouse SmartCare is an Indexed Universal Life policy.  Indexed Universal Life (IUL) policies credit annual interest to your policy up to a maximum annual cap declared annually by the insurance company based upon market gains of leading stock market indices such as the S&P 500 (large cap) , the Russell 2000 Index (small cap), and the MSCI EAFE Index (International).  With index-linked universal life policies, you are not invested directly in the stock market.  Your premium is placed into the general account of the insurance company.  The insurance company invests your premium primarily in long term treasury bonds. With a small percentage of your premium the insurance company buys stock market options that allow the company to credit market linked interest to your policy if the market index is positive in given year.  If the market index is negative you receive zero interest.

So the marketing selling point with indexed life insurance policies is you can grow your insurance policy benefits when stock markets rise, but when markets fall your policy does not lose.

Sounds great, right?

This is the Brighthouse SmartCare LTC Coverage Option that I will not be surprised if many insurance salesmen will pitch to their clients. Why, you ask?

Because the insurance salesmen can show hypothetical non-guaranteed rose-colored glasses illustrations that look better than illustrating the policy with the guaranteed elements. That is why.

Let's take a look at a hypothetical example to help you to understand how the Indexed LTC Option works.

To begin with, the Brighthouse SmartCare Initial Declared Cap in Year 1 of the Policy is 10%.  

This means that Brighthouse will credit interest to your policy in the initial policy year up to 10% if the Point-to-Point Stock Market Index return is 10% or greater.  If the Stock Market Index return is less than 10% you receive crediting interest equal to the annual index return.

If the Point-To-Point return is negative, you receive 0% interest.

Reinvested dividends are not included in the Annual Point-To-Point calculations.

Let's take a look at our hypothetical for the 60 year old married female, $100,000 Premium deposit.

This hypothetical is based upon the insurance company never changing the Cap of 10% for the life of the policy.

If the SmartCare Declared Cap remains 10% for the life of the policy, the average market linked interest you can expect to receive will be approximately 6%.

If you receive 6% interest every year forever, these would be your benefits.

60 Year Old Married Female, $100,000 Premium, 6% Cash Value Index Linked Interest Every Year; Hypothetical, Non-Guaranteed Benefits

Age	Monthly LTC	Total LTC	Death Benefit
60	$6007	$432487	$204673
70	$7473	$538051	$183649
80	$9030	$650135	$166345
90	$10363	$746120	$151720

These benefits look good, don't they?  $9030 month at age 80, with a death benefit of $166,345.  

Here is the illustration with an assumed Cap of 10% and an assumed crediting annual interest rate of 6%.

Indexed LTC Illustration

So, what's the catch?  What can go wrong for you?

Well, a lot can go wrong for you actually.

You will notice throughout the illustration this disclosure language: "This illustration assumes that the above illustrated non-guaranteed elements will continue unchanged for all years shown.  This is not likely to occur, and actual results may be more or less favorable than those shown."

You might receive a selling pitch from an agent that says "if the market goes up you win, if the market goes down, you do not lose" is just a selling pitch.

This pitch will have no relationship to your future Brighthouse interest crediting outcome.

Regardless as to whether your policy is credited positive interest when markets rise, and will not suffer a loss when markets lose value.

Your indexed life insurance policy premium is not directly invested in the market.  I repeat - Your IUL policy will not be directly correlated to stock market performance.

Your UL policy has ongoing costs of insurance that increase annually with your age.  If your interest credited by Brighthouse is not high enough your policy will not increase in value, and your monthly long term care benefits will not increase to keep up with inflation.

Your premium will be invested almost entirely into the general account of the life insurance company which will buy bonds with your premium.

Brighthouse will be relying upon long term treasury yields to provide policy guarantees.  

With indexed universal life policies, Brighthouse will use a small amount of premium to buy index options as a hedging strategy to allow it to credit positive interest when markets indexes rise.

What economic environment will adversely impact universal life insurance policies?

Indexed universal life policies are most at risk with 2 environments:

1. a declining low interest rate environment, and 
2. a volatile stock market.

A low interest rate environment places extreme pressure on the insurance company’s general account to generating long term yield for the insurance company. 

A volatile stock market environment greatly increases the cost of buying options which allow the insurance company to attempt to hedge the interest rate risk of a rising stock market.

What Does This Mean For Your Brighthouse SmartCare Indexed Universal Life LTC Option

If you elect the Indexed LTC Coverage Option your success or failure with your future interest credits will directly depend upon the non-guaranteed elements in your policy remaining unchanged.

Your SmartCare policy has an initial Declared Cap of 10%.  This means that your illustration is based upon the Declared Cap remaining 10% forever.

This is unlikely to occur.

The Guaranteed Minimum Declared Cap in the Brighthouse SmartCare contract is 3%.

Brighthouse has a unilateral ability to declare a lower Cap each policy anniversary as long as the Cap remains greater than 3%.

Insurance agents market illustrations based upon an initial high Cap.

It is very common for life insurance companies to reduce their IUL Caps once premium has been received and policy blocks of business have been in force for a few years. 

With treasury yields declining significantly over the past 12 months, and with the current stock market volatility many life insurance are presently reducing Caps further.

Many agents do not understand the significant impact on a life insurance policy with simply reducing the Indexed Cap by 1-2%.

The above illustration and policy benefits are based upon a Cap remaining at 10%.  Remember, with IUL policies, some years will be positive, some years will be negative.  With a Cap at 10%, a crediting strategy will average 6%.  If a cap is reduced slightly by the insurance company, for example to 8.50%, a crediting strategy may only produce 5% indexed linked interest as an historical average.

Would you like to see what happens with your Brighthouse SmartCare policy if I use a 5% indexed linked interest credit applied to your cash value instead of 6%?!?!

Female Age 60, Couples Discount, $100,000 Premium Deposit

If Declared Cap Decreases Indexed Link Crediting Interest 5% Every Year

Age	Monthly LTC	Total LTC	Death Benefit
60	$6007	$432487	$202742
70	$6813	$490537	$165932
80	$7451	$536476	$151750
90	$6468	$465681	$151750

You can see that it only takes a small adjustment to a hypothetical Declared Cap assumption for all of your Brighthouse SmartCare benefits to change.

Wave “Bye Bye” to all of the indexed linked LTC growth.  With just a small swipe of a pencil and eraser. 
You still get interest credited when markets rise, and lose nothing when markets fall.  But guess what.  It doesn't matter if your Declared Cap is not at 10%.  With a lower declared Cap you may not average enough interest to overcome the cost of insurance in your contract. So, the indexed linked growth you were hoping for may never happen.

Here is the illustration.

Indexed Linked Smartcare Using 5% Assumed Crediting Rate

By the way, the Declared Cap is only one of many non-Guaranteed elements in the SmartCare contract.

The current fixed interest rate of 3.25% within the contract can be reduced.  The minimum crediting rate of interest is 1.0%.

The current insurance charges inside the contract can also be changed and increased.

So, you need to be aware of an Indexed Universal Life LTC illustration with non-Guaranteed benefits, and how these non-guaranteed elements can change which will drastically impact your future long term care benefits.

If Brighthouse changes these elements, you will receive less annual interest credited to your contract.

Your cost of insurance increases each year with your new age.

Lower interest + increasing cost of insurance results in decreasing benefits.

This is why in the example above your monthly Long Term Care benefit actually decreases after age 80.

Should You Buy The Brighthouse SmartCare Indexed Hybrid LTC Policy?

Brighthouse Financial is a new company, and with new companies sometimes comes new ideas.  I understand why Brighthouse developed a hybrid long term care policy using an Indexed Universal Life chassis.  Certainly, the Brighthouse long term interest rate risk will be hedged with this Indexed Universal Life design if the Brighthouse policyholders elect the Indexed LTC Option. More accurately, I should state if the Brighthouse Financial Advisors push the Indexed LTC Option.  Because make no mistake, Indexed Universal life policies are sold, not bought.  Consumers absolutely do not understand the IUL moving parts, and most insurance agents do not understand the inherent risk with IUL either.  If Brighthouse changes your the guaranteed elements slightly your overall long term care benefits will change greatly.

With this SmartCare contract for my younger clients ages 45-65 I will be most comfortable with the Fixed Growth LTC Coverage Option using the guaranteed 5% compound inflation option. 

If you are trying to do long term care planning you will need to demand guarantees. Period.  No compromises. You do not cross your fingers with insurance contracts.

Be smart with your decisions.  Buy guarantees.

There are good elements to this SmartCare policy.

The SmartCare policy is a cash indemnity policy.  Receipts are not required for reimbursement.

The SmartCare policy provides 100% of your benefits available for International Coverage.

Certainly for the right individual this policy can be attractive.  I do receive a lot of inquiries from clients looking to maximize benefits for international coverage.  Many policies have significant restrictions for international benefits.  SmartCare does not.

I do, however, think the Brighthouse SmartCare policy can be improved upon.

I can look forward to one day seeing SmartCare II being developed!

My SmartCare II wish list:

I would like to see different inflation protection options being made available such as 3% compound.

I would like to see care coordination services included within the contract.  Other underwriters such as Nationwide and Lincoln include care coordination as a benefit.

I would like to see more flexible long term care benefit period options made available such as 5 years or 7 years.

I would like to see the guaranteed death benefit equal to at least the premium paid.

For now though, Brighthouse SmartCare is a reasonable first effort, although the Indexed LTC Coverage policy does not come without some concerns.

Compare Your Best Hybrid Long Term Care Policy Options

Are you seeking you find your very best hybrid long term care option?  Would you like to receive customized advice and guidance for your situation?  You have come to the right place.

With 23 years of LTC underwriting experience I will guide you to your best options.  I work with all of the leading underwriters including OneAmerica, Lincoln Moneyguard, Pacific Life, Securian, Nationwide Financial, Mutual of Omaha, John Hancock, National Guardian and more.

Call me today at (800) 891-5824 to receive your personalized analysis and recommendations.  Or complete your online quote request form.

I look forward to working together with you.