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By Alyssa Place, Editor Employee Benefit News

August 02, 2022

Parents are attempting to push their adult children out of the nest – but they’re not budging, and it’s coming at a cost. 

At the peak of the pandemic, 52% of young adults between 18-24 years old moved back in with their parents, according to data from the Pew Research Center. But more than two years later, 40% of parents are still hosting their adult child in their home, and in many cases, financially supporting them. 

The rising costs of rent, along with the need for financial support, are the top reasons young adults are struggling to make it on their own. Yet parental support may be threatening the financial security of older generations, especially when it comes to their nest egg for retirement. 

 “A lot of parents were in the sandwich generation, where they were taking care of older parents while also caring for their younger children,” says Delvin Joyce, a financial planner at Prudential. “Now, their parents are getting older and their health is fading, and their older kids are moving back into the house. It’s having a compounding effect on the lack of preparedness for retirement, because people are feeling pressured to reach into their retirement savings for their younger kids as they move back in.” 

A survey by Thrivent, a financial services firm, found that 35% of parents with adult children at home have compromised their retirement savings to help their children financially. Separate research from Savings.com found that 50% of parents give their adult children $1,000 a month in financial support, and 25% are willing to dip into their savings and retirement to cover the expense.  

“Because most people are not really prepared for their own retirement, having to dip into some of those limited retirement savings to support an older kid is not really something that most Americans are prepared to do,” Joyce says. “It’s just having a disastrous effect on people in their retirement readiness.” 

That miscommunication could be due in part to the stigma around discussing financial matters among family members: the Thrivent data found that 70% of parents have not discussed money management or asked their children to chip in while living at home with them. Meanwhile, though 72% of kids who moved home believe their parents can financially support them, just 21% of parents agree, Pew Research Data found.

The guilt many parents feel that their children may be struggling financially also keeps parents and children from having honest conversations around money, Joyce says. 

“In our country, we make people feel terrible if they’re not paying for their kids’ college 100%, or if they make their grown kids pay rent in their house,” he says. “A lot of people feel that they owe their children and don’t necessarily want to have to take resources away from them as they’re just getting started in life.” 

In order to preserve their own financial wellness, parents need to get vocal about their financial situation, and figure out ways to offset the cost of supporting an adult child. Joyce recommends asking adult children to chip in with things like landscaping or house cleaning if they can’t afford to make a monetary contribution to the bills. 

If a parent or child is in dire financial straits, taking out a 401(k) loan could be less damaging to a person’s savings, since they won’t be penalized or taxed like they would if they used their distributions, Joyce says. However, both parents and their children should work together to find a solution that puts both parties’ financial health at ease. 

 “As children, our parents are superheroes and so of course we overestimate how well they’ve done financially,” he says. “As parents, we don’t want to tell our kids, ‘Hey, maybe we haven’t done as well as you perceive.’ If you’re a parent who has a grown adult child moving back into the home, it’s a fantastic opportunity for you to help them clarify their own goals and objectives.”  

Joyce also recommends involving children in financial planning conversations before they head back into the home. He often advises clients to bring their children to meetings where their finances are discussed, which can help them start to understand money and build their own financial habits at a young age. 

“When I meet with clients in their 60s, the number one thing they always say is, ‘Wow, I wish I had started this process in my twenties,’” Joyce says. “Being able to set that foundation at a young age really gives them an opportunity to get a head start on their financial wellness.” 

Norwegian cheese Jarlsberg has been found to have unique properties to prevent bone thinning.

By Josephine Joly  •  Health Magazine

Updated: 04/08/2022

Eating small amounts of a particular Norwegian cheese may actually help stop bones getting weaker without boosting cholesterol, a new study has found.

Researchers from Norway have found that eating a daily portion (around 57 g) of Jarlsberg could help stave off bone thinning without boosting harmful low density cholesterol, and that the health benefits are unique to this very particular cheese.

Jarlsberg is a mild and semi-soft, nutty flavored cheese made from cow’s milk, with regular holes. The cheese originates from a town of the same name in eastern Norway.

The Norwegian team hopes that the cheese may help stop osteoporosis and even prevent diabetes, but further research is necessary.

Previous research suggested that it may help boost levels of osteocalcin – a hormone associated with strong bones and teeth – but that it was not clear if this effect is specific to Jarlsberg or any type of cheese.

Jarlsberg vs Camembert

In a bid to find out, the academics studied 66 healthy women who either ate a daily portion of Jarlsberg or 50g of Camembert cheese every day for six weeks.

Both cheese have similar fat and protein levels, but Jarlsberg is rich in vitamin K2 – also known as menaquinone – unlike Camembert.  One form of menaquinone is found in animal products such as liver, while others come from bacteria and fermented foods such as cheese.

At the end of the six-week period, the group consuming Camembert was allowed to eat on Jarlsberg for another six weeks.  All the participants were healthy women with an average age of 33 and an average weight.

Every six weeks, blood samples were taken from all the participants to check for important proteins, osteocalcin, and a peptide (PINP) which helps bones renew themselves and stay young.

The samples showed key signs of bones renewing themselves and of vitamin K2 having increased after six weeks among people who ate a serving of Jarlsberg cheese daily, whereas for those who ate Camembert, PINP levels stayed the same while other indicators of bone health fell slightly.  However, levels of both PINP and the chemical and biological indicators rose significantly after these participants switched to Jarlsberg.

Blood fats increased slightly in both groups, but cholesterol levels fell significantly in people once they made the switch from Camembert to Jarlsberg.

The amount of glucose in red blood cells fell by three per cent in people who ate Jarlsberg but rose by two per cent in people who ate Camembert. Once the Camembert group switched to Jarlsberg, the glucose levels fell again.

Calcium and magnesium levels fell in the group who ate Jarlsberg but remained unchanged in the group who ate Camembert.  After switching cheese, calcium levels dropped in this group too, possibly reflecting increased uptake of these key minerals in bone formation, according to the researchers.

The bacteria in the cheese also produces a substance called DNHA which earlier studies have suggested could reduce bone thinning and increase bone tissue formation.  This could explain the rise in osteocalcin, researchers say.

“Daily Jarlsberg cheese consumption has a positive effect on osteocalcin, other markers of bone turnover, glycated haemoglobin and lipids,” the report reads, concluding that the effects are indeed specific to this cheese.

The findings further suggest that Jarlsberg cheese might therefore help to prevent osteopenia – the stage before osteoporosis – as well as metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, although further research would be needed to confirm this.

“This study shows that while calcium and vitamin D are known to be extremely important for bone health, there are other key factors at play, such as vitamin K2, which is perhaps not as well known,” said Professor Sumantra Ray, Executive Director for the NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health, which co-owns the BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health journal in which the study was published.

“Different methods of preparation mean there are key differences in the nutrient composition of cheese which has often been regarded as a homogenous food item in dietary research to date. This needs to be addressed in future studies”.

“As this is a small study in young and healthy people designed to explore novel pathways linking diet and bone health, the results need to be interpreted with great caution as the study participants will not necessarily be representative of other groups. And it shouldn’t be taken as a recommendation to eat a particular type of cheese,” Ray cautioned.

Greg Says is especially pleased to know about the apparent health benefits of Jarlsberg cheese consumption as it has been Greg’s favorite cheese for years.

 By Christopher Cheney  | healthleaders |  March 28, 2022

Impact of coronavirus pandemic accelerated national health spending growth to 9.7% in 2020.

National health expenditures are expected to be influenced significantly by the coronavirus pandemic from 2021 to 2024, then typical factors that drive changes in health spending such as demographics are expected to influence spending trends from 2025 to 2030, a new analysis indicates.

The new analysis was conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of the Actuary. The analysis features expected annual health expenditures and projected hospital spending growth.

The analysis includes chronological healthcare expenditure projections.

• In 2020, unprecedented financial stimulus from the federal government and insurance market upheaval drove national health expenditure growth to a nearly two-decade high of 9.7%. In 2020, the health spending share of the gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.1 percentage points from 2019, to 19.7%.
• In 2021, national health expenditure growth is expected to decline sharply to 4.2%, largely due to reductions in federal coronavirus relief funding. The slower growth rate in healthcare spending combined with growth in GDP, which rebounded to 9.6%, is expected to result in a 0.9-percentage point drop in the healthcare spending share of GDP to 18.8%. Healthcare spending is expected to total $4.3 trillion.
• In 2022, national health expenditures are expected to increase at 4.6%, driven in part by higher healthcare prices linked to inflation in the economy. Healthcare spending is expected to total $4.5 trillion.
• National health expenditures are expected to increase 5.0% and 5.1% in 2023 and 2024, respectively. These growth rates are tied to an expectation that patient care patterns will return to pre-pandemic levels. From 2022 to 2024, healthcare spending’s share of GDP is expected to be just over 18%.
• The healthcare spending impact of the pandemic is expected to wane progressively from 2021 to 2024.
• From 2025 to 2030, traditional drivers of healthcare system trends such as economic, demographic, and health-specific factors are expected to return to prominence. During this period, healthcare spending is expected to increase at an average rate of 5.3% annually, reaching a total annual spending level of $6.8 trillion by 2030. Healthcare spending’s share of GDP is expected to be 19.6% in 2030.

The analysis also includes projections for hospital spending growth.

• In 2021, hospital spending growth is expected to decline 0.7 percentage points to 5.7%. The primary reason for this drop in spending growth is a decrease in federal coronavirus relief funding. In 2021, total hospital expenditures are expected to reach $1.3 trillion.
• In 2022, rebounding demand for care and hospital price growth linked to inflation are expected to drive hospital spending growth upward sharply to 6.9%.
• In 2023 and 2024, hospital spending growth is projected to decrease to 5.6%, with a normalization of pandemic-related effects such as utilization, federal stimulus funding, and insurance market disruptions.
• From 2025 to 2030, hospital spending growth is expected to decrease slightly to an average of 5.5% annually. Influencing factors are expected to include reduced Medicare and private health insurance spending for hospitals.

Projections Dependent on Pandemic

The projections presented in the analysis are based on the assumption that the effects of the pandemic will wane through 2024, the co-authors of the analysis wrote. “As the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related health and economic impacts are projected to lessen during the next few years, it is anticipated that the health spending and enrollment trends observed in 2020 will unwind as well.”

Traditional factors are expected to influence healthcare spending trends from 2025 to 2030, but there is considerable uncertainty associated with the pandemic, the co-authors wrote.

“Economic and demographic factors are anticipated to reemerge as the most influential drivers of health-sector trends, resulting in more stable health spending trends and a slowly increasing share of the economy devoted to healthcare. However, this outlook is contingent on a virus that has evolved and surprised at every turn – and could do so again. So although a normalization of health spending and the economy underlie this projection, only time will tell how normal the next decade is,” they wrote.

Did you know you can sell all or a portion of a life insurance policy, even term insurance?

For some people, selling a life insurance policy that no longer fits their needs is a good financial option. If you choose to sell a life insurance policy, you will be selling it to a life settlement provider. These are companies that purchase life insurance policies from policyholders. Most settlement providers buy policies on behalf of their investors or other financial institutions, and some keep them as an internal investment. When deciding to sell a life insurance policy, you want to make sure you know the best company to sell your life insurance policy to.

Benefits to the Buyer

The policy owner gets a lump sum payment when they sell their policy, but what’s in it for the party who buys life insurance policies? Buying life insurance policies is considered a stable investment with predictable returns, and so is desirable for some investment portfolios. 

When an investor purchases a life insurance policy, they pay less than the death benefit, but significantly more than the policy owner would get by simply surrendering the policy to the insurance company, and the investor becomes the beneficiary. They continue to pay the policy’s premiums, and after the death of the original policy owner, that investor receives the death benefit payment. For example, if an investor purchases a $750,000 policy for $150,000, the $600,000 difference is the potential return on their investment. The negatives to them are that they will continue to make payments on the policy until the original policy owner’s death, which represents an unknown cost, and there is the possibility that the life insurance company could go bankrupt or refuse to pay for some other reason, although this is very uncommon.

Direct Buyer vs Broker

Because selling a life insurance policy is such an important and highly-regulated process, there are usually multiple people involved other than just one person selling their policy and one person buying it. An important distinction to make is between the direct buyer (maybe the life settlement provider, maybe not) and a life settlement broker. 

The life settlement broker is not the one buying the life insurance policy, but rather is representing the seller.  Because of the complex nature of life insurance beneficiary rules and other regulations, working with a broker with specialized knowledge can ensure you get fair market value for your life settlement. In cases where the life settlement provider is not the direct buyer, they represent the buyer in the same fashion. 

Do Life Insurance Companies Buy Back Policies?

Let’s look at another group that people often think about as buying life insurance policies – the life insurance company itself. There are some cases when the life insurance company that issued the policy will pay money to a policy owner in exchange for the policy.  However, it’s not exactly “buying back” and not the same process as a life settlement. Here are 2 examples of when that might happen:

Cash Surrender Value

Some insurance policies may have a cash surrender value, available if enough premiums have been paid over enough time. This will depend on the specific life insurance policy. There will be substantial fees associated with surrendering a policy, and the amount possible from a life settlement is often at least 4 times greater than a cash surrender value.

Return-of-Premium Term Policies

This specific type of policy does include your insurance company paying back the premiums you have paid. These return-of-premium term policies (or riders added to a regular term policy) are advertised as such when you originally purchase them. If you have purchased this specific kind of policy and outlive the term, the insurance company will pay back the amount you have paid them in premiums, without interest. This amount is not taxable, since it’s just returning back to you the money you have paid for the coverage which you didn’t use. 

Policy Owner’s Check List

There are many places online that have a list of companies that buy life insurance policies. But choosing a company to work with for such a complex transaction should be more than just picking one from a list. The best companies that buy life insurance policies are going to have several very important qualities that you need to be looking for. Here’s a list of such qualities to be looking for:

• Education Services – helping customers understand exactly what their options are
• Experience – having done it long enough to have developed superior competence with the process
• Reputation – testimonials from clients and word of mouth confirmation of their skill
• Efficiency – ability to move through the process efficiently for timely results
• Transparency – keeping the client informed all the way through the process
• Responsiveness – responding to questions quickly and thoroughly
• Free Consultation – they don’t get paid until the work is done

If selling a life insurance policy that you no longer need is something in which you have an interest, Greg Says can recommend:

Leo LaGrotte

Life Settlement Advisors

llagrotte@lsa-llc.com

888-849-0887

Despite our best efforts, we may not be able to prevent getting the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus that leads to COVID-19. The good news is, many people are asymptomatic and even if you do get sick, for most healthy people, it may feel like the worst flu ever but recovery is quick and there usually aren’t lingering effects.  The bad news is, it spreads easily, it has at least 10 times the mortality rate of the regular flu, and there are other variants spreading that are deadlier.

So, if you are immunocompromised, older, working with the sick, or just interested in boosting your immune system, you might be interested to know about a study back in 2005 that found that the presence of nitric oxide significantly inhibited the replication cycle of SARS coronavirus. In other words, nitric oxide disrupts the virus’ ability to grow.

What Is Nitric Oxide?

Nitric oxide is used by the body for cell signaling, blood vessel dilation to promote better blood flow and there’s evidence that it helps lower blood pressure and improve brain function. How can we get more nitric oxide? We can boost our nitric oxide simply by the foods we eat.

Top 5 Nitric Oxide Sources

Here are the top 5 sources of plant-based nitric oxide, so you can better defend against coronavirus if it ever enters your body. Vaccinated or not, we can have, as Hippocrates put it, “food be your medicine.”

1. Beetroot Juice – Beets are the king of raising nitric oxide levels. Beets have a lot of nitrates, which the body converts to nitric oxide. According to one study, consuming a beetroot juice supplement raised nitric oxide levels in the subjects by 21% in 45 minutes. Another study showed drinking just 3.4 ounces of beetroot juice every day significantly raised nitric oxide levels in men and women. 3.4 ounces is about what TSA lets you take on the plane for carry-on liquids so it’s definitely not much.
2. Garlic – Maybe this is why people have taken garlic for colds for centuries. Garlic boosts levels of nitric oxide by activating nitric oxide synthase, the enzyme involved in the conversion of nitric oxide from the amino acid L-arginine. So if you’re taking arginine supplements, garlic will help turn more of it into nitric oxide. One study showed that aged garlic extract temporarily increased blood nitric oxide levels by up to 40% within an hour and another study found that aged garlic extract also helped maximize nitric oxide absorption by the body.
3. Leafy Greens – Green leafy vegetables like kale, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, arugula, and celery are packed with nitrates, which are converted to nitric oxide in your body. One study found that regularly eating green leafy vegetables was associated with healthy levels of nitric oxide in the body so this is the single best way to keep elevated levels of nitric oxide in your body. Time to start eating more salads!
4. Citrus Fruits – Or anything high in vitamin C. Oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit are all excellent sources of vitamin C. Vitamin C plays a critical role in health and raises levels of nitric oxide by increasing its bioavailability and maximizing absorption. Research also shows that it may increase levels of nitric oxide synthase, the enzyme necessary for the production of nitric oxide.
5. Nuts and Seeds – Almonds, cashews, walnuts, chia seed, flax seed, pumpkin seed, and sunflower seeds have a lot of arginine, a type of amino acid that assists in the production of nitric oxide. Research suggests that getting arginine from foods like nuts and seeds in your diet can help increase nitric oxide levels in your body. For example, a large study involving 2,771 people showed that a higher intake of arginine-rich foods was associated with higher levels of nitric oxide in the blood. Another study found that supplementing with arginine increased levels of nitric oxide after just two weeks.

Eating more of the foods listed here is not only going to help with coronavirus, but elevated nitric oxide levels may lower your blood pressure, improve circulation, and improve mental cognition.