Lily Vittayarukskul shares her remarkable journey from working at NASA in her teens to founding a company that innovates with AI to transform long-term care planning. We explore why long-term care remains one of the most misunderstood and underserved areas in wealth management, despite being one of the biggest retirement risks. We break down how long-term care works, who needs it most, the pros and cons of self-funding versus insurance products, and why many families fail to plan until it's too late.

We discuss...

• Lily Vittayarukskul shared her early fascination with aerospace engineering, including work recognized at age 12 and a role at NASA's JPL by 16.
• A personal long-term care event in her family at age 16 prompted her pivot from aerospace to healthcare.
• She built technical expertise in genetics and AI at Berkeley before founding a company focused on long-term care solutions.
• The ideal candidates for long-term care planning are typically 40–60 years old, upper-middle-class individuals with $2–5 million in assets.
• Many financial professionals avoid long-term care due to its complexity, morbid nature, and time-consuming conversations.
• Traditional long-term care policies and hybrid/lump-sum products each have advantages depending on individual circumstances and predicted care needs.
• Self-funding long-term care is an option, but many clients are risk-averse and ultimately prefer a structured insurance plan.
• Lily's company uses decades of data to predict long-term care events and costs, helping advisors map policies to individual client needs.
• Long-term care planning is as much about protecting family members and legacy as it is about financial strategy.
• Conversations about long-term care should start with a professional, involve spouses, and eventually include children or trusted family members.
• Many clients struggle with the emotional and logistical burdens of caregiving, which can impact their own health and quality of life.
• The topic is often avoided culturally because it forces acknowledgment of aging, mortality, and potential loss of autonomy.

Today's Panelists:

• Kirk Chisholm | Innovative Wealth
• Barbara Friedberg | Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance
• Douglas Heagren | Mergent College Advisors

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For more information, visit the show notes at https://moneytreepodcast.com/transform-long-term-care-lily-vittayarukskul-762