Business Innovators Radio - Interview with John Badalamenti Founder & CEO of Safe Estate Discussing Long-Term Care

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

John has lived in this business for a while, 30 years fighting the Wall Street battle! Born and raised in beautiful Michigan with a close family that he loves and cherishes. They spend a great deal of time together travelling and love visiting their family cottage in up north of Michigan. One of his truly favorite spots is mystical Mackinaw Island. Being an avid animal lover and protector, he will soon provide a sanctuary for animals that need love and a safe home. This will be in memory of my “ex-partner” and beloved friend, Bambi, whom he rescued and went everywhere with me in my travels. In my business model, John works in many states but primarily the Michigan and Ohio areas, fighting for his students and clients from the stock market insanity.“Emotions run the market,” and I have learned from all those emotions from all my students through the years!Learn More: https://www.safeestate.net/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-john-badalamenti-founder-ceo-of-safe-estate-discussing-long-term-care

Welcome to Influential Entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with this John Bad Alimenti, who's the founder and CEO of Safe Estate and will be talking about long-term care. John, welcome back to the program. Thanks so much for having me, Mike. Love being here.

You know, so many times we talk about topics that are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that probably won't happen to me. And maybe it doesn't. But long-term care is one of those areas in planning that if it happens, then it's a big, you know, hit to the financial bucket, so to speak. And so I want to start off with, what have you seen statistically is the chance that someone may need some type of long-term care? A hundred percent. It is unbelievable how this is like hit us in America. It's something that's never really been taken care of the right way.

People didn't plan for it. They still don't. I dealt with it in my own family. I know you've probably seen it through your family. Every class that I teach in, it is probably the touchiest subject of any of them. You see a lot of tears when I miss it at kitchen tables or I, teach on the circuit at colleges wherever I'm at. There's just no way to properly solve it. It's something we can't control that happens to our loved ones. And when that happens, the cost is

great. And if you're not prepped ahead of time and realize that it's an expensive thing, it can greatly affect your finances, your nest egg going forward. It's a very touchy subject and very sad. And also, it's not like, oh, well, you know, it's a $100 cost. We're talking about cost that are just highly unexpected, number one. And if you don't plan for it, it's really high cost. And there's many levels of long-term care, you know, so there might be the mental need. There might be in home. There might be nursing home. So talk a little bit about how much some of those costs could be, because once we start wrapping our head around what it could actually cost, maybe that clarifies for us that we really need to have a plan put into place.

absolutely we talk a lot about our legacy planning a lot about it in my classes and when i'm in front of people um let me just give an example of what just happened recently in one of the classes i was teaching in an arbor michigan um and we see this a lot um somebody was was had raised their hand to talk about the long term care problem when we spoke about the cost and they said straight out they said yeah it was costing us and upwards of ten thousand dollars a month to take care of my mother now what what she meant by that what i learned later when i sat down with her as we tried to put the other plan is that they used up every single thing that her mother had and like basically just zapped the whole retirement nest egg because it was basically costing you know a hundred

over a hundred well over a hundred thousand a year and that's just to put them in a place where you would want your loved one so not only they expend all those assets and then they had to start going into their own because they wanted to keep their mother where she was at. It's a very, very, very hard thing, very expensive thing. And it just needs to be planned for. But unfortunately, most people haven't planned for it. And it needs to be talked about and discussed. You know, it really does.

And that really, I think is surprising because $10,000 a month. If you didn't plan for that, that is just really punching big holes in your retirement bucket. And secondly, even if you thought you plan for it, did you plan for it enough? So we tie this all back to what it really means to us personally and emotions sometimes take over. You know, it's like, why do people think? And so I'm sure you've dealt with this. Why are some of the people you work with so reticent to planning for this? Because they don't think it'll happen.

But then when they do see that it's happening, you scramble and maybe you don't have the best options available or maybe you make some decisions under pressure. So it really should be the best time to discuss it well ahead before anything happens because then you're talking about it calmly and clearly. Talk a little bit about why some of that is such a benefit and a need to the retirement planning process. It's a great point. It has to become part of people's mindset. But yet it's normal too.

People are thinking about all the other things they think are much more important, like my buckets of money and outliving my income and will I be able to take care of my kids, but they're not thinking about how their kids might have to take care of them, right? It's reversed. It's hard. It's a very, very, very touchy subject and it's like having fire insurance. People have fire insurance, even though they think they're never going to use it. And most of us never have to.

But if, God, the house burns down, you better thank God you have it. You just lost a $300,000 home, right? It's the same thing with that. that can cost much more than $300,000 through the period that you would need it. That can cost three times that. So people to say, well, I won't worry about it. If God forbid it comes, I'll worry about it then. And then sadly, it's too late, unfortunately.

Yep. You know, and I think that sometimes people go, oh, well, yeah, I think I've heard that and high statistics and high costs. So let me just go out there and I'll get one of those plans and click, click, click, set it up. But so many times those types of standards. under loan plans may not be the best choice because they're higher cost premiums and might not provide the coverage they need. So how are you guiding your clients to approaching those

types of decisions? Yeah, we sit usually when we find out, of course, there is a need for it, which there really is a need for it in everybody's life. It's something you can't ignore because it can come at any moment. But it's just, it's basically something you have to plan for and think of and say, okay, I need to put this as part of my game plan here. How do I go about getting it? Where is it out there? That's why you sit down with someone who can take the emotions out of it. Unfortunately, a lot of it has disappeared from the large companies or insurers out there in the world. They've gotten away from that. It is very costly, of course, and if you don't use it, you lose it most of the plans. So the money that's poured into it all those years,

you might never use it and the money went to nothing. So there's a lot of more modern current plans that we now teach about and use, and we'll speak a little bit about that, where the bucket contains nursing care as part of it. And if you don't use it, you don't lose it. It's very powerful to use. So to me, that what you're describing, there sounds like a real long-term care strategy because too many times people go, oh, this expense came up, let me write the check to pay the bill. So a lot of times retirees might have done things right, like saved a bunch of money, been diversified, but they don't have this long-term care strategy in place, not just, you know,

be ready to pay a bill or two, but this long-term care strategy is important because you've got to make a lot of choices. And it's almost like when you play chess and you make a move and you leave your finger on the piece to look around and go, okay, was this the right move? what could happen if this and okay good that's right now here we go so talk a little bit about the strategy that you will recommend to clients if you can plan to have a lot in one bucket to cover the long-term care along with everything else that comes in that bucket that's what we do today instead of just having the normal high-cost plan that only is for that and if you don't use it as we

said it's gone right what we're doing today is what's wrong with having nursing care covered while at the same time covering legacy to your children and or spouse usage to draw a living income from in there in tax-free ways, believe it or not. And then in case that emergency comes with long-term care, that bucket also provides, just in case you need it, it provides that nursing care or long-term care coverage. And you're able to draw out and use inside the funds for that purpose. But if you don't need them for that purpose, you're using all of the funds inside for other purposes.

So it's almost like, you know, killing a bird with, with three stones, right? I mean, killing, you know, you're throwing one rock into the water and it's rippling and you're getting a lot of effect out of one area. And that's what we do today. 100%. You know, and I think that many times people like to feel like I'm being super efficient. If I could make one move and it cover three or four different possible. variable. That's a good move. And so, you know, it's not just protecting me here. It's providing me this, that, and the other. What would something like that look like? Well, in today's world,

a lot of the large companies, especially the insurers who have become just monster companies for health insurance and everything else, will offer plans where you're mainly purchasing the plan, of course, for your legacy planning. You're purchasing it to cover a family. your family. In case anything happens to you, it's replacing income. It's paying off a home. It's taking care of children and replacing taxes that they'll have to deal with when the IRS comes, the silent partner. But just in case, the emergency comes up and you need that long-term care or nursing care, you are able to utilize the numbers inside as a backup long-term care plan. then all of a sudden it kicks in and starts paying your nursing care bills monthly or annually.

So it's taking care of all those things at once. And we find in today's world there's a lot less cost to it because you're getting a lot more out of it rather than it just disappearing if you never need to use it. Yeah. You know, and I think that that's a really big piece there is if you're not using it, then the resources within that tool are still growing in multiple. multiplying to do what it was intended to be, right? Yes. Well, what we call them, I'll give the name, and here's the name, is no secret. We talk about it on my classes.

We call it a LERP. It's called a life insurance retirement plan. So what you have is you have a large company backing the plan inside. So you actually have a living benefit inside, a death benefit for your loved ones, and a nursing care benefit amongst other little things inside that are very, very favorable to you. Yes, it is a costly situation. but it is well worth it because you are using it for many different facets of your retirement. And we usually call it a basing period, usually based in the first five to seven years after you open it.

And it's usually done by shifting current assets in there right before retirement. You're not doing it earlier on in life. Most people do open up what we call a lurp anywhere between 55 to 65 in that range. So they're prepping to use this in case the long-term care bug comes. but if they don't need it for the long-term care, they have all the other planning inside of it. And that's why we call it a lurp. Yeah, I love it.

And key emphasis on the P plan. Have a plan, right? So if this, then that. If this happens, then we've got it in place. If that happens, we've got this aspect in place. So having a plan, having a strategy is just huge. Let's talk a little bit about some of the caregiving scenarios, because I think there's a lot of times that people go,

oh, don't ever put me in a nursing home. Well, that might not be the case. That might not be forced. But when adult children disagree about caregiving decisions or even about how to pay for long-term care, what are some of those conversations that you would have? Like, you know, how could you, as they say, age in place and have some of these plans you're talking about cover

if mom and dad want to just, you know, get some of this long-term care in their own home? What would some of those options be? Absolutely. because many of the fears out there is that mom or dad or somebody you love has to go to a home they wouldn't really want them in or I don't want to rip on it, but more of a Medicaid type situation where that has to kick in and go to places where, you know, people aren't going to be as happy. So, of course, you want to bring them to the better situation, which becomes much more costly. So by using things we're talking about like Lerps, you're able to use it as flexible how you want it and when you want it and how much you need as long as you are able to prove that you truly need the long term care. or performing daily activities, which is pretty easy to do once, unfortunately, you get into that position.

So that's what's nice about it, is this bucket can come out and pay for things in a very, can spread across many different areas. You could be staying at your house and be paying for all the care there. You could be in a nursing facility and you mean paying for the care there. There's many different ways you can use that bucket of money. But really what you're doing is you don't have to die to use it. I know that sounds more. There is a death benefit in there.

And let's say the death benefit is $1 million. Your long-term care benefit is also $1 million. So you are alive while using that death benefit for the nursing care needs. I think that's an interesting realization. People think life insurance means when I die, my family gets X. But you're describing something that has living benefits that, yeah, yeah, yeah, that life insurance policy, if it's properly structured, is going to provide you some benefits right now while you're living. Now, it's going to tap into the death benefit number.

Great. But in the old kind of ways that people think of life insurance, you don't access until death happens. So these living benefits are super powerful. Yeah, the living benefits actually become more powerful than the death benefit. Now, don't get me wrong. The death benefit is there as backup emergency to take care of your family members, replace taxes maybe to your kids or whatever reason you're using it.

It's a great asset if something, God forbid, happens to you. but the living benefits are more powerful because while you own it, you have a lot of benefit to the growth inside. It is a safety vehicle. We call it a green investment. The investments inside are very safe and very green. What you make is actually a tax-free bucket. You get to keep the earnings used in the correct ways out of the lurp. So it's money that's not seen by the IRS. So that is a great living benefit to use as a part of a nest egg to draw from. It's money that isn't seen. for tax purposes. Then at the same time, if you have to dip in for an emergency and use it for the nursing care or long-term care, the death benefit becomes the nursing care benefit, and that is used tax-free. You know, it's interesting that I think a lot of times people just, you don't know what you don't know.

And if you can see one of these plans or strategies in place and see what some of these benefits are, kind of start your wheels turning it, right? So do you ever find that people see this type of a strategy and then do you just set up one of these? Or could there be an opportunity where you might need several of these types of Lurps to accomplish several things or is one enough? Yeah. Sometimes one is enough. Sometimes not. It depends on the person's situation.

You have to look at what problems they're looking at that might occur in their future, depending on if a husband or wife may have one each or the husband usually may have it to take care of the wife and kids. back it up it all depends uh you made a good point earlier um i know uh you know who ed slott is i've met ed a couple times seen him speak for years and years and years he's the ira guru um he wrote he wrote in several of his books that a lurp or an i u l we also call it um is one of the greatest vehicles to use in the tax world for a tax for the tax free bucket and everything else that is involved and comes out of that for you and he he i mean you've heard before it's the informed that do well when it comes to the tax world, and we can call it the long-term care world. It's the uninformed that I haven't, that don't know how to prep and plan early so they're

prepared for it, right? Yeah, 100%. And I think a lot of times people go, oh, well, if this is so great, I'm going to divert everything into this kind of, no, of course not. You know, and it's the kind of thing where a lot of people don't feel like, well, this is it for me. Then fine. this is a wonderful option to consider if it fits your circumstances and that's the beautiful part of working with someone that knows about these opportunities is it's just an option so talk a little bit about someone who hears oh i heard that word or that opportunity let me just go to google click click set it up these are the these kind of strategies aren't the easiest things to set up correctly right no and they're not and i know what people are saying well you just want me to come down and sit in front of you

you do okay but come on let's be fair um it's a good point because you need to have somebody guide you especially when there's a complex beast like this this is more complex there's a lot of working parts you want to have somebody plan it out for you and prep it so that it fits you just right for your plan and if that problem arises you've got it um what you don't want to do is just open one up and just any old one and you're just throwing tons of money in this thing and the only people that are benefiting are the company that you maybe open it up with you want to make sure this is going to benefit you and your family and your legacy. So you definitely want to sit down with somebody and plan out where, how, how much is it for you? Does it fit in your plan? There are things you have

to follow and know that first you have to be healthy enough to get it. You have to be able to fund it with enough money or you're just throwing small change into a buck and it's not getting you anything out of it. It is sometimes costly on certain ends of it. You have to understand how that works. you have to sit with somebody and have them set it up and plan with you. Absolutely. Yeah, 100%. So let's wrap up with this. What are some of these, you know, like residual benefits when people have this strategy put into place,

how it relates to someone's fear and uncertainty about handling long-term care without disrupting their retirement? I think that a lot of times people, you know, we've talked about mindset and emotion, but if it's not just a box that you check off to go took care of long-term, term care, it really is something where it's going to replace fear and uncertainty with some confidence, right? Sure. Well, absolutely. As I spoke earlier and in other podcasts and in class and you name it, there's a lot of other

things that people are afraid of. And so they seem to make the moves on those areas first. And that's just, I understand that, such as market volatility and taxes and all that. But this is something that actually creates, I've seen it out there everywhere, more fear than anything else I've seen because people have gone through it with so many people in their family or other people they've seen. And they're terrified that, you know, what do I do? How do I make sure this doesn't happen to me or how do I have this covered? And that's why you need to plan and remove that. So you say, at least I got that set up just in case this comes up because it

is troublesome. 100%. Well, John has been real eye opening, just kind of looking at it. some of these nuances of dealing with long-term care and if someone is interested in putting that plan into place and looking at some of their options, what's the best way that they can do that and reach out and connect with you? We'd love to help you. We teach a lot of classes out there

and we're out there quite a bit talking about this very subject. So to find out where we're going to be or how you like to get a hold of us, go to meetjohnB.com. That's M-E-E-T-J-O-H-N-B-as-N-B-as-N-B-as-in-boy.com. MeetjohnB.com. Excellent. Well, John, thanks so much for coming back on. It's been a real pleasure chatting with you again.

Thanks so much, Mike, for having me. I appreciate it. You're welcome. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www. www.influentialentrepreneursradio.com. Thank you.