Everybody needs to make up their own mind and it's sounds like you did want you wanted/needed. For us though, I hated the use it or lose it aspect of a standalone LTC policy. With a LTC rider, the cash and or the death benefit is still there if you don't use the policy.
years ago money magazine did a story on my wife and i . they wanted to pit me and my do it yourself planning against their team of pro's .
the one area we differed is on self insuring ltc.
i wanted to self insure and they were against it for lots of reasons .
i realized they were right .
there were just so many negatives to it as well as the fact most folks really do not self insure .
they just have their portfolio invested as it always is as the money is all lumped together and worse is counted as part of the income stream .
don't forget a safe withdrawal rate assumes that income can drive the balance left over to near zero .
on top of which a sudden need for that money may find markets have a substantial piece gone , or gains did not keep up with inflation or you just don't have enough saved .
what happens too is the stay at home spouse goes in to survival mode and money that should be spent on better levels of care now begins to have 2nd thoughts attached .
we use one of the most popular estate attorneys in nyc and long island and the bulk of his cases are the so called self insurers who just had reality dropped on them and now the stay at home spouse is in panic mode .
self insuring , really means setting a side a large sum of money , safe and secure as an insurer would where it is always there and ready and not in the income stream and that means low returns .
the math said that the average returns we get being able to invest normally and taking a policy instead would actually pay for the policy and provide more left over then self insuring would .
what really was the deal maker was the perks after the insurance ran out .
we have 100% asset protection with no asset shifting , a special form of medicaid picking up the bills as long as it is accepted by the home and most important no income limitations for the stay at home spouse .
it can be great you preserved a million bucks in assets , but now try having the stay at home spouse living on it if medicaid is needed . you can't , as they will normally take everything over your states max allowed .
we have total asset and income protection with our partnership plan . as long as the premiums are manageable by us we will kweep it going .
if not , well we were covered up to that point . my co-worker had a stroke at 55 and his stay at home spouse is now impoverished . so it isn't like you are paying for the future only .