RICHMOND, Va., June 9 /PRNewswire/ — Long term care costs in California continue to rise, putting significant financial pressure on those in or near retirement. As a leader in the long term care insurance industry, Genworth Life Insurance Company (Genworth Life) offers a suite of insurance products to help people proactively plan for their future. Now, AARP® members that reside in California can take advantage of new coverage designed to simplify the process of purchasing affordable long term care insurance.

Genworth Life, a Genworth Financial company, today introduced My Future, My Plan(SM), a suite of long term care insurance plans created exclusively for AARP members. My Future, My Plan is the result of Genworth Life combining its unique expertise in long term care insurance with what it has learned about AARP’s membership needs. With My Future, My Plan, AARP members get access to industry-leading features while maintaining the ability to customize a plan that falls within their price range, meeting their lifestyle needs. In three simple steps, AARP members can choose one of three preselected long term care insurance plans, tailored to them and designed specifically to address their potential needs. All plans include the option of home care, assisted living/residential care and nursing home services along with flexible features designed exclusively for AARP members. Also included is no-cost access to Privileged Care® Coordination which assists policyholders at the time of claim in planning for their long term care.

AARP members have three easy options available to find out more about My Future, My Plan: by scheduling a free, no obligation “readiness review” with an “Authorized to Offer” Genworth Life insurance agent in person or by calling 800 565.0805, or by visiting genworth.com/aarp for more information about long term care insurance.

My Future, My Plan is one of many products Genworth Life has developed, reflective of American families’ varying and ever-growing long term care needs. The company also offers affordable long term care insurance solutions through independent financial advisors. Last year, the company launched a product suite to offer employers a practical way to provide affordable, comprehensive long term care coverage to employees and their families.

“Two-thirds of people over age 65 will need long term care in their lifetimes,” said Buck Stinson, President, U.S. Life Insurance Products at Genworth. “The current economic downturn has depleted the nest eggs of many California residents, making it more important than ever to plan ahead for future long term care costs.”

Helping American Families Through Education

As an industry pioneer and one of the largest underwriters of long term care insurance for more than one million policyholders, Genworth Life brings a strong commitment to solving our nation’s long term care challenges, a reputation for service and a longstanding history of product innovation.

Since 2005, the company has conducted an annual Cost of Care Survey to provide Americans with a clear understanding of the cost of long term care in their area. According to Genworth’s 2010 Cost of Care Survey conducted by CareScout®, the annual cost for a private nursing home room in the U.S. is $75,190, or $206 per day. In California, this cost has risen 4 percent statewide over the last five years. The median annual cost for a private nursing home room in the state of California is $87,345, and ranges from $53,655 in El Centro to $153,300 in the Santa Barbara – Santa Maria – Goleta area. Annual nursing home costs in the states’ largest metropolitan areas include $79,388 in Los Angeles County, $91,250 in the San Diego – Carlsbad – San Marcos area and $113,606 in San Francisco.

“Long term care planning is a key consideration as you prepare for your retirement needs,” continued Stinson. “By planning ahead, families can potentially save thousands of dollars later should they have a long term care need.”

To help families plan and have the right conversations at the right time, Genworth Financial has created the “Let’s Talk” national campaign, designed to provide families with the right resources, education and motivation to have valuable conversations and successfully plan for a long life. The centerpiece of the campaign is an interactive Web site (www.caringtalk.com), featuring downloadable long term care guides and information on: ways to break the ice with family members; helpful do’s and don’ts; and advice from people who have already been down this path.

Genworth Financial released survey results today, identifying American’s greatest fears regarding having a long term care illness.

Americans are over five times more worried about becoming a burden on their families than the possibility of dying, according to a survey released today by Age Wave/Harris Interactive, America Talks: Protecting Our Families’ Financial Futures, sponsored by Genworth Financial companies (Genworth).

Link to original Press Release: What Alarms Americans Most About Having a Long Term Care Illness?

About Genworth Financial
Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE:GNW) is a leading Fortune 500 global financial security company. Genworth employs approximately 6,000 people with a presence in more than 25 countries. Its products and services help meet the investment, protection, retirement and lifestyle needs of more than 15 million customers. Genworth operates through three segments: Retirement & Protection, US Mortgage Insurance and International. Its products and services are offered through financial intermediaries, advisors, independent distributors and sales specialists. Genworth Financial, which traces its roots back to 1871, became a public company in 2004 and is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. For more information, visit Genworth.com. From time to time Genworth releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the “Investors” section of Genworth.com.

Expands annuity offerings with competitive rate product

RICHMOND, Va., April 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Genworth Financial, Inc., (NYSE:GNW) announced today a new annuity product addition, SecureLiving® Rate Saver. This product is a fixed single premium deferred annuity with market value adjustment. It offers consumers a secure retirement option in a product with competitive rates. The product is issued by Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company.

“Increasingly, consumers are looking for a ‘CD alternative’ product that can provide consistent growth during turbulent market conditions,” said Chris Grady, President, Distribution and Marketing, U.S. Life Companies. SecureLiving Rate Saver does just that. The Market Value Adjustment provision allows Genworth Life & Annuity the ability to offer a higher interest rate than would otherwise be available on a similar product without this provision. “For many consumers, there is nothing more important than knowing their retirement assets are safe and secure, while they receive the competitive rates they desire.”

In addition to offering a smart alternative for their conservative buy and hold clients, producers will like this product because it is a rate-based sale. “With attractive rates and compensation, top-tier service and sales support, producers will be able to add this product to their offerings, helping to grow their business in the important, but underserved and under protected Main Street consumer market,” continued Grady.

  SecureLiving® Rate Saver features include:
  --  Tax-deferred earnings growth
  --  Choice of a 5 or 7 year interest rate guarantee period
  --  Available up to age 85

  Consumers may benefit from this product if they:
  --  Seek a secure way to save for retirement
  --  Seek a guaranteed interest rate
  --  Look for tax-deferred accumulation
  --  Flexible income payment options

SecureLiving Rate Saver joins a growing portfolio of new and enhanced products introduced in recent months. Early last fall the Genworth Financial companies launched the GenGuard(SM) suite of universal life insurance products that help consumers match financial security needs to appropriate death-benefit guarantees(1) at competitive premiums; and this past November, the companies introduced Colony(SM) Term UL, a new breed of universal life insurance that competes with term life insurance and is designed to address the same financial security needs of the term life buyer. And last week, Genworth Life Insurance Company introduced a new linked-benefit product called Total Living Coverage® Annuity that provides a flexible way to link the tax-deferred growth of an annuity with long term care benefits.

(1) Death-benefit guarantee refers to a conditional guarantee that can keep the policy in force even if policy values do not. Certain policy rights, if exercised, can end this guarantee.

Insurance and annuities underwritten and issued by Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Genworth Life Insurance Company, Richmond, VA and Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York, New York, NY. Only Genworth Life of New York is licensed to conduct business in New York.

Genworth Financial, Inc has introduced a new product, Total Living Coverage® Annuity, that will help customers achieve financial security and independence. TLCA links the safety and tax-deferred growth of a single premium non-qualified deferred annuity with a long term insurance rider to provide long-term care benefits. Additionally, claim payments for long-term care expenses are tax-free.

According to Genworth Financial, the advantages include:

• Dependable and stable growth
• Protection in the event of a long term care need with guaranteed
• renewable long term care insurance
• Simplified underwriting process
• Optional inflation protection
• Waiver of monthly long term care charge provision

TLCA would be a good option for individuals who are near retirement and have assets they want to protect, foresee the potential need for long-term, and have a large amount of investable assets ($200,000 or more).

“With Total Living Coverage Annuity, consumers use their annuity value to purchase long term care insurance coverage up to three times the amount of their single premium, creating a pool of benefit dollars for long term care expenses paid first from the annuity value and then from the remaining pool,“ said Buck Stinson, President of Genworth’s U.S. Life Insurance Products

Since opening its social networking services to the general public in late 2006, Facebook has become one of the most used—perhaps the most used—social network in the world.  Though its primary function is to facilitate connections among friends, Facebook’s utility extends to rallying followers for whatever interest any of its users may choose to introduce.  As of 16 November, Genworth Financial has joined the ranks of Facebook devotions.

Genworth Financial is a highly-rated financial services organization which offers a range of financial products, most notably insurance products, including life insurance, mortgage insurance, and lifestyle protection insurance.

Facebook users create pages to promote the popularity of everything from Led Zeppelin (currently the focus of 17 pages and about 7,000 groups) to Not Being On Fire (currently boasting 999,598 fans).  Any Facebook user who views such a page can declare him-or-herself a “fan,” which entitles one to be notified of page updates and to be included in the page’s directory of fans.  When administered by a business, such pages serve for a quasi-viral advertising tool.  Over the past sixteen days, Genworth has mustered 567 fans.  Facebook also hosts 47 groups focused on Genworth.

Whether you’re a Facebook member or not, you can check out Genworth’s page, “Genworth Celebrates.”  If you have a Facebook account, you can become a fan of Genworth Celebrates and then leave a post on their page.  Currently, users are creating a string of posts in praise of the virtuous service of caregivers in their acquaintance.