Estate Preservation Strategy: Extreme Retirement Dilemma
Estate Preservation Strategy: Extreme Retirement Dilemma
Long-Term, Custodial or Extended Care in the Home or Facility
Prepare for your aging years to reduce the expense and burden of long-term care on your loved ones.
You want to live out the last days of your life as comfortably and with as much dignity as possible. Whether you prefer home health care or living in a nursing home, preparation can reduce the expense and burden of long-term care on your loved ones.
What are you talking about? This type of care requires assistance with activities of daily living (ADL) or a severe cognitive impairment.
- Bathing
- Eating
- Dressing
- Transferring
- Toileting
- Continence
Did You Know - Facts & Figures
- 70% - An American turning 65 today has an almost 70% chance of requiring LTC services in their lifetimes.
- 20% - And of those needing care, 20% will need it for longer than five years.
- 2.2 years1 - Average length of LTC need for Men
- 3.7 years1 - Average length of LTC need for Women
- 8 years2 - Average length of LTC event for an Alzheimer's diagnosis
- 6.2 million Americans age 65+ that have Alzheimer's disease in 2021
- 12.7 million Americans 65+ projected to live with Alzheimer's by 2050
Source: https://acl.gov/ltc/basic-needs/how-much-care-will-you-need. Last modified: 02/18/2020
Source: 2021 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimer’s Association.
https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf. Published 2021.
Resources:
1“How Much Care Will You Need?” LongTermCare.gov. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://longtermcare.acl.gov/the-basics/howmuch-care-will-you-need.html. Last modified 10/15/2020.
2Alzheimer’s Association. 2020 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures. Alzheimer’s Dement 2020;16(3):391+.
Association. https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf
The lack of long-term care coordination can lead to disputes within any family, regardless of its economic status.
Potential Impact on Spouses
Emotional Impacts
- Depression
- Mourning loss of previous life
Physical Challenges
- Excess stress
- Poor sleep, increased blood pressure, weight gain or loss, headaches, etc.
- Trouble physically helping due to size difference
Financial Impacts
- Potential decline in retirement assets due to paying for spouse's care
- Budget adjustments due to increased spending on long-term care monthly bills
Potential Impact on Adult Children
Emotional impacts
- Caregivers may suffer from increased depression and stress.
- More likely to have substance abuse or dependence, and chronic disease
- They describe feeling frustrated, angry, drained, guilty or helpless as a result of providing care.
Physical challenges
- Caregivers are in worse health
- Caregivers have lower levels of self-care
Lifestyle challenges
- Potential for marriage strain due to amount of time taking care of parent
- Financial losses due to potentially putting career on hold
- Less time in raising their own children.
Potential Impact on Siblings
Lack of working together
- Some families may be able to work it out while others struggle
- Siblings may have different ideas about what the parents needs
Tension and resentment
- May have fights over caregiving.
- Strain on sibling relationships
Proximity
- Siblings living nearby
- Siblings living across the country
Expectations
- Siblings not working
- Make sure bills for care are paid regularly and on time
- Plans available to handle bill administration.
- Appropriate gender care-giver
Where to begin?
After all that was mentioned above we should be left motivated in how to appropriately address this potential event.
If we think hard enough, we will realize this event is a potential lack of income problem to pay for this much higher unexpected expense. To fully understand the dilemma you may be facing. We need to understand the potential total cost.
Step 1: Click to discover and compare Long-term costs from state to state. But pay close attention to the potential future increase in these services.
Step 2: Understand how these services can be paid for. There are three main ways to plan for these potential extreme event.
- Self-Insure: create a bucket of money already dedicated to long term care expenses and therefore should be saved or invested safely and can't be used to generate income prior to a long-term care event.
- Leverage a long-term care insurance tool to cover the deficit that your other assets can't cover.
- Rely on government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid
Which is right for you? It just depends since everyone's financial situation today.
Step 3: If confused, not sure and want professional guidance, consult with one of our professionals create your long-term care income plan that goes hand in hand with your retirement income plan. These two areas are one in the same. Learn how to make financial decisions today that can help support your loved ones emotionally and financially outcomes in the future.
*Not approved for use in: CA, DC, DE, NY