Ballpark idea of costs/finances needed to move to continuing care community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neither of those sites answer OP's question.
They are sales lead pages.

~$100k/yr if you need people to run part of your day.

They're links to nonprofits and probably more reliable than the Erickson communities and sites people are talking about.

OP, the general guideline used to be that you needed to be able to walk in to your CCRC when you started. Obvs that was ableist and I don't think places use that exact guideline any longer, but new residents are generally expected to be able to take care of their ADLs, which is to say they don't "need people to run part of [their] day."

My parents don't live around here, but they had a paid-off mortgage and basically rolled that money into a big buy-in fee and lower monthly costs. They used to do all their cleaning and maintenance themselves, and now someone else does it as part of the monthly charges. I don't know how their before-and-after costs are working out, but they have more money now than they did when they moved in 15 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's so complicated. They require a financial application as well as a health evaluation. And most have various buy-in structures as well as monthly fee schedules as well as dining plans. I don't know of any resource that allows apples-to-apples price comparisons.

For my mom, who is now at Vinson Hall in McLean, she had to have a physical with her primary care physician as well as a mental evaluation at the facility (which was not that in-depth). She was using a rollator at the time (has since had spinal surgery so doesn't need it all the time), and the front lobby is like a rollator parking lot, so that doesn't seem to be a disqualifying factor -- I think it's more an issue of whether you're going to be safe living in your apartment by yourself or with a spouse.

Do you have a good handle on your parents' finances, including all assets and all liabilities? Do your parents have long-term care insurance? It would be ideal to start getting that information together now (as well as power of attorney/healthcare proxy) because it only gets more complicated as time goes on.

If either parent has a military officer or civil service background, I highly recommend looking at Vinson Hall in McLean and Knollwodd in NWDC close to MoCo. Generally, I'd also look at non-profits over for-profits.

+1 to this. My mom was not wealthy but we could swing Vinson Hall for a few years - she died after being there about two years.

[Anonymous]

its impossible to answer this question on a message board. There are a lot of nuances to how you buy in. Call and ask or go for a visit.
They will literally hand you the price list.

- I'm on this journey too.

[Anonymous]

Second the poster who advised non-profits over for-profits. Our mom was in the former and our dad was in the latter. While I liked the staff at both places, the staff at the non-profit seemed much happier with their work. On more than one occasion, I overheard staff comparing working at for-profits before they were hired at the non-profit. Sometimes they had to ration supplies, which they found very stressful. And the for-profits always keep the staffing-patient ratios to an absolute minimum - according to eavesdropping on the staff.

Perhaps there are exceptions but hard to imagine when one has a mission to serve their residents and the other is focused on their shareholders.

[Anonymous]

$7 per month in Maine for 1 person in a mid level place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$7 per month in Maine for 1 person in a mid level place.

$7k I mean

[Anonymous]

For anyone, it is a good idea to consider if LTC insurance should be a part of your financial planning. Also, advice to have any contract, but especially for a buy- in with lifetime care listed including medical care at higher levels to be sure the fine print matches the marketing brochure, by a lawyer with experience with such contracts.

Also, important to live near family as mentioned to ensure quality of care. While you are healthy, it is also time to see what you could get set up ahead of time in planning to reduce tasks on adult children such as consolidating finances, getting legal affairs updated, setting up automatic bill pay as you are comfortable with, getting a list of all passwords together, getting a list of all folks who handle your affairs etc,

[Anonymous]

I've been looking at nicer places for my dad in NOVA. The rooms are very small, and with assisted living and med management, but not too much help, it's around $8-$10k a month. So, I think that $100k per year for a couple is very low.

[Anonymous]

My aunt and uncle are together in a place in WV. They pay around $10,500 for the two of them. My aunt is pretty independent, my uncle is at one of their higher levels of care, as he uses a walker, is sometimes incontinent, and is generally weak these days. There was no buy-in required. I’m sure this area would be more expensive.

[Anonymous]

In Montgomery County, you can get into a nice studio for under $9k (all in for independent living).l for a couple. Costs start adding up depending on level of care