Parking $300k for 80yo mother in assisted living

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: transferring the wealth: I believe Medicaid has a five-year lookback period for seeing what assets an individual has/had prior to filing for assistance.

Exactly this. Medicaid indeed has a 5-year look back. If mother gives OP the 300K (or to anyone or anything) the mother is on the hook for 300K worth of payments before Medicaid will consider if she qualifies. And they don't mess around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is it a disability check and not social security? Where is the disability check coming from?

This.

Also, assuming the "disability check" is not lingo you are using to refer to her Social Security payments, why no Social Security in this mix?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What was the wealth manager managing? She has money other than the $300k house proceeds?

I think this is an important question.

Is the “disability” shorthand for all her sources of income today (SS and/or pension plus earning on investments)? Will that continue indefinitely?

Depending on how you want to care for her, you may want to invest what is leftover monthly now for the future and as the expenses go up consider supplementing a little as you go along vs draining it all and the having to take over a larger monthly deficiency when everything besides her ongoing income stream is gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: transferring the wealth: I believe Medicaid has a five-year lookback period for seeing what assets an individual has/had prior to filing for assistance.

There’s a special trust for that (don’t know the details)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: transferring the wealth: I believe Medicaid has a five-year lookback period for seeing what assets an individual has/had prior to filing for assistance.

Exactly this. Medicaid indeed has a 5-year look back. If mother gives OP the 300K (or to anyone or anything) the mother is on the hook for 300K worth of payments before Medicaid will consider if she qualifies. And they don't mess around.

She might not need LTC in 5 years plus there is a trust of some kind for that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it a disability check and not social security? Where is the disability check coming from?

This.

Also, assuming the "disability check" is not lingo you are using to refer to her Social Security payments, why no Social Security in this mix?

OP, any more information on this point?

[Anonymous]

Hey all - OP here. Sorry to disappear for a few days... busy week.

1. She is a retired physician who had disability insurance and had to retire early, so she gets $7500/mo for life from the insurance company. This amount is not adjusted for inflation and has been going on since the late 90s.
2. I forgot about Social Security... That's about $2250.
3. Since the earlier posts I have looked into her other investments and the wealth manager has another ~$230k in ClearSpring 3/4/5-year annuities at 4-5% and an Allianz IRA. (NFI) IRA withdrawals were about $31k for 2024.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: transferring the wealth: I believe Medicaid has a five-year lookback period for seeing what assets an individual has/had prior to filing for assistance.

There’s a special trust for that (don’t know the details)

I think you're referring to the Qualified Income Trust that allows someone who is over the Medicaid income limit to qualify for Medicaid. But this doesn't apply to houses or investments. It's only for SSI, pensions. And the beneficiary of the trust is the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: transferring the wealth: I believe Medicaid has a five-year lookback period for seeing what assets an individual has/had prior to filing for assistance.

Exactly this. Medicaid indeed has a 5-year look back. If mother gives OP the 300K (or to anyone or anything) the mother is on the hook for 300K worth of payments before Medicaid will consider if she qualifies. And they don't mess around.

She might not need LTC in 5 years plus there is a trust of some kind for that

If heirs are going to get the money, it still has to be done 5 years before Medicaid is needed. And agreed, she might not need it.

[Anonymous]

Basically just transfer all you can now, to yourself. Talk with a lawyer. Don’t let the retirement industry rob you.

[Anonymous]

With that income she’s not getting Medicaid.

[Anonymous]

It seems like if she only had 300k and goes into memory care (11k) even today, she’d be fairly covered for 20 years.

11000 (memory care) - 7500 (insurance disability) - 2200 (ss) = 1300 /month that needs to be covered.

If you’re only withdrawing 1300 a month, you’d get 19.2 years of withdrawals. Assuming a bit of inflation through the years, you should get 15 years out of it. I wouldn’t put the money in the stock market. That’s a huge risk for very little reward because it seems totally unnecessary. CD ladder, high yield savings account, money market, or bonds is the way I’d go.

This is assuming she won’t have any other costs of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I saw this thread title, I thought it was about a parking space at the assisted living center costing 300k. I was thinking, wow, I know PE is heavily involved in the industry but that sounds wild.

Same lol!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like if she only had 300k and goes into memory care (11k) even today, she’d be fairly covered for 20 years.

11000 (memory care) - 7500 (insurance disability) - 2200 (ss) = 1300 /month that needs to be covered.

If you’re only withdrawing 1300 a month, you’d get 19.2 years of withdrawals. Assuming a bit of inflation through the years, you should get 15 years out of it. I wouldn’t put the money in the stock market. That’s a huge risk for very little reward because it seems totally unnecessary. CD ladder, high yield savings account, money market, or bonds is the way I’d go.

This is assuming she won’t have any other costs of course.

Yeah that's pretty good mathing.

[Anonymous]

She is old and deteriorating so you should manage her finances. Sign the power of attorney and take control of everything. Medical expenses will go up so you need liquid assets. Put the money in high yields savings where you can access it as needed. Put some in short term 6 month/1 year CD because you will need it soon. But CD rates are similar to savings rates. Life expectancy at this advanced age after diagnosed with Alzheimer/dementia is usually 3-5 years. Start thinking about end of life comfort and funeral plans.