How much are you budgeting for long term or elder care?

[Anonymous]

$0

It's unaffordable, so why try? I will spend all of my savings or give it away. The liquidate any remaining property so that I can qualify for medicaid who'll have to pay. LTC is so insanely stupid hardly anyone can afford it. We give free healthcare to illegal immigrants, so I'm going to get mine when I'm old and frail. I paid for others, now they can pay for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’d have $250k a person earmarked per person. Chances are great that only one person will need it.

Why not take 1% of what you earn on that $500K and buy a long-term care policy that you and your spouse can share?

DP: Because if it's anything like my parents' policy the premiums have gone up and the benefits have gotten more restrictive. They would have been better off investing the amounts they put into LTC insurance and paying for it themselves. LTC policies have gotten a rotten reputation and people don't trust them.

[Anonymous]

A ticket to Switzerland and a planned suicide.

[Anonymous]

Since I was there often and had developed a bit of a personal relationship, I asked people who worked managing Assisted Living facilities if they had bought LTC insurance for themselves. They had not and it wasn't that they hadn't gotten around to it. Neither has my college roommate who is a geriatric physician. Just a small sample but I'm basing my decision on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’d have $250k a person earmarked per person. Chances are great that only one person will need it.

Why not take 1% of what you earn on that $500K and buy a long-term care policy that you and your spouse can share?

DP: Because if it's anything like my parents' policy the premiums have gone up and the benefits have gotten more restrictive. They would have been better off investing the amounts they put into LTC insurance and paying for it themselves. LTC policies have gotten a rotten reputation and people don't trust them.

+1 I posted earlier, but my mom got ripped off paying into it for so long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I’d have $250k a person earmarked per person. Chances are great that only one person will need it.

Why not take 1% of what you earn on that $500K and buy a long-term care policy that you and your spouse can share?

DP: Because if it's anything like my parents' policy the premiums have gone up and the benefits have gotten more restrictive. They would have been better off investing the amounts they put into LTC insurance and paying for it themselves. LTC policies have gotten a rotten reputation and people don't trust them.

+1 I posted earlier, but my mom got ripped off paying into it for so long.

It's not that the insurance companies are ripping people off either--they aren't making profits on these policies for the most part. Not enough people are willing to purchase LTC insurance to make a robust enough pool when they are so expensive, there's a backdrop of Medicaid and the restrictions on the LTC policies don't protect you from the worst scenarios anyways. I think more people are either self-insuring, or they are buying into continuous care communities that offer guaranteed admission and will accept Medicaid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I anticipate an inheritance from my mom of at least $500k (she's in her mid 80s, lives with my sibling, and has LTC insurance if needed). We don't factor that into our retirement except as LTC. If we don't use it, that will pass to our kids.

My dad, FIL, MIL have all died and none used any kind of LTC.

My ILs both used their LTC. FIL developed Alzheimers and lingered for years and MIL suffered a TBI from a fall and ended up in a board & care home for four years. Thank God they did because it would have bankrupted them and we had already contributed six figures to their expenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I anticipate an inheritance from my mom of at least $500k (she's in her mid 80s, lives with my sibling, and has LTC insurance if needed). We don't factor that into our retirement except as LTC. If we don't use it, that will pass to our kids.

My dad, FIL, MIL have all died and none used any kind of LTC.

My ILs both used their LTC. FIL developed Alzheimers and lingered for years and MIL suffered a TBI from a fall and ended up in a board & care home for four years. Thank God they did because it would have bankrupted them and we had already contributed six figures to their expenses.

Why did you have to do that if they had the LTC insurance? Was it not sufficient?

[Anonymous]

High earner here. Expecting to spend a high amount in retirement. That will cover both my wife and I without dipping into savings if we need LTC. Even if one of us has to go and one stays home we should have enough spend.

I get this is not an option for most.

The best advice I heard was similar to a PP. Put away 250k at the time of retirement. Fully invested. If you retire at 65 and need it at 85 it will probably be a million plus. Use that. It may run out but it also may not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My plan is hopefully to exit while I still have the power to do so.

Have you really thought about it? Where will you draw the line, between a life worth living, and a life not worth living?

Exactly.

This surprised me the most after having a close relative in assisted living and then memory care. Their worlds get smaller, but I didn't see anyone who wasn't trying to hang onto whatever life they had left.

The grumpy guy, tired of life yelling and moaning in the corner, was the outlier, most seemed to be very much aware of the passing of time, memories, etc., yet they were engaged in the activities on offer, music, tv shows, movies, church, art projects, families visiting, especially little children, it didn't matter who they belonged to. Everyone, but especially the older women, wanted to come over and interact with the children.