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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My parents thought they had planned carefully but had no comprehension of elder care costs in the 21st century (neither did us kids). They were an accountant and administrative assistant with modest pensions and &lt;$1 million in other savings. It's all gone after years of those $10k/month bills. My Dad passed at 86 and my 88-year old Mom is moving to a Medicaid facility this summer.

Sometimes that's how it goes when you get old. I have no better suggestion other than to not be sick for very long at the end.[/quote]

My ILs planned carefully and did have an idea of what elder care costs. However, FIL lived to be 97 and MIL is now 99. I'm not sure it was mathematically possible for them to save enough for expenses for so long. (I suspect if FIL had known he was going to live so long, he would have worked for several more years instead of retiring at 66--that would have helped.)

MIL gets SS plus the survivor benefit from FIL's pension. This covers about half of her assisted living expenses and the rest comes out of savings. She has enough savings to get her through another 18 months. I have no idea what we will do after that, and I sincerely hope she doesn't live that long.

In our experience, assisted living is cheaper for someone who needs round-the-clock care. MIL desperately wanted to stay in her home after FIL died, thank god we moved her or she would already have exhausted her savings. She is miserable in this AL facility that is very highly rated and considered quite nice. But she is almost bed-bound now. It's no way to live.

My DH makes noises occasionally about retiring and my answer is NO. He could live for another 35 years, there is no way he can afford to stop working yet. In his mind, being the on-call person for his mother is taking years off his life....honestly, he may not be wrong.[/quote]

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