Long-Term Care Planning [2023] Part 2

Today’s post is about long term care costs and why it’s important to incorporate an understanding of them into your long term care planning. When it comes to making a plan for your long term care needs or those for a loved one like a spouse, or a parent, the sooner you start researching the cost of long term care, the better off you’ll be. I’m not going to sugarcoat it – it’s expensive. Depending on where you live (state and city), where you would like to receive care (home or a facility), and what type of services you’ll need, will have a varying effect on how much long term care will actually cost you. It can be as low as in the $50,000 area and well into the 6-figures. It really just depends. What I do know is this – it’s not simple or quick to make a plan to pay for long term care. You should start saving for it sooner vs. later if you plan to fund it out of your savings. And, you should start investing if long term care insurance is a good option for you. Either way, the sooner you start looking into it, the better off you’ll be. I can tell you first hand that having to calculate the burn down rate of retirement savings to pay for long term care isn’t a comfortable position. I ran the numbers for my mom when she was later in life and needing a long term care plan. I calculated that she had less than 10 years of a runway, and that scared me. If she had long term care insurance, I wouldn’t have been so scared. My main message is whatever you do, make a plan sooner than later. Long term care costs are only going up. Until the next post in our series.