care giving for seniors
The Costs of Care Giving
As the Boomer population ages and the reality begins to loom that at some point they may need someone to provide them with “care giving” but no one wants to talk about this possibility happening to them.
But as we age and I’m going to be 72 myself ( Yikes, when did that happen?) our bodies are going to start to give us trouble as we begin our slide down the slope of aging and at some point, we may need help.
Ideally the Boomer generation has taken better care of themselves then our own parents did and we certainly are much more active than their generation who smoked, didn’t exercise and had high fat diets.
But at the least, they didn’t have as much stress in their lives as we seem to have in our’s and their generation lived a much slower daily pace compared to the hectic lifestyles so many of us have in this period of time.
Hopefully those of you who are reading this post and are of a “certain age”, will manage to dodge falling apart and having to rely on a care giver. But what happens if you need one and you don’t have Long-Term-Care Insurance?
Medicare will not pay for this service in case you were under the impression it would, you have to pay for it.
You will have to rely on your own retirement funds if you happen to have any and pay a professional care giver or rely on family members to take care of you. And that’s a terrible option.
There are two kinds of “costs” in this equation, the actual monthly expense that can run $4000 or more each month while you are helpless or the physiological and turmoil and burden to your family members who will be overwhelmed by the responsibly of taking care of you.
And if you don’t have enough funds to cover this expense, it will be up to your children to pay for it and in many family situations, the adult children will fight among one another and it typically will fall to one of the children to pay for all the expenses and also to attend to your needs. And the one’s who refuse to help in any capacity, will disappear.
As for paying for the care of a professional, licensed and Bonded care giver that expense could be paid by the funds from a reverse loan and it will become a safe and valuable option for money to cover the costs and relieve the adult children from using their own funds to pay for your care.
It’s something to think about, utilize one’s equity to pay for your own needs and not rely on your adult children and keep your dignity and keep your family intact.
Long Term Care Expenses
Most people are completely unprepared to pay for any costs associated with “care-giving” because it never occurred to them that at some point in the future they may very, well need help as they age.
And unfortunately if you haven’t purchased a LTC policy by the time you are in your 50’s, the premium will be very expensive later on, especially if you have developed some health issues and qualifying for the insurance will now be difficult and or too expensive to obtain.
Everyday a senior experiences either a fall, a stroke or a medical procedure that will require nursing and help of some sort within the home and since few people have purchased Long Term Care Insurance, they and their family will find themselves in a crisis to come up with a solution.
If the senior has a substantial amount of money they have saved over the years, they could use it to pay for their care but if they don’t then maybe it will be the adult children who will have to use their own funds to cover the expenses associated with hiring a service to take care of the family member who needs it.
And a very frightening fact is that 70% of those who are 65 or older will have some sort of situation happen where they are going to need help and they won’t have any way to pay for it.
Typically it becomes the responsibility of a family member and the burden of that responsibility is extremely difficult as it up ends the family dynamic, the caregiver is unqualified to care for the parent and their own life becomes overwhelmed and in some cases, they develop serious health issues of their own due to the ongoing stress of being a caregiver.
An excellent option for the entire family is to use funds from a Reverse loan to pay the costs, plus any cash reserves the senior and their family may have, will be protected from being drawn down and the real fear of running out of money is eliminated.
I have found that more Financial Advisors are suggesting this alternative to their clients and families in lieu of drawing down on their investments and possibly experiencing tax consequences and it is an excellent solution to use to pay for the care-giving expenses and removes the fear and stress a family is experiencing when they don’t have the funds to pay for the services that are needed for the family member.
Funds from a Reverse loan is an excellent option to consider to cover these costs and relieve the worry and burden the senior and their family.