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For some younger people LTC can be disability ins as well
We were concerned about injury from some type of accident or stroke in addition to need for nursing home/in home care from health issues
I hear a lot of people make plans ahead of time to leave their loved one's a nice inheritance. But I am in the camp of folks who like the idea of living it up in my retirement years even to the point of one day considering a reverse mortgage.
Maybe this is being stingy or maybe it's a desire for the loved one's to learn to be self sufficient. What's your thoughts on this?
You'll be dead. You won't know what others think about it so do what you want to do.
LTC insurance should not be purchased prior to age 60 - you won't need it before then.
That's just not true -- period.
You LIKELY won't need it until then. Heck, you LIKELY won't need it until perhaps you're in your 70s or 80s!
But certainly there are people off ALL ages, and more than I care to think about, who need care in their 20s, 30',s and 40s.
We're ALL just one slip, trip, fall or accident away from needing care.
A friend of mine in her 60s, who I called my social butterfly -- recently in a second marriage -- living the life, going out to dinner dancing, traveling.....gets back from dinner one night. She's in the BR, husband in the LF. She reachers for something in a closet and SOME HOW trips or falls -- the momentum was too much for her to catch her balance. She flies against a wall, goes down, breaks her neck -- PARALYZED from the neck down...in an instant. She says when she was still falling she knew even then didn't didn't feel right, because she was going down as dead weight before she hit the floor.
How many times have any of us fallen or tripped and ALMOST fallen...tripped over a shoe in the hallway, or toy or pet...... taken a misstep off an escalator, caught our toe on a carpet or the edge of a stair tread, twisted an ankle on a sidewalk, or almost lost our footing in the tub?
you save nothing by waiting . you only drive up the premuim in retirement by waiting , risk not being accepted as they are soooooo strict or risk a surcharge like i did for turning prediabetic right before i finally applied.
Our goals, in order, are:
1) have enough to cover our care and needs if we live into our 80s or 90s
2) enjoy the heck out of our good years (travel, dining out, theatre tickets, etc)
3) leave a nice inheritance to our sons
4) continue to contribute to our donor-advised charitable fund
We're a few years into retirement and at this point we're looking good but if we ever have to cut back we'll start with #4 and work up.
#2 is by far the cheapest to achieve so I don't foresee lack of funds impacting that, it'll be lack of health.
We are not intending to leave an inheritance to our kids, but if we die sooner rather than later, there should be something for them. What we are trying to do is balance things. We don't want to end up with a decade or so more of life, with greatly diminished assets and high needs. But we also want to do things now. And DH thinks, and I agree, that we should make ourselves comfortable if we can. So, we bought an expensive bed, for instance. We sleep well on it too! And we still want to travel a bit. I am spending on plants for my yard and which has become a passion of sorts. And we treat ourselves to a few nice meals out every year.
Its about balance. Why would you blow the money you've painfully saved for decades? But on the other hand, why would you deny yourself a few comforts and delights?
Did any of you consider that the most difficult thing for your kids to acquire if the want to achieve financial independence is CAPITAL. As substantial inheritance can be invested not only for your kids but also for their kids. Eventually your descendants might just become prosperous. Squandering your children's inheritance is simply a selfish indulgence.
I hear a lot of people make plans ahead of time to leave their loved one's a nice inheritance. But I am in the camp of folks who like the idea of living it up in my retirement years even to the point of one day considering a reverse mortgage.
Maybe this is being stingy or maybe it's a desire for the loved one's to learn to be self sufficient. What's your thoughts on this?
No reverse mortgage ever. However, if we die with just enough left to bury us or choose to be interred for free in a veterans cemetery and have enjoyed life up to that point we will be content.
I think that in this day and age you cannot count on having anything left over at the end to leave to anyone. My grandmother ended up spending my dad's inheritance in a long term care facility (she lived until 96) and my own parents are spending all their money on assisted living. There are no guarantees that there will be anything left at the end for anyone and no one should count on this unless you are a multi millionaire.
This. You can't take anything for granted, OP. Nursing homes, or home health care, burn through money. And the future is unpredicatable; you could get a stroke in a few years, and end up spending the last 20 or 30 years of your life in a nursing home. Would you be able to afford that?
What you can do is leave your kids seed money for a retirement/old age investment account of their own. Or as an alternative, if you have grandchildren, set up an investment account for them to help pay for their college educations.
Did any of you consider that the most difficult thing for your kids to acquire if the want to achieve financial independence is CAPITAL. As substantial inheritance can be invested not only for your kids but also for their kids. Eventually your descendants might just become prosperous. Squandering your children's inheritance is simply a selfish indulgence.
It's not their inheritance until the OP is dead. Squandering is one thing. But everyone has the right to enjoy the fruit of one's labor and of one's thrifty saving and wise investing. Furthermore, no one can predict how much money they'll need in old age, for proper care. Only the OP knows how much s/he has, and whether there's any leeway for enjoying some travel while still healthy and active.
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