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It's not what most of us want our senior years to look like but it's not tin cups, cat food, and street corners either. I've gotten a real education on this lately!
I will call my hypothetical person Dave. Dave lived in NYC and was of very moderate means. He could never afford to buy a home or an apartment so he rented all his life. He decides to move to Las Vegas because of the weather and lower cost of living. He has enough money to move all his stuff here with a few thousand left in the bank. Not a lot by any means. He is 65. He never married and has no children. He does have a disability. He fell when he was 62 and injured his knee then developed Traumatic Osteo-Arthritis. He walks with a cane but he is not in bad shape and can walk for miles. By trade, he was a restaurant server/manager, jobs he could no longer do after his injury.
Just to make the math easy, he makes $1000 per month, including SSD and a small union pension. When he gets to NV, he applies for low income senior housing. It will be an apartment on the bus line. 1BR, 1BA and there will be a pool, clubhouse, and all the usual apartment amenities. The apartments are actually quite nice and pretty new. His rent, utilities included, will be 1/3 of his income. $333 per month and it includes cable, internet, and he can keep his apartment set on 70 all summer long and not get a $400 electric bill. If he gets an apartment in the most likely complex, he will probably be able to do most everything on foot. Not bad. Remember, Dave never owned anything so apartment living is just fine. It's all he knows.
He gets $200 in SNAP every month(actually $194 but we are making the math easy) to use for food, effectively bringing his income up to $1200 per month. He worked enough to get get Medicare A and B. Medicaid pays his monthly premium and provides his part C/D services for free. So he has complete coverage and pays nothing. Medicaid also gives him a free landline phone and a cellphone. And if Dave ever needs a nursing home it will be free. And most likely it will be the same nursing home where we could end up.
Dave does not drive. He can chose to pay $30 per month for a senior bus pass or $2 per day for 24 hour passes. To make it easy we'll give him the monthly pass.
He gets $1200 per month and his expenses total $363. Assuming he spends the SNAP money on food as he is supposed to do, he is left with $637 in completely disposable income, $7600 per year. And because he has a Medicaid card, he could go to several food pantries each month to supplement his income. He just has to sign up. For something to do he does volunteer work at those food pantries every month.
Dave already has all his household goods. We have great thrift stores here and you can dress well almost for nothing. Maybe once a year he will have to buy underwear or a new pair of jeans. Clothing he can get by with $100 per year.
It's not a grand lifestyle but it's not bad either. And if he saves a lot of his disposable income, he can afford a couple trips a year. Or something like new furniture or a TV. Really if you account for the difference in rent, he will do much better here than in NYC. And the waiting list for low income senior housing is years long in NYC and chances are it would be in an area that was not safe.
There are some drawbacks. He can never have more than X dollars in the bank so if he wants to save for something, he has to save cash. And it will take several months to get his low income housing so he has to stay with relatives till that comes through. Dave would actually prefer to continue working but he can't. Even if he was able to find a job, he would lose his benefits. And chances are any job he could find here would not pay enough to make up for what he would lose.
When Dave turns 66, FRA, his SSD will convert to SS and he may get a bit of a raise. But since he will have Medicaid, he still won't be able to work.
Can he get the low-income senior housing in just a few months? He has to live in LV before he can sign up, right? So if he doesn't have family or friends in the area, where will he live in the meantime?
I think the relocation is going to be the biggest challenge for Dave.
It's not what most of us want our senior years to look like but it's not tin cups, cat food, and street corners either. I've gotten a real education on this lately!
I will call my hypothetical person Dave. Dave lived in NYC and was of very moderate means. He could never afford to buy a home or an apartment so he rented all his life. He decides to move to Las Vegas because of the weather and lower cost of living. He has enough money to move all his stuff here with a few thousand left in the bank. Not a lot by any means. He is 65. He never married and has no children. He does have a disability. He fell when he was 62 and injured his knee then developed Traumatic Osteo-Arthritis. He walks with a cane but he is not in bad shape and can walk for miles. By trade, he was a restaurant server/manager, jobs he could no longer do after his injury.
Just to make the math easy, he makes $1000 per month, including SSD and a small union pension. When he gets to NV, he applies for low income senior housing. It will be an apartment on the bus line. 1BR, 1BA and there will be a pool, clubhouse, and all the usual apartment amenities. The apartments are actually quite nice and pretty new. His rent, utilities included, will be 1/3 of his income. $333 per month and it includes cable, internet, and he can keep his apartment set on 70 all summer long and not get a $400 electric bill. If he gets an apartment in the most likely complex, he will probably be able to do most everything on foot. Not bad. Remember, Dave never owned anything so apartment living is just fine. It's all he knows.
He gets $200 in SNAP every month(actually $194 but we are making the math easy) to use for food, effectively bringing his income up to $1200 per month. He worked enough to get get Medicare A and B. Medicaid pays his monthly premium and provides his part C/D services for free. So he has complete coverage and pays nothing. Medicaid also gives him a free landline phone and a cellphone. And if Dave ever needs a nursing home it will be free. And most likely it will be the same nursing home where we could end up.
Dave does not drive. He can chose to pay $30 per month for a senior bus pass or $2 per day for 24 hour passes. To make it easy we'll give him the monthly pass.
He gets $1200 per month and his expenses total $363. Assuming he spends the SNAP money on food as he is supposed to do, he is left with $637 in completely disposable income, $7600 per year. And because he has a Medicaid card, he could go to several food pantries each month to supplement his income. He just has to sign up. For something to do he does volunteer work at those food pantries every month.
Dave already has all his household goods. We have great thrift stores here and you can dress well almost for nothing. Maybe once a year he will have to buy underwear or a new pair of jeans. Clothing he can get by with $100 per year.
It's not a grand lifestyle but it's not bad either. And if he saves a lot of his disposable income, he can afford a couple trips a year. Or something like new furniture or a TV. Really if you account for the difference in rent, he will do much better here than in NYC. And the waiting list for low income senior housing is years long in NYC and chances are it would be in an area that was not safe.
There are some drawbacks. He can never have more than X dollars in the bank so if he wants to save for something, he has to save cash. And it will take several months to get his low income housing so he has to stay with relatives till that comes through. Dave would actually prefer to continue working but he can't. Even if he was able to find a job, he would lose his benefits. And chances are any job he could find here would not pay enough to make up for what he would lose.
When Dave turns 66, FRA, his SSD will convert to SS and he may get a bit of a raise. But since he will have Medicaid, he still won't be able to work.
Since when does subsidized housing come with cable and internet?
How does he get $194 SNAP? In Oregon he would get ZERO SNAP.
There are some drawbacks. He can never have more than X dollars in the bank so if he wants to save for something, he has to save cash. And it will take several months to get his low income housing so he has to stay with relatives till that comes through. Dave would actually prefer to continue working but he can't. Even if he was able to find a job, he would lose his benefits. And chances are any job he could find here would not pay enough to make up for what he would lose.
How does that asset limit work out? I have two old debts I hope to eventually resolve with discounted lump sum settlements, e.g. pay $X,000 on each. If I'm not allowed to have more than X dollars, doesn't that screw my creditors if I am not allowed to save up enough to settle the debt?
When Dave turns 66, FRA, his SSD will convert to SS and he may get a bit of a raise. But since he will have Medicaid, he still won't be able to work.
At 65 he will have Medicare, and Medicaid will pay his Medicare B premium (~$150/mo?). Depending on where the qualifying income cutoff is, Medicaid might also pay the excess medical costs not paid by Medicare. (In Oregon, $1000/mo income would qualify him for payment of the Medicare B premium but not for the 20% not covered by Medicare.)
If he doesn't qualify for the full Medicare subsidy, a Medigap policy would cost him (in Oregon) about $150 per month, so add that to his $363 monthly expense.
If he works, he would rapidly lose most or all of his SNAP, so working would have to pay at least $500 per month to make sense financially (~$150 for Medicare B, ~$150 for Medigap policy, ~$194 for food). .
How does that asset limit work out? I have two old debts I hope to eventually resolve with discounted lump sum settlements, e.g. pay $X,000 on each. If I'm not allowed to have more than X dollars, doesn't that screw my creditors if I am not allowed to save up enough to settle the debt?
You just can't put it in the bank. You have to save cash and go buy a money order.
Since when does subsidized housing come with cable and internet?
How does he get $194 SNAP? In Oregon he would get ZERO SNAP.
That's what a single person gets. And all the senior low income housing here that we have found comes with cable and internet. They are very nice apartments. I wouldn't mind living there.
Can he get the low-income senior housing in just a few months? He has to live in LV before he can sign up, right? So if he doesn't have family or friends in the area, where will he live in the meantime?
I think the relocation is going to be the biggest challenge for Dave.
Here it will take less than a year and probably 6 months. That's according to the SNCIL(Southern Nevada Council for Independent Living). "Dave" already made it here and has applied.
Doesn't sound that bad, even allowing for things that food stamps don't cover.
I don't know about keeping the cash on hand. Doesn't sound safe. Maybe a safe deposit box and go there once a month?
And, lifestyle concern, while volunteering is great, he needs to use his brain a bit more, I think. Or maybe he is and you (understandably) didn't mention it.
Yep, he can live just fine.... Too bad so much is being taken from others against their will to provide him with the standard of living...
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