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I feel very depressed reading this thread. Yes, that's true and LOL also.
I've been working in a long term care centre for a long, long time (30+ years). I've learned so much about people and life.
I used to work directly with the residents for many years before working in the office.
We had one unconscious person on the street (who went to the hospital first and came to us). That person had no money, no family and did not speak English at all. She lived here for many years. She fought and spat at us when we were taking care of her. We took care of many homeless people who had no money, no clean clothes, no hygiene kits (comb, tooth brush, toothpaste, etc...) whom were arranged to send to our care centre through some health and social organizations. We took care of models, nurses, police, lawyers, doctors, surgeons, business men/women (millionaires)... seriously. We heard many sad and happy stories from many residents who had mean kids and good/caring kids, from both sides of rich and poor people. Many rich people told us about how their kids were treating them, forcing them to write wills, and they were fighting for the parents' money even when they were not dead yet. Those 50, 60 yr old "kids" rarely or never visited them. Only when they needed money, or when the parents passed away, then we saw so many of them came.
Many residents who were not rich, but they had their children came to visit often. They brought their children, pets, flowers, some cookies, pizza here when they visited their parents. They made the parents very happy. Not all poor or average people have good kids, or not all rich people have bad kids though.
I, honestly, don't care about life insurance or LTCI at all. I used to argue and disagree with my husband about life insurance. I opposed the idea, and I won. My reason was if we loved each other truly, we needed to respect each other and treat each other nicely, gentle, kindly each day and every day. That’s good enough for me. If we worked hard enough, not to be lazy, and learned to spend, save and invest money wisely, we would be okay in life when we live together. Nowadays, people divorce each other so easily, and children and parents always have conflicts and argue with one another about anything and everything, what's the point to buy life insurance? Your spouse, your children may wish you die fast, so they could have a big amount of money on your dead body. This is reality in the world, in the society nowadays.
Imagining, if everybody buys insurance for whatever, and if most of them want to claim, sooner or later, for a big amount of money, how can the insurance companies make profits and survive? Mostly, there are just a few people who could claim the insurance b/c they must be very smart or very lucky. The rest could claim very little or nothing.
Another thing is, off topic though, I don’t believe in buying warranty for the household items either.
Many years ago, my husband and I bought this nice/expensive set of sofa and reclining chair for our new house. The salesman talked us into buying a life-time warranty for this set for about less than $200. He said at anytime in the future, if there’s a tear on the sofa or the chair, we could call this number… And the company would send someone to come to repair it for free. If they could not repair it, they would send us a new one. We were young, no experience and naïve, we listened to him and paid for the warranty. About eight years later, the sofa had some tears. I called that number. It was so hard to get somebody to answer the phone. Many times, there was just the answering machine to tell me to leave a message. And nobody called me back. The number was from Florida, far, far away from where we lived. OMG. When I finally got to talk to someone, that person asked me so many questions and asked me to fax the invoice and receipt to them. I did everything he asked. No one called me back. I called again, the person on the phone said he could not find any record that I purchased this set from them… I gave up. My son told me I could sue that company. I said it would take too much money to find a lawyer and time and energy to do that. And we probably still could not get anything anyway. Forget it. After that, I swear I would never buy warranty for anything. I just take 30 or 60-day warranty included in the purchase. That’s it. I’ll take a chance.
Back to the topic, I think to myself if I were too poor, had no money, no good health, no mind, what would I care anymore? Some people can do whatever to me, I don't care. If when I live, I want to work hard enough, know how to spend, save and invest money wisely, and live a healthy life and have good mind, then I will be okay in my retirement age for a few or many years until I deteriorate. Then I may go for MAID before I go kookoo. You know what I mean. Canada approved this.
I feel very depressed reading this thread. Yes, that's true and LOL also.
<snip>
Back to the topic, I think to myself if I were too poor, had no money, no good health, no mind, what would I care anymore? Some people can do whatever to me, I don't care. If when I live, I want to work hard enough, know how to spend, save and invest money wisely, and live a healthy life and have good mind, then I will be okay in my retirement age for a few or many years until I deteriorate. Then I may go for MAID before I go kookoo. You know what I mean. Canada approved this.
Of course. But Americans don't have that option. It is not uncommon for children to carry the burden of caring for their elderly parents. Often, these children, especially daughters, put their own retirement at risk when leaving their jobs to care for Mom and/or Dad. I will do everything within my power to prevent that from happening.
Wile E., so sorry to hear that's your family genetic/longevity history.
Selhars,
My own longevity does not bother me. It was hard losing both parents as a little kid. Being born much later than my siblings 14-20 years older than me means I have been more like an only child and not in step with my siblings at all. Then, they are all mid to late 70's. So, the harder aspect of the situation is having to come to terms with so much loss. I finally conquered that, but, it took forever.
Is anyone here choosing between buying into a CCRC vs. planning to self-fund in-home care via full-time caregivers?
I would love to hear pros/cons in such a scenario.
Off the top of my head, the biggest con to me of a CCRC is the literal "aging in place" as someone who likes the option of moving. Then again, perhaps I should assume by the time I really want (need?) to go into one, maybe I'll be at a point where I won't care about that...or that I will actually need to stay put somewhere. In short, I'd find it super super hard just deciding where I'd want to permanently put down roots. I'm 44 and have always disliked the thought of settling anywhere 'permanently'. I wonder if aging will change this for me.
Of course I love the thought of being able to 'step up' in care in a CCRC though for sure. And the socialization is likely a great thing too I'm thinking.
For those who know what I've been through since last year, I can also speak a little about the caregiver scenario. In short, finding a realllly really good one...that actually cares and will treat you with dignity, civility and respect and be able to stay with you for long term (years) can be a very very challenging thing to do. I'm single and childless so I wonder if something happened to me would I even be the one picking said live-in caregiver to support myself? (God forbid, what if I'm unable to communicate so I'm not even able to voice my desires of who that person should be for instance?)
Of course, I love the thought of aging in the comfort of one's home though, with privacy and the content that comes with being in your own space.
Is anyone here choosing between buying into a CCRC vs. planning to self-fund in-home care via full-time caregivers?
I would love to hear pros/cons in such a scenario.
Off the top of my head, the biggest con to me of a CCRC is the literal "aging in place" as someone who likes the option of moving. Then again, perhaps I should assume by the time I really want (need?) to go into one, maybe I'll be at a point where I won't care about that...or that I will actually need to stay put somewhere. In short, I'd find it super super hard just deciding where I'd want to permanently put down roots. I'm 44 and have always disliked the thought of settling anywhere 'permanently'. I wonder if aging will change this for me.
Of course I love the thought of being able to 'step up' in care in a CCRC though for sure. And the socialization is likely a great thing too I'm thinking.
For those who know what I've been through since last year, I can also speak a little about the caregiver scenario. In short, finding a realllly really good one...that actually cares and will treat you with dignity, civility and respect and be able to stay with you for long term (years) can be a very very challenging thing to do. I'm single and childless so I wonder if something happened to me would I even be the one picking said live-in caregiver to support myself? (God forbid, what if I'm unable to communicate so I'm not even able to voice my desires of who that person should be for instance?)
Of course, I love the thought of aging in the comfort of one's home though, with privacy and the content that comes with being in your own space.
Most people don’t enter CCRCs until their early to middle 70s. Which option you select is a personal decision; factors such as finances, ability to live independently upon entering CCRC (most, if not all require this), availability of others to assist with care, desire to remain in one’s own home, etc., play a role in the decision you make. By the time you’re ready to enter a CCRC, you should be more comfortable with the idea. Keep in mind, most CCRCs have long waiting lists, so you can’t tyoically wait till you’re ready to go on the list. Regardless of which option you choose, LTCI can be used to help with costs.
My Mom was in a really nice assisted living center. Private apartment, three meals a day, (they had an extensive menu with many choices), and activities. It cost 6,800 dollars a month which wasn't too bad.
That cost is contingent upon the area and availability and would be significantly higher in other states depending on the cost of living.
My parents ended up in a not so nice assisted living area in NY with pretty bad food for almost $10K per month.
Years ago, before retirement, both our financial advisor and (surprisingly) our insurance agent said "you can pay it now, or you can pay it later"
Premiums paid equal +/- LTC costs over time!
I came to the same conclusion the last time I ran the math that applies to my stats. How the math works for any one individual will depend on how their investments are structured, pension availability etc. This was several years ago using then-current pricing and the LTCi policies then-available on the market.
By age 80 to 82, LTCi premiums would have, in essence, prepaid for the 3 to 5 years maximum care limit. Premiums paid after age 80 to 82 would amount to a net loss for me - I would have prepaid but still must continue to pay premiums to avoid losing the 'LTCi insurance investment.' Should I have been severely disabled the day the policy went into effect, the insurance company would have been the net loser. The math shifts in my favor each year I successfully age.
Policies begun decades ago that provide unlimited care at much lower premiums have an entirely different cost-benefit curve. That type of 'deal' has not been available for some time.
most policies are priced so you pay ONE YEAR. IN PREMIUMS in future dollars not 3
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