National shortage of home-care workers threatening the option of aging at home (social security, federal)
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Have you checked the prices on nice Assisted Living facilities? Many, if not most people, cannot afford them - often are $4000 to $6000 per month. (also depends where you live geographically)
And yet, everyone in those facilities is paying $4K to $6K per month in your example - and there probably is a long wait list.
The population that is most in need of home care may not ever have held a cellphone, driven an expensive car and likely never had a tattoo. They were regular middle-class working people who may have saved a bit, but for whom investing was something rich people did. Their biggest asset is probably their house.
Fair points. I handle all at-home care for my 95 year old mother by writing a check for things I cannot take care of myself.
Everyone in their 20s nowadays should be thinking in terms of financial assets they might need to accumulate to fund their own golden years, partially fund their own parent's golden years, and help their children out in their formative years.
My friend is in a very nice assisted living facility in his own apartment. They are having difficulty keeping good employees and he pays 7k/month. He can’t get out of a chair or bed himself and sometimes has to wait a hour for them to help him after he has hit his call button.
That's the worst case scenario. Home-care worker shortage points one towards assisted-living setup - counting on more efficient, professionally-managed and supervised care offered in that setting. These places might not have the promised and implied level of care because of the worker shortage, wages they are willing or able to pay and the tenants (I do not know the right term) are stuck, like your friend is. And one isn't very mobile at that stage.
We had friends mover their 97-year old mother out of a facility. It was a great facility and she loved it. A year ago, another company bought it and thing got really bad. She had family nearby to find alternate facility, but that might not be the case for everyone.
Fair points. I handle all at-home care for my 95 year old mother by writing a check for things I cannot take care of myself.
Everyone in their 20s nowadays should be thinking in terms of financial assets they might need to accumulate to fund their own golden years, partially fund their own parent's golden years, and help their children out in their formative years.
When my mother couldn't care for herself, I was living in a one bedroom second floor apartment 90 minutes away from her in another state and working full time. I was self-employed and it took years to get the connections and network I had built up. You just "rearrange" jobs and housing, like it's that easy? Should someone with 5 or 10 years to go before a pension just quit their jobs? Who is going to take care of them after they destroy their finances to take care of mom or dad?
One can use Medicaid (if possible).....and dwellings which take Medicaid.
Very few people nation-wide end up in a nursing home permanently. The percentages are small.
Or if one has the money, perhaps move geographically to where home health care workers are available.
But just a couple years ago, home health care workers or home care workers were readily available through agencies which exist to provide them. And these agencies still exist.
They are all short-staffed. That's the main point of the article.
They are also twice as much as going outside an agency. I had an agency worker stay overnight with my mom when she stayed with me until we could get her to ALF, so I could sleep for work (she had to go to the bathroom every 2 hours, diuretics) and every morning I woke her up where she was sleeping on the couch and gave her a check for $200 or so, can't recall exactly. That was 10 years ago. That's one shift.
wow - I guess things are way more expensive up there!
It depends on the level of care needed. When my mom moved into hers she was independent in self-care and ambulation and took her own meds. Her fee was $3300 a month. As she declined through the years and needed more help her monthly fees went up drastically. By the last few years it was over $9,500 a month. Same place, different level of care. That's normally the case in ALFs. But she was on Medicaid there after the 3rd year (many ALFs will let you stay on Medicaid after a specified period of private pay, in my mom's place it was 18 months). We hired a geriatric care manager to find the places for us that would in our area. Even though I only had to pay her income minus $90 she was allowed to keep, they still sent the whole bill so I saw the fee rise over the years as her care level rose.
When my mother couldn't care for herself, I was living in a one bedroom second floor apartment 90 minutes away from her in another state and working full time. I was self-employed and it took years to get the connections and network I had built up. You just "rearrange" jobs and housing, like it's that easy? Should someone with 5 or 10 years to go before a pension just quit their jobs? Who is going to take care of them after they destroy their finances to take care of mom or dad?
Yup. My brother-in-law was an accountant. He kept having to take off to help care for his father because his mother and oldest sister, who ran everything. didn't want anyone outside the family caring for Dad, who had dementia. His company finally let him go. His mother then was diagnosed with cancer and was dead a month later, and he took care of his father full-time until he died. My sister carried the weight of the household bills in the meantime.
Then my BIL told his sister "let's get the house cleaned out and sold, because I need the money now after not working", and his sister said, "Oh no, Mom and Dad left everything to ME. You and other sister have children to take care of you in your old age. I have no one." Found the will, and sure enough, the oldest sister got everything their parents had.
Karma came into play on this one. Before the estate was settled, oldest sister dropped dead of a stroke at 63. Morbidly obese with high cholesterol and diabetes and an RN to boot, she didn't take her meds. My BIL and his other sister who had also been cut out of the will were next of kin and inherited the estate.
But for a few years there, it was really tough on my sister financially with her husband unable to work because he was caring for a father with dementia.
Fair points. I handle all at-home care for my 95 year old mother by writing a check for things I cannot take care of myself.
Everyone in their 20s nowadays should be thinking in terms of financial assets they might need to accumulate to fund their own golden years, partially fund their own parent's golden years, and help their children out in their formative years.
It takes a pretty good sized nest egg.
The average middle class person is not going to be able to earn enough money to provide for themselves AND fund their own retirement AND help their kids out during their formative years (I assume you mean also pay for college) AND help support their parents through their golden years.
One paycheck, I don't care what field you're in, is not going to support all of that. It just won't.
What you have to do is support yourself, your minor children and fund your own retirement. You can set aside money for your kids' college fund each paycheck - start early. Even $25 a paycheck adds up over the course of 18 years.
The biggest help you can give to your kids is keeping on top of their education from the beginning. Make sure that they have a solid foundation going into middle school and that they take advantage of earning college credit in HS. Merit scholarships can make a huge difference in making college more affordable. Also, make sure that your kids start working - first doing odd jobs, then getting PT jobs in HS - and putting away a good chunk of their pay in a savings account. That money will add up and be a big help towards paying for college expenses. Also, consider community college, online classes and commuting from home as opposed to living on campus. The savings can be considerable.
As far as supporting your parents during their golden years, do what you can. But really that is their job. They've had their entire working career to plan and save for their own retirement. Hopefully they have done so. But no way can the average, middle class person fund their own retirement and the retirement of their parents. You need to be realistic about how much help you can feasibly give them. I mean if you have the money be generous with it but don't give your own retirement money to them - you need it. That would only be kicking the can down the road to your own kids to try to help support you in your golden years which isn't fair.
What you see as the problem, I see as the solution.
As long as that person is willing to personally pay for someone to listen to them, fine.
As long as that person is willing to personally pay for someone to check that they are taking their meds, fine.
As long as that person is willing to personally pay for someone to change their linens, fine.
I suspect you are a young person that has not yet learned that as you age your wages will not keep up with inflation, and your training is outdated. You will not have sufficient funds to keep abreast of the job market, and meanwhile you are trying to build your retirement, raise your family, and find some enjoyments that you can afford.
Inflation will outdistance most of us. My DH and I did all the right things. We got our degrees, we got good jobs and worked toward every promotion available to us -- opportunities get fewer as you go higher in your field. We decided against a family so we could put more funds toward sustaining ourselves in our old age. We are now at the age of retirement. Our rentals supplement my husband's income. We have a strong retirement portfolio, but even WE cannot afford to have someone come in and do work we are no longer capable of doing.
You, too, will arrive at this point when you are older. When you do, you will be embarrassed by your brash, youthful words. I know, because I was just like you. When you get there, you will not remember what I've told you. Chances are pretty good that you will blame others for not achieving what your plans entailed.
It is the way of people, and no one else is to blame. The only solution to this social problem is to care for our aged, and sadly this and many other first world countries have forgotten this.
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