CHAPTER 14
THE SAVAGE TRUTH ON LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
Insure Your Retirement Lifestyle
Even Superman needed long-term care! I thought that would get your attention. This chapter on long-term care insurance is not just for olde r people. It could have a direct impact on your own financial future—because you might be responsible for your parents’ care. The time to start thinking about it is now.
Will you care for your parents—and your in-laws—in their old age? Will you invite them into your home, to use the bedroom your college kid just vacated, and will you provide them with help dressing and bathing? Or let’s reverse the situation: Who will care for you in your old age? Will your children invite you to live with them and help you shower and take you to your doctors’ appointments?
Think about it, because one way or another we’re all going to be faced with this problem. If you’re all alone, the situation might be even more dire. We don’t like to think about needing help, and we haven’t had much of an example of what a burden—financial, physical, and emotional—it is to have the responsibility for caring for an older loved one.
The boomer generation is living longer, healthier lives. But sooner or later, time will catch up. It’s estimated that seven out of ten people turning age 65 today will need some long-term care, and one of five will need more than five years of care.
And that kind of care is costly, whether given in the home, or in assisted living, or in a nursing home. The ...
