Does anybody want to be rich when they get old?

[aim-high]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound +1. That has been my point in all the preceding posts! People like to judge others according to their own criteria and situation. If someone spends more for a luxury car, then he is wasting money. If a neighbor does not indulge in expensive wine, then he's a cheapskate. If someone has a higher stock AA, then he is a gambler. People do the above all the time, never realizing that their particular personal preference is not absolute, and the condition that they are in is just one of the many and has no qualifications to be used as a reference point.

You mean anyone driving slower than me is NOT an idiot, and anyone going faster than me is NOT a maniac? Darn!

[SteveL]

While we won't all get there, statistics suggest that half the population at age 85 has dementia. What would happen to all our carefully laid plans and SWRs if our SO needed to be in a memory care facility at $60 to $90k per year?

I'm not sure what amount of funds would be needed to support those costs while maintaining the rest of ones lifestyle. I think it would take more than $2.5million.

This is where the definition of rich is important. The truly rich could do this without much thought and wouldn't notice the expense. For a lot of people in the top 10% of household by assets, it could be a struggle.

So, while I am living retired on less than that 4% magic number, I continue to hope my stash will increase.

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveL While we won't all get there, statistics suggest that half the population at age 85 has dementia. What would happen to all our carefully laid plans and SWRs if our SO needed to be in a memory care facility at $60 to $90k per year? I'm not sure what amount of funds would be needed to support those costs while maintaining the rest of ones lifestyle. I think it would take more than $2.5million. This is where the definition of rich is important. The truly rich could do this without much thought and wouldn't notice the expense. For a lot of people in the top 10% of household by assets, it could be a struggle. So, while I am living retired on less than that 4% magic number, I continue to hope my stash will increase.

I think the odds are that the vast majority of people who enter nursing homes don't stay there for 20 years, plus the Medicaid look back period is 5 years. Before five years you can give away money to your kids and move it to an assortment of the many Medicaid exempt asset classes for the healthy spouse.

From Consumer Reports -

"Studies estimate that 35 percent to 50 percent of 65-year-olds will probably need nursing-home care in the future. The average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home is about $79,935, according to MetLife's 2009 Market Survey of Long-Term Care Costs. The average nursing-home resident moves in at age 83 and stays two to three years."

That makes the average-high cost in today's dollars $80K X 3 = $240K, with Medicaid, or possibly Central America, as a fallback option.

We are also exploring retiring to a country outside the U.S. where the medical and long term care costs aren't so crazy high, so we don't have to worry about them bankrupting us. We have noticed that our relatives in the EU just don't seem to have the same profound, long term money worries as most Americans because of the stronger social support programs for the disabled and the elderly that America lacks.