It's official we are all wrong about fire

[MichaelB]

She claimed she was spending $30,000 a MONTH! I can't help but wonder what palace her mother was staying in.

Skilled nursing care would command that price range, either at home or at an institution. Usually, though, that level of skilled care isn't needed for extended periods of time.

Way to much for assisted living, even the luxury kind.

 

[audreyh1]

Skilled nursing care would command that price range, either at home or at an institution. Usually, though, that level of skilled care isn't needed for extended periods of time.

Way to much for assisted living, even the luxury kind.

A special situation perhaps, but you rarely hear of nursing homes costing $200K+ a year except for the plush ones, so it does seem like something special.

Private room nursing home $92K average cost in 2016. So double that - $184K is still way less than $360K a year!

Suzie is claiming she spent $2.5M on her mother's long-term care - 83 months (almost 7 years) at $30K a month.

 

[akidagain2018]

She's a hack. Only financially illiterate learn things from her. And her messages are dumbed down for the masses. Suzi smoozi....who cares.

 

[deserat]

For $10K/month, she could have put Mom in a really good assisted living facility and saved the $20K.

Depending on which state she lives in, she could have halved that to $5K in an assisted group home (4-6 people) and still had excellent care.

 

[Fedup]

She's a hack. Only financially illiterate learn things from her. And her messages are dumbed down for the masses. Suzi smoozi....who cares.

+1, that’s exactly what I think of her. I bought her book and couldn’t read through, so unorganized, and so bad, I had to return it to Costco.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Here is what the Suze wrote when her mother died a few years ago: “My mom was 97 and in her final years lived the most extraordinary life of anyone I have ever known. So, as I looked at her small and frail body, all l I saw was her beauty and grace, as she rested peacefully in her own bed, in her own apartment, surrounded by those who loved her. It was just as she wanted.”

She probably did choose to spend big bucks for her mother’s care.

I don’t follow Suze or any other financial guru but she doesn’t bother me that much. Everything I needed to know about FIREing I learned right here with FIREcalc and seeing if we could survive on a barebones budget (yes). But I’m coming back as Suze’s mom!

 

[Fedup]

I’d come back as a tree so I can live forever.

 

[akidagain2018]

She's like a snake oil salesman of simplistic financial ideas. Insert eye roll here....

 

[calmloki]

For $10K/month, she could have put Mom in a really good assisted living facility and saved the $20K.

Consider that Suze maybe didn't want to put Mom in assisted living but wanted to keep her where she was. If you can afford it why not have your final days in the home you are familiar with and with the best round the clock and familiar caregivers?

 

[Ronstar]

She used to make more sense. Now she is a bit over the top.

And she is trying to get attention. She gets more attention claiming that you need 5 million than claiming that you need $500k.

 

[ragabnh]

Everytime I look at her face, I think to myself she could be a good presenter of cooking TV show, I think she is in the wrong line of work.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

I found that I quickly outgrew her advice, thanks in part to this wonderful site and some other readings.

 

[Oz investor]

Suzie sounds like someone we can all learn from .

i do prefer learning from others mistakes ( i may never be worth $5 million dollars , so obviously can't afford to lose that much ).

better her ( spending the cash ) than me

 

[Lstansbury]

Yep

 

[Lstansbury]

Mr. Money Moustache took her column a bit personally and wrote a long response. In a nutshell, "ERetirees (in their 30s) aren't stupid, we just aren't greedy, we don't need the 6 figure job to be happy, we can figure it out without you, our problem-solving skills are amazing, leave us alone, thank you very much"

 

[audreyh1]

Here is what the Suze wrote when her mother died a few years ago:

My mom was 97 and in her final years lived the most extraordinary life of anyone I have ever known. So, as I looked at her small and frail body, all l I saw was her beauty and grace, as she rested peacefully in her own bed, in her own apartment, surrounded by those who loved her. It was just as she wanted

She probably did choose to spend big bucks for her mother’s care.

OK - so Suze paid $30,000 a month for almost 7 years $2.5M for caregivers for her mom to live in her own apartment.

Clearly that was her choice and she could easily afford it.

I'm not sure many retirees could begin to afford such a thing. Nor should we plan for it.

Who can even retire at $5M if they have to assume $2.5 is going to the long term care of a parent, let alone themselves?

It just seems like bizarro world.

 

[RobbieB]

She is an entertainer, she works for ratings. All publicity is good publicity in show business.

Just ignore the troll.

 

[MRG]

She is an entertainer, she works for ratings. All publicity is good publicity in show business.

Just ignore the troll.

Robbie.

You're not going to be rich and famous for not taking credit where it's due. She's obviously been following you, blow that dough! [emoji12]

 

[Markola]

Mr. Money Moustache took her column a bit personally and wrote a long response. In a nutshell, "ERetirees (in their 30s) aren't stupid, we just aren't greedy, we don't need the 6 figure job to be happy, we can figure it out without you, our problem-solving skills are amazing, leave us alone, thank you very much"

Paula seems to realize she’s the big winner from all the attention this episode has brought her pretty good podcast. Her marketing of the windfall has been broad and relentless.

 

[Lukeee]

She's like a snake oil salesman of simplistic financial ideas. Insert eye roll here....

 

[Rianne]

I’d come back as a tree so I can live forever.

Ha! I want to buried, naturally no formaldehyde, with oak seeds. That way the oak roots will use the nutrients from my body to grow. When family/friends come to visit me, they will see me in an oak tree, not a cemetery.

 

[Fedup]

Ha! I want to buried, naturally no formaldehyde, with oak seeds. That way the oak roots will use the nutrients from my body to grow. When family/friends come to visit me, they will see me in an oak tree, not a cemetery.

If I get to pick, it would be a sequoia tree, you can tell I visited the oldest tree there in Sequoia National Park.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Ha! I want to buried, naturally no formaldehyde, with oak seeds. That way the oak roots will use the nutrients from my body to grow. When family/friends come to visit me, they will see me in an oak tree, not a cemetery.

Burial Waltz by The Fugs,
"...bury me in an apple orchard that I might touch your lips again"

 

[Lakewood90712]

Ok she was right , after the market tumble, I have to go back to work. Or not.

 

[ncbill]

You can also work your entire life and wind up broke for a number of reasons, medical/LTC issues being one of the most probable yet difficult to predict. Life is risky. I’d rather take my chances with $2M and retire early than work ten more years and still end up broke and in a crap nursing home on Medicaid.

Around mid 30’s, a coworker told me a story. His dad saved money yet at the end of his life, he ended up in a bed next to a guy who did not. All the savings his dad accumulated only bought him a couple years of better care before he ended up right next to the other guy.

Saving is prudent. Planning is also. However, unless you have a lot more than I would make even working 10 or 15 more years, if you get struck with a significant health event, it won’t matter and you will have given up a decade of the life we have sans work. I’ll take my chances.

You don't necessarily need a nursing home either.

I'm moving an older relative from a nursing home across town to assisted living near me.

They had gone in for surgery last month but were unexpectedly diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, unfortunately beyond treatment. Got them on Hospice around a week ago.

So if you end up like them, why not live in a more homelike environment in the time you've got left?

Plus, here at least a private room in assisted living is less than half the cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home.