Hummm, I Failed to factor this into my retirement plans

[mickeyd]

As the son of an Alzheimer's patient, I guess I should somehow factor this into my plans but I'm not sure how to do it. I have advised DW that if I happen to go off the deep end to exchange all of my tax favored funds to 100% into the Vanguard 2020 fund as she has no investment ability (so she says) even tho she has 3 university degrees.

"Alzheimer's disease is the largest thief of retirement" said Chris Cooper, president of Chris Cooper & Company, Inc. and ElderCare Advocates, Inc. "It is a slowly progressing disease, leaving the person oftentimes with good physical health and less mental faculties to use this good physical health."
Americans are often diagnosed with Alzheimer's in their late 60s and 70s, but it can and does occur earlier. And, Cooper said, many Americans fail to plan for the disease. "When confronted with the diagnosis, families often scramble for information and begin to engage in different forms of 'quackery,'" said Cooper, who is a former president of the Ohio Council of the Alzheimer's Association and whose maternal grandmother had Alzheimer's disease.
To Cooper, the quackery usually takes three forms: medical, financial and legal. People might pursue medical treatments that have not been proven to work, and many times are harmful, he said. And they might try to do things with legal and financial instruments, he said, "all in the name of 'fear of running out of money' and 'the only way to get the government to pay for my parent's nursing-home care.'"

2-major-barriers-to-your-retirement-plans: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

 

[MasterBlaster]

These 2 mentioned and other so called "black swan" issues can ruin the best of plans. It isn't clear that you can plan for absolutely every unforeseen event.

However forced early retirement and/or major health issues (including Alzheimer's) can really screw things up. There are a number of other issues that could screw up your well laid plans - such as thermonuclear war, financial collapse, pestilence, global warming, asteroid impact - just to name a few).

I'm not sure what the best approach to these issues are other than to save even more money early in life.

 

[Nords]

As the son of an Alzheimer's patient, I guess I should somehow factor this into my plans but I'm not sure how to do it.

My father and his father have inspired me to become a health [-]paranoiac[/-] fanatic.

Aside from the "if I wake up demented/dead" financial letter and LTC or self-insurance, I think the only other option is to stay as healthy as possible as long as possible in order to give medical science more time-- for whatever medical disasters we're dreading.

Our bedroom community just opened a huge geriatric facility with a memory-care unit, so I guess we have cradle-to-grave support now.

 

[Kroeran]

there is also the pending reality that medical science is getting ever closer to permanent longevity

telomeres replacement and all that

Prevention of Senescence and Cell Death In Murine Stem Cells: Length Matters - GLG News

Greg Critser considers our mortality in 'Eternity Soup: Inside the Quest to End Aging' - Los Angeles Times

 

[REWahoo]

there is also the pending reality that medical science is getting ever closer to permanent longevity...

Yep. Medical science is going to get there or die trying.

 

[RunningBum]

My plan to live forever is going quite well so far.

 

[Nords]

there is also the pending reality that medical science is getting ever closer to permanent longevity

The heck with medical science's longevity, I want to know when my longevity is permanent!

 

[mickeyd]

My folks lived into their 90s and for the final 5 years or so they resided at a "retirement community" in Tampa. I tried to visit them at least annually and I recall meeting many vibrant 90 yo tenants in that community. I even recall meeting quite a few 100 yo folks. What I can recall clearly is that no matter how sharp these folks were mentally, their bodies were clearly not created to live that long.

Many used walkers, many wheel chairs, and they labored to stay mobile. A sharp mind is a wonderful thing in old age, but the body tends to break down no matter what.