I will reach the big age of 49 soon and it is time to start thinking about long-term care insurance. The women in my family have been subject to several nasty diseases that not only shorten life span but also require constant care for several years. In preparation for getting older I have been looking in to purchasing long-term care insurance.
Can I avoid poor health in my old age and save myself money delaying the purchase of long-term care insurance by making better lifestyle choices? I see a lot of disease at my work and much of it is related to lifestyle choices. Weight, smoking, drinking, being unhappy or depressed all seem to cause or contribute to disease. I am attempting to make better life style choices to decrease my health care costs when I am older.
I have been frightened by the latest television commercial presented by the Heart and Stroke Foundation that says we can make the last years of our life healthy and productive by making good life style choices now. It shows a very frail man being helped with all his activities. It also shows the same elderly man, except he had made better life style choices, enjoying good physical health and mobility in his final years.
http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.2796497/k.BF8B/Home.htm#
If I think I am going to be healthy when I am older than I can delay purchasing the long-term care insurance and focus on saving up lots of years worth of retirement income. If I think I am not going to live a long time or that I will need many years of nursing care I could slow my retirement savings to a trickle and live it up now. All I would have to do is buy good long-term care insurance.
Guessing how long you will live and if you will be an invalid for years is a crap shoot. The United Nations life expectancy tables states that the average life expectancy for a Canadian woman is 82.81 years. How many years will I be partying hard and how many will I be spoon fed?
Mike, my car and house insurance guy, says that because I am healthy (we did not discuss my current BMI -body mass index) long-term care insurance would not be too expensive now but that I could probably still get the same rate for the next 3 or 4 years. He also tells me that long-term care insurance is not very popular in Canada but that it sells well in the USA. I asked if that was because Americans have to pay for their own retirements but Canadians expect our government to pay for a lot of the care. He thinks that may be part of it. He asked if I would be happy in a ward room with 3 other people of assorted sexes or if I would prefer a room with just 1 roommate. People relying on the government end up in ward rooms and people who have planned can enjoy peace and quiet in a semi-private room.
I asked about a private room. Insurance guy Mike knows a bit about my financial situation. He has been to my very small, modest home and photographed it and the dog hair for insurance purposes. He is aware of my HELOC (home equity line of credit) and he knows where I work. He very delicately let me know that affording insurance for a private room in a private long-term care facility was out of my reach financially.
I will delay purchasing long-term care insurance until I am 53 years of age and then I will have to decide how much I can afford every month to help me be happy in my final years. Growing old is expensive. Growing old is not something that I am looking forward to. Growing old is much better than the alternative.
Well I suppose the good news is that you still have 33.81 years to live it up. What else do you want to accomplish in that time?
I do want to clean the storage room in the basement and clean my garage. I have been delaying these tasks and now that I know that I have another 33.81 years to procrastinate on the subject I am not sure if I when I will get around to it.
A lot of people have been talking about that Heart and stroke ad. A friend of mine works for the Heart and Stroke foundation, I will tell have to her how thought provoking that ad is.
Very thought provoking and very well done. I am middle aged (ugh) and my social circle is talking about it. I don’t think you are ever too old to make changes.
Hi! I just found your blog (probably because I check in on Mr. Money Moustached regularly). Personally, I am not interested in long term care insurance. I am 60, have a good job, a healthy bank account, great spouse but not much of a work pension between the two of us. I am also in the healthcare field and what I have noticed is that by the time you get to needing long term care, you are pretty much screwed anyway. It doesn’t matter if you are in a ward room or a private room, the food is the same. We visited an elderly friend in a swanky nursing home and the food was served on fine linen and nice china…..but still tasted like crap. So this is my plan. Treat my three children, their spouses and my seven grandchildren extremely well. My hope is that they will remember their dear old Gran and provide her with the following necessities for living in an old age home: good quality briefs(they are no longer called diapers), swiss chalet/or equivalent on a biweekly basis, nice housecoats and nighties, a functioning computer and really good earphones. My medical directives will demand that I am given a really highly potent sleeping pill each and every night. I will drift off in my drug induced haze each and everynight remembering the wonderful times and good trips I have experienced over the years.
I love your blog and sense of humour.
You are pretty funny yourself and I am also a big fan of Mr. Money Moustache.
I hope my children treat me well in my old age. I don’t expect them to visit often but I do expect them to monitor the quality of care I am receiving. I like the sleeping pill idea and I will encourage them to make sure I receive it. My grandmother was in long term care and my father ensured she had a glass of sherry every night because she had a glass every night her entire adult life. My boys know I do not like Swiss Chalet but I am a big fan of chips and dip. I wonder if I will still be able to dip the chips or if someone will have to do it for me?
I do not have a spouse or a healthy bank account so I rely on myself and I need a lot more money to retire.
Going it alone is certainly more difficult. One of my worries, is how much is enough? Things are on the upswing again but we have been steadily losing money in the last few years. Certainly makes it difficult to “pack it all in”. I remember being Mr. Moustaches’ age and not really worrying about the future. Now that the future is here, the thought of being broke before being dead is indeed a worry! I also like chips and dip. Plain (not ruffled) and Helluva a Good Dip. thanks for reminding me…..I will put it in my medical directive as well. Hopefully, I will have a kind and caring PSW with whom I will share the chips.
Helluva is the best and it has to be Lays original chips. If I keep eating chips and dip I won’t have to worry about running out of money before I run out of life.
If only I knew as much about money when I was the MMMs age.