Losing your Nest-Egg and your Kid's Inheritance to Long Term Care

     I read a great article published in the Wall Street Journal about parents who don't plan for long term care and leave their kids with what economists call "negative inheritance."  Basically the term means that the parent's savings runs out because of needing long term care assistance and then the kids "inherit" their parent's long term care bills.

     The article goes on to say that to avoid a negative inheritance take some time to plan with your parents and seek out the solution of long term care insurance if they can qualify.  Most people look at an inheritance as an asset, but as people continue to live longer the negative inheritance is starting to peek its ugly head into people's bank accounts.  Research has been forecasting the problem of aging Baby-Boomers needing their kids to play the parent role with them because if injury and illnesses, and now its becoming reality.

     More and more financial advisers are beginning to take notice of this growing problem because of the sheer high cost of long term care and the damage it can create to a financial plan.  The national average cost for 1 year in a nursing home is about $75,000 and it doesn't take too long for a long term care stay to ruin one financially.

     The key to avoiding all of these problems is to sit down as a family and have a heart to heart with Mom and Dad and be realistic.  When it comes to one's own mortality a lot of people have a hard time facing the truth and thus don't plan for the high risk of needing long term care until it's too late.  Open communication in a family before things turn bad can literally save a family's future and protect a legacy.  If families don't plan for long term care the responsibility for caring for the parents typically falls into the elder kid's lap or daughter in most cases and that can lead to resentment and tensions amongst the kids. 

     The solution is plan with long term care insurance before the injury or illness occurs because you need to be relatively healthy to qualify for a plan.  Even if the children end up paying for their parent's long term care premiums it will more than likely save them much more financial hard-ships down the road. 

     "According to Ken Langa, a physician and associate professor at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, caring for an elderly relative can itself require as much time as a part or even full-time job. The average older person requires about five hours of help per week, he says, adding that the care-giving workload can balloon to an average of 40 hours when the patient suffers from severe dementia, and especially Alzheimer's disease."  Wall Street Journal 1/22/08 

     No one like to talk about this problem, but trust me, having this uncomfortable conversation before your parents need long term care is well worth never having to give Mom a sponge bath.  Plan today by filling out the request link below and we will send you your long term care insurance quotes from the top 8 companies.