Part 4: What if we both go into care homes?

The trouble with planning for the later parts of your life is that you inevitably have to face topics and questions you’d perhaps rather not. Uncomfortable as it may be, it’s essential.

The fourth question in our series on the ten things you should be asking yourself about your future retirement tackles one such question: “What if we both go into care homes?”

Facing facts

 
Your retirement could last many years. While some of the questions look at how you might get the best deal, others are about what you might have to deal with.
 
Your retirement is hard won and well deserved, but coming as it does in the later years of life it’s also prudent to think about how you’d cope with different eventualities. You may stay in good health for many years, but equally, one or both of you may need to go into full-time care at some point in the future.
 
On top of the emotional stress, long-term care is very expensive, according to Independent.ie the average weekly cost per resident in a nursing home is now €1,615 and could be even higher. Needless to say, that can quickly burn through your retirement savings. That’s why many of our clients ask us to model these scenarios for them when we work on their Metis LifePlan.

Planning makes the world go round

 
It’s not as enjoyable as thinking about holidays, but it’s really important. Smart financial planning is about facing up to all the questions you may need to deal with, the good and the bad, to understand how you’d respond to those situations and to know you have a plan in place.
 
There are practical considerations to the care question. You’ll need to think about whether it makes sense to pass on money to the kids now, for example, or whether the best time to take that once-in-a-lifetime holiday is sooner rather than later. But there are deeper benefits that deal with peace of mind and reassurance. Some people steer a wide berth around questions of health and wellbeing for fear of tempting fate, but our answer to that is don’t leave things to fate – plan.
 
Once it’s planned, it’s done and dusted. You know what you can afford and what your next steps are. You can live the life you want without the worry of overspending in active retirement.
 
 
Next time we’ll turn to a more upbeat question five: “Can we buy a property abroad?”
 
If you simply can’t wait and want to read all about it right now, you can sign up to download the guide in full here.

Talk to us

 
We’d love to help. Whether you’re just beginning to think about retirement, your plan is already under way, or it’s finally time to stop putting it off.

Call us for an introductory chat and we’ll see where you’re up to. If you like what you hear, we can meet and go through your vision for retirement as you see it.

It’s free and you don’t need to come with a plan. That’s what we’re here for.