Care in Later Life – Are You Prepared For The Cost

For most of our lives saving up for something is pretty clear cut – we want a new car, we know what it costs and we are either able to cut back a bit on the luxuries and save enough to buy that new car or aren’t particularly good at saving so have to forego the new car (let’s not complicate matters by considering the easy access to credit these days). Similarly for a new kitchen or a luxury holiday – the point is we know what it costs and we’re either capable of saving for it or not.  It’s a fairly straightforward situation that we can all understand.

However, when it comes to elderly care it’s a rather different scenario: we don’t know when we might need the care, we don’t tend to know what level of care we will need and we don’t know how long we’ll need care for. So we can put something aside for our care but, in reality, are we fully prepared – or, indeed, can we ever be fully prepared? Add to that situation the temptation to enjoy life while you can (not knowing what the future may hold) and many people are in a precarious situation when It comes to paying for their elderly care.

• Your Money – Your Choice

One of the real advantages of saving for your elderly care is that you get to choose what type of care to have because you are paying. That means you can select the residential care home of your choice or opt for home care services or live in care if you want to stay in your own home near friends and family (and who wouldn’t?).

Having enough savings so that you can pay for your own senior care means you will not be obliged to sell the family home or enter into an equity release arrangement or other financial arrangement that could put your children’s inheritance in jeopardy. Of course you may choose to downsize as many people do but the point is you can do this willingly rather than being forced into this situation.

• Savings can be bequeathed to family members

If you manage to save a significant sum but don’t need much in the way of elderly care then  you have a greater sum to bequeath your children or other family members – a great gift to give younger family members in a time when so many younger people struggle to buy their own homes.

• Financial Security

It is impossible to predict what will happen to each of us in our later years – seemingly healthy people can, and do, die young from accidents or other unforeseen circumstances. But by saving the means to pay for your own elderly care provides financial security for both you and your family.