Money. It's Important.

 There are many resources available that can help your aging parents. There are physical therapists who can help them keep active and fit. There ire nutritionists and cooks who can plan and prepare food that is tailor-made to enrich their bodies and brains. There are mental health professionals that can diagnose and prescribe treatment related to mental conditions that occur.

There are assisted living facilities, nursing homes, and hospices that can provide everything from food to activities to therapists to social opportunities and comfort and symptom relief away from home.

There is insurance that you can buy that will cover almost every aspect of the aging process up to, and including, the Very End.

And there are lawyers and financial professionals who can advise and assist you in all the legal and financial issues that you may encounter, from retirement and savings accounts to taxes to power of attorney documents to final will and testament.

And many more. But every single one of these costs money. As people get older, their needs change. They need regular monitoring of various conditions, which can be very unique from person to person. Depending on some of those conditions, they may need help navigating the means by which these conditions are monitored, including the paying of bills.

They say money can’t buy happiness. But it can assist in the navigation of the aging process. It can pay for all these resources to help your loved ones live out their next (and last) few decades in health and have more opportunities for joy and fulfillment in them.

But if you don't start planning now, you could find yourself in a bit of a pickle. And illness or injury can lead to ambulance rides, along hospital stay, and the need for personal care at home. A sudden change in mobility, such as the proverbial broken hip, can lead to the need for therapy, mobility assistance devices, and personal assistance. Mental decline can be mitigated in advance through diet, exercise, and social activity, but when it hits. Testing, treatment, care, both personal and institutional, long-term care, may be unavoidable.

If neither they nor you can pay for this stuff, their conditions may get worse, their level of life enjoyment suffer, your need to provide hands-on help will increase, and it may get to a point where you have to set your priorities: their care or your needs, goals, and desires. 

And the next thing you know, you are not deciding between your son's little league baseball game and that important work conference, you are trying to get your mom to eat breakfast because you don't realize that her lower esophageal sphincter is clenched and it is difficult for her to get food into her stomach, her Alzheimer's dementia is causing her to not recognize you this morning, and her declining muscle condition makes it difficult for her to get out of bed.

 So what do you do about it?

Make a plan. Look at your options. If the elders you expect to be caring for are still working, talk with them about their income and savings strategies. Use financial consulting services and find information in the libraries and online to educate yourself on savings and investment options appropriate for their income levels and anticipated need. 

Take a hard look at your own finances. What can you do now to ensure that you don’t wind up spending your retirement money on their health and well-being? How much time do you realistically have before you are going to have to start prioritizing their care? Will there be any income after they have retires? Are the investments earming the maximum potential and at the appropriate risk level? Do you have, and can you afford some form of insurance that will cover their potential needs?

And the big one: How long will the money being saved for their care last? That's a big one.

When I found my mom in her bed showing symptoms of COVID infection combined with her dementia, I pretty much freaked out. For all I knew, she might have been going through some kind of end-of-life process. So I called someone who had said that they had a phone number for people who could help. That phone number led to a choice of three services, and calling them led me to select the one that turned out to be the most expensive option for the services my mom would need.

Then, after she recovered and was living with the assistance a part-time home health aid, she decided she wanted to try assisted living. A year later we had found a good facility, but her condition required a personal aide to be with her part of the time.

I had not calculated how long it would take for my mom to run out of money paying for these services. I simply selected those that seemed the best for her at the time.

And my mom did not have insurance for long-term care. 

That led to most of my inheritance being spent in less than two years. I had to move her out of the assisted living, which meant that I had to participate in her care more actively, cut my working hours, and spend more of my own money, thus reducing the amount of my budget dedicated to investing in my own present and future.

Don't let this happen to you. Start your financial planning now.