When planning for long term care, I cannot stress strongly enough that you should live for today before making sacrifices for possible care one day. It would be disastrous to not do certain things like dreamed-about holidays or helping the grandchildren through university, just in case you need the money one day for care.
You might never need care, after all. You might stay in reasonably good health, maybe move in with family one day, see out your frail dotage, quietly fade away and never set foot in a care home. Wouldn’t it then have been a shame not to have done those things you could have done?
Regret sucks, I’m told, so don’t overthink your planning for long-term care. Deal with it when the time comes – your options for pre-planning are limited anyway – and enjoy life in the present instead.
Let me end this blog series with the most important point in all of this:
Wealth Gives You Choice
If you have enough money to pay for care, you can choose the home you go into. If you don’t, you’re at the mercy of the Local Authority. You can choose to adapt your home, or move to a better-suited property as your needs change.
If you have enough money, you can do all these things AND provide for your family as you go along. Wealth gives you choice. I’ve always said that money is a means to an end, and never an end in itself.
Personally, I can think of nothing better to spend my own money on than my own comfort and wellbeing when I’m old and knackered. I’m sure you agree, so let’s add our own end-of-life care choices as yet another reason to be intentional about what we do with our money.
And, as always, seek advice, because this is a complicated area. The interplay between state benefits, care systems, local authority care fees and assessments, and the different financial aspects of it mean you need advice if you’re in any doubt. This is one of those areas where a good, professional, specialist adviser can earn their fees many, many times over.
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