The Essential Guide to Help Your Adult Children Plan for Your Long-Term Senior Care

As you age, long-term senior care becomes a necessity. It is not something that you can avoid forever. As you grow old, your health begins to deteriorate, and you will become increasingly reliant on your children. 

If you are an aging parent, you understand the importance of planning for your long-term senior care, as well as the burden it can be for your children to care for you. 

This blog post will guide you on how to help your adult children plan for your long-term senior care.

Communication is Key

It can be uncomfortable to think about or discuss your own mortality, but it is essential to talk to your children about your long-term senior care plans. 

This conversation will make it easier for them to plan and make decisions on your behalf. Be honest and open about your expectations and desires, such as where you would like to live, the type of care you would like to receive, and any medical conditions requiring special attention.

Gather and Organize Your Important Documents

Gathering and organizing your important documents can save your adult children time and frustration in the event of an emergency. 

Documents such as your medical insurance information, social security card, and birth certificate should be kept in an accessible location, and a list of your medications should be updated regularly. 

Additionally, consider preparing a detailed list of your financial resources, such as your investments, bank accounts, and retirement accounts, and share this information with your adult children.

Explore Assisted Living Options

Assisted living facilities, like Rivers of Life, offer a safe, secure, and comfortable environment for seniors who need help with daily living activities such as dressing, bathing, and grooming. 

There are different types of assisted living facilities, each with unique services and amenities. Some offer private apartments with kitchenettes, while others have communal dining and activity areas. 

Be sure to research and visit different facilities in your area with your children to find one that best suits your needs.

Plan Financially for Long-Term Senior Care

Long-term senior care can be costly, so it is essential to plan ahead. Work with your financial advisor to create a plan that includes potential expenses and covers the cost of your care. 

Consider purchasing long-term care insurance, which can help cover the costs of assisted living, nursing home care, and other long-term care services.

Select a Healthcare Proxy

A healthcare proxy is a person you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot do so yourself. Choose someone who understands your values and preferences and is willing to advocate for your best interests. 

Discuss your medical wishes with your healthcare proxy, including end-of-life decisions, to ensure that they understand your wishes and can carry them out.

Final Thoughts

Planning for your long-term senior care is an essential part of aging for both you and your adult children. By communicating openly with your children, organizing your important documents, exploring assisted living options, planning financially, and selecting a healthcare proxy, you can make the process less stressful for everyone involved. 

While it may be a difficult conversation to initiate, it is well worth the effort in the long run.

4 Financial Prep Tips for Elderly Home Care Support Services

If you require in-home or even long-term care, the costs can start to be astronomical. You have to be financially prepared in order to afford these additional care support expenses. Here are some of the tips that you should use in order to prepare for elderly home care support services.

Look into Long-Term Care Insurance

There are insurance plans that will offer a long-term care assistance package. It may cost of a little extra each month, but if you do end up requiring additional assistance, your insurance would help to cover the costs. 

Some plans will offer to pay a portion of the costs that may be associated with living in an assisted living facility. You may even be able to stay in your own home for longer if in-home health aid costs were covered.

Consider Disability Options

In some instances, disability may be the only recourse that you have when it comes to paying for the costs of care. Some companies, like Simply Helping, know that most insurance plans offer an optional disability portion on them. 



You could use this to help cover some of the elder care support agencies that would be willing to assist you. This would allow you to stay in your own for a longer period of time. Typically, in-home care aids will come to your house and do the tasks in which you need assistance.

Make Modifications to Reduce Assistance Needs

Another option is to make your home as accessible as possible. This could include things like adding grab bars in the bathroom to provide you with additional support. 

You also might want to consider having a step-in shower so that you don’t have to worry about stepping up and into the tub. Wider doorways and adding ramps for easier access into and out of your home is another thing that you might want to take into account.

Reduce Household Expenditures

Cut back on your budget so that you can put more money away just in case you need additional funds as you age. If you’re already at that point, there may be places in which you can cut back on your monthly expenses. 

There are programs that will assist you with reducing your energy bills by working with you to make your home more energy efficient. Another place to cut back is with volunteer organizations that will bring meals to your door.

There are lots of options that you can consider if you need help paying for in-home care assistance. Use these tips to get you started on the process of financially preparing for the costs of needing elderly home care support services.

Should You Let Your Insurance Lapse?

When you’re young and healthy, insurance of all kinds tends to be more affordable. Health insurance premiums are low, life insurance is a negligible expense, and additional add-ons can cost less than your monthly coffee budget.

As you age though, insurance rates tend to increase. Plans that guarantee life-long rates tend to start out at a higher cost, leading many young people to choose term plans that eventually expire. 

When these come to term, the chances of renewing depend on several factors. If you’ve had long term care insurance and never used it, it may be tempting to let it lapse. In fact, 25% of seniors let their long term care insurance lapse, despite entering the years where they’re likely to need it most. 

Below are some considerations you’ll want to make when deciding whether to renew your long term care insurance.

Upfront Cost

The most common reason to let insurance lapse is the monthly cost. After all, that is the only tangible effect that insurance has on your life until the moment comes that you finally need to use it. 

Be sure to price compare across several companies. If you have a term up for renewal, try to negotiate with your current provider. If you get a comparable quote from a competitor, your current provider is likely to cut you a deal to keep a customer.

Likelihood of Need

Long term care insurance often covers services like adult daycare, home health aides, and assisted living facilities. You can judge your potential need for these services by considering the following:

• Your current health and self-care capabilities
• Your family health history, particularly related to debilitating conditions related to aging
• Your family’s time and monetary resources. Are there relatives who can/will care for you?

Depending on your current and predicted future health, as well as the availability of familial caregivers, you may decide you aren’t likely to take advantage of long term care insurance. 

In this case though, you will still want to consider burial insurance and other life insurance policies that will limit the financial burden of your eventual passing on your loved ones.

Personal and Family Finances

If your life savings is small and your family is financially stable, there may be no reason to have long term care insurance. Conversely, if your fortune is large, it may be more financially savvy to just spend the money on care rather than get it covered. 

But if your wealth is between $200,000 and $2 million, you are in the spot where you have financial assets you may want to pass to family, and long term care could significantly impact that amount. 

This window is the magic spot where insurance can be extremely useful.

You’ll want to consider both your finances and the finances of family members who will bear the burden of your care. 

Talk with them about the best path forward for all. Do you want the security of future protection, or is the possibility of needing long term care one that you’d rather save the money from insurance premiums to address straight on when the time comes? 

There are pros and cons on both sides, and the right answer for you will largely depend on your personal situation and your preferences of where your money goes. 

Would you rather pay into a system that gives you security, but may not be utilized, or risk having to pay higher costs should the need for long term care arise?

Insurance can be a personal and frustrating topic to navigate. Talking with family and financial professionals who you trust can help you make the best decision for you and your family.

Jeriann’s interest in financial writing sprouted from her attempts to pay off her student loans. She was tired of seeing the same tips for saving money (cut your home line, reduce eating out). She now writes about her journey, financial and otherwise at her blog, dairyairhead.com