Planning for care needed in later life

jcaow

I've been enjoying a head in the sand approach to this but wonder if I should review that for various reasons.

I wondered if anyone else is specifically planning for this and if so how?

I am in good health now, aged 41, so don't know if I will have any particular needs, it's a general financial planning query.

justme111

Build sound relationships with family so that when you forget who you are due to dementia they sort it in the best way possible for you

atush

Own a home, have a pension and savings and investments.

If you then need a care home, sell your home and fund it that way. If you have a spouse, your half can be used later on, in the meantime use savings or investments.

There are products to pay for care, but i would not worry about them now. I'd worry about building u savings and pensions at your age. Revisit the situation a decade or 2 on.

jamesd

About one in three people will need care home care in the final few years of life.

The best way I know of to provide for this in the UK is using drawdown to provide some of your income in retirement. That involves planning for a high end of possible lifetime. If you need care it is likely to happen well before that so you're likely to hav a considerable amount of money still in your investment pot. You can use that money to buy an immediate needs annuity to provide income to cover care costs for the rest of your life.

A big advantage of this is that the money is also doing good work for you if care is not needed or until it is, being part of what is providing you with your ongoing income.

That's how I'm planning to handle that contingency.

badmemory

My long term plan includes a contingency of 3 years of care home fees. However my personal plan also includes a personal self destruction plan. If this seems contradictory it is because one plan is what will happen if I know what is happening and the other is what will happen if I don't know what is happening. This is not that odd, although I think you are young enough to think it is, my sister has a similar plan. Few people last longer than 3 years once they need a care home.

Bootsox

Christmas is coming, rather than socks, can you not ask for Dignitas gift vouchers?

dunstonh

I am in good health now, aged 41

So, statistically, the odds of you needing care home provision is around 5%. Do you normally plan for events with a 5% chance of happening?

Most care provision is in yourhome and you use money you put aside in your working life to pay for it. So, it forms part of your normal retirement planning.

PennyForThem_2

I setup a SIPP because I too was concerned that I would have enough income from pensions etc to fund extra help when I needed it.

If I die before using it (I am 65) then fine it passes to my named kindred. At the moment I work (I enjoy work, it is new and mentally challenging and not physical) so still paying into my defined pension as well as the SIPP. Yes, I do check not exceeding allowances.

I come from long lived family with few health problems, so likely to live to ripe old age. So that is why I am concerned.

AnotherJoe

badmemory wrote: »

My long term plan includes a contingency of 3 years of care home fees. However my personal plan also includes a personal self destruction plan. If this seems contradictory it is because one plan is what will happen if I know what is happening and the other is what will happen if I don't know what is happening. This is not that odd, although I think you are young enough to think it is, my sister has a similar plan. Few people last longer than 3 years once they need a care home.

I'm planning a move to near Beachy Head as long as I can remember to.

PennyForThem wrote: »

I come from long lived family with few health problems, so likely to live to ripe old age. So that is why I am concerned.

Why do you think you'd need care in that case?

smjxm09

There are two types of people who live in a care home. Those with next to nothing and have spent what they had when they could and who have their fees paid by the council and those with money who maybe should have spent more when they could but didn't.

mufi

smjxm09 wrote: »

There are two types of people who live in a care home. Those with next to nothing and have spent what they had when they could and who have their fees paid by the council and those with money who maybe should have spent more when they could but didn't.

There's a third type, and they do exist: those who fund it from income without touching capital.