Is Assisted Living a Bait and Switch?
If you are over the age of 55 and you own a house, a retirement account, or both, then at some point, you have probably heard a retirement planner breathlessly extol the virtues of assisted living facilities. To hear them tell it, assisted living facilities are the best place for retirees to live if they want to save themselves and their families money and stress. There are even some assisted living facilities in certain parts of the Five Boroughs that base their brand identity on the prospect of their residents having so much fun that they can fool themselves, if no one else, into thinking that they can never grow old. A few years ago, journalists who are apparently unaware of how quickly old age sneaks up on you had tons of fun snarking about these facilities, which they termed Boomer Enrichment Centers, where seniors can live out their fantasy of eternal youth to a rock and roll soundtrack. Most assisted living facilities are nowhere near so glamorous, and they are more affordable in some circumstances than in others. If you are considering moving to an assisted living facility after you retire, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.
New Yorkers Know the Uncertainty of Renting All Too Well
People choose assisted living facilities because the idea of living in the family home when they are healthy enough not to need nursing home care but when they don’t have the energy for housework that they had when they were younger is daunting. Assisted living facilities give you your own apartment, and you can choose to engage facility-provided services such as laundry, apartment cleaning, and meal service, but residents don’t need the kind of services provided by nursing homes, such as help with bathing or eating.
If you are sure that there is no benefit to your relatives inheriting your family home, you might sell your house and move to assisted living. Consider, though, that changing from homeownership to renting carries risks. You will be in the same boat as tenants everywhere. As every New Yorker knows, landlords, including the landlords of assisted living facilities, have a way of raising rents through the roof. Even when rent controls prevent major increases, the condition of the property tends to decline over time. A recent article on Business Insider told of a single woman who moved to assisted living in her early 70s. In two years, the rent increased by $2,500 per month, and the facility discontinued most of the services that she used, so she moved out and bought a small condo unit with the savings she had planned to use for assisted living.
The most financially sound way to pay for assisted living is through long-term care insurance or hybrid life insurance. This way, if you keep your house, your family can inherit it; you will not have to sell it to pay for assisted living.
Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney
An estate planning lawyer can help you make wise decisions about moving into assisted living. Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.
Source:
msn.com/en-us/health/other/i-tried-assisted-living-for-7-000-a-month-but-felt-it-was-way-too-expensive-i-bought-a-small-home-and-now-live-on-my-own/ar-AA2571po?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=6a26f59e2243451b9183036e5b3e0507&ei=30