More and more of the Boomer Sandwich Generation will be retiring as our parents pass on and we become the next senior citizens. How prepared are we for our own senior lives as we look at life after caring for our elderly parents?
If some of stories that I have read here are a representative sample, then I think several of us are in trouble.
We can't undo any previous choices that we have made so it is not really helpful to go over what we should have done or could have done.
What can, must or will we do now?
Overall, I will be doing better in a few years after I become eligible for Medicare because health insurance under the (Un)Affordable Care Act is killing me between premiums and copayments.
My mother is stuck with the low earnings which means that she no longer pays any income tax and will need Medicaid sooner. I imagine that lots of seniors are in that same position. It seems kind of like a snowball rolling downhill.
Fast forward to today from when I last posted on this thread 10 months ago and I see a whole different picture with my parents and their expenses. Dad is now paying for professional caregivers [licensed, bonded, insured] and it runs him $20k a month, yes a month, for 24-hour care. Fantastic people from an agency. Dad does have a choice to moving to Assisted Living, he's thinking about it.
I see what the cost is for Dad for a whole year $240,000 and I think with my retirement fund, that would only last me a couple of years of in-home around the clock care.... then what? Sell my house and go into assisted living to help save some dollars. Maybe win the Lottery??? Find a wealthy spouse.... no, wait, they were looking for gals 25 years younger !!
Then I stop for a minute and realize I will never get to my Dad's age of 94 [Mom is 98 and in long-term-care on hospice watch], so why am I worrying so much. I probably won't reach my 80's, either. The stress of dealing with my dear folks has drastically shorten my life :(
We've also got whole generations now that were raised in the philosophy that they are special and somehow entitled to fame and riches. Well guess what, you're just a brick in the wall like the rest of us and there's no mana from heaven.
My wife and I both came from hand to mouth working class families. We've both seen some hard times and have always been scared to death of debt and spending money. We were lucky to be able to retire in our early 60's while still healthy. We're currently waiting for the pets to all die so we can travel a little. We won't be living large by any measure but won't be eating dog food at the end of each month either. But if we do, we should be able to afford brand name dog food.
I have many frustrations in caring for my parents, wishing they had prepared better for old age, but I've come to appreciate them for setting a good example for me as a kid on how to take care of money, take care of things so they last forever, and not to squander money on stupid things.