"Recently, we took some expensive trips that we had deferred during the pandemic and his cancer treatment. Now my husband wants to continue with this level of vacation spending on trips to faraway countries for once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I feel this will put our future financial security at risk and that we should be scaling back on our expenditures in order to be prepared for the possibility of his needing expensive nursing home or in-home care in the future."
"We do not have long-term care insurance, and our pension, Social Security, and IRA distributions make our income too high to qualify for Medicaid. Because we married late in life and both have children from previous marriages, we have kept our finances separate, but if one of us were to require expensive elder care, it isn't likely that either of us would have sufficient funds to cover that expense without substantial help from the other."
"I understand that he wants to enjoy his life as much as possible before his condition makes that impossible. But I worry about becoming impoverished in the sense that, though I would still have enough income to meet my basic living expenses, I would be unable to afford nursing home or at-home care for myself if the need were to arise."
An 80-year-old couple navigates competing financial priorities as they face health uncertainties. The husband, a cancer survivor in remission with early cognitive impairment, wants to continue expensive international travel for once-in-a-lifetime experiences. His wife worries this spending threatens their financial security for future nursing home or in-home care needs. Without long-term care insurance and with income too high for Medicaid, they cannot afford expensive elder care from separate finances. The wife remains healthy but acknowledges age-related vulnerability. The core tension involves balancing the husband's desire to enjoy remaining quality time against the wife's need to preserve resources for potential future care expenses neither can individually afford.
#retirement-planning #long-term-care-costs #end-of-life-financial-decisions #spousal-financial-conflict #elder-care-expenses
Read at Slate Magazine
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