Planning for the so-called "golden years" should, but often does not, include preparing for the possibility of long term care needs. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seven of ten Americans will need some sort of long term care, and many of us are not adequately prepared to pay for it. As part of our continuing "Be Well" series on caregiving, ideastream's Kay Colby gives us a first-hand look at what's involved with this type of planning, especially in terms of money.
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Reports About Long-Term Care Costs; Retirement Security; and Baby Boomers
The 2012 Metlife Market Survey provides national, statewide, and area specific average daily rates for various forms of long term care services.
The 2013 report from the National Institute on Retirement Security entitled "The Retirement Savings Crisis: Is It Worse Than We Think?" summarizes how far behind Americans are in saving for retirement. It also presents statistics according to various demographic groups and saving venues including traditional defined benefit (DB) pensions which have largely eroded and the current, more common way of saving for retirement through defined contribution (DC) individual investment accounts such as 401 (k) plans.
The 2013 report by the Banker’s Life and Casualty Company’s "Center for a Secure Retirement" presents findings about Baby Boomers expectations of retirement and statistics about how many are uninformed about the long term care they may need in the future.
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