Editor’s note: Lewis J. Walker is a columnist for Rethinking65. Read more of his articles here.
Lewis Walker
Any daughter or son who has shopped for a place for mom, dad, or any ailing loved one has been shocked by the cost — and the scarcity of acceptable options.
According to the latest cost of care survey from Genworth and CareScout, published in March, the median national monthly costs for 2024 were: homemaker services, $6,292; home health aide, $6,483; adult daycare, $2,167; assisted living community, $5,900; nursing home semi-private room, $9,277; and nursing home private room, $10,646. Multiply these numbers by 12 and the yearly cost is startling!
According to the survey, the costs of all long-term expenses have continued to outpace inflation compared to previous years. The national median annual cost of assisted living rose from $61,165 to $70,800 between 2021 and 2024. But despite the sharp rise in costs, occupancy rates for assisted living care facilities also increased from 77% to 84% for the same period.
The impact of inflation on monthly and annual senior living costs will continue to challenge families for the foreseeable future. The oldest baby boomers turn 80 in 2026, and the number of seniors needing assistance and care will continue to expand. In addition to rising demand, shrinking supply as construction of new care facilities drops— a holdover from Covid-era interruptions and fears — will continue to propel occupancy rates and monthly costs at properties deemed more desirable by families.
Regardless of how much your clients save for retirement, aging clients and their alpha children — those who step in to assist mom or dad — need help coping with the stress and anxieties that accompany planning or arranging for long-term care and other challenges related to aging.
A. Lynn White, CEO of CareScout Insurance, notes, “We make plans to buy a house, send our kids to college, and even retire, but few Americans plan for future long-term care needs.” And that’s our job, as financial advisors.
The development of comprehensive financial plans must go beyond the current “happy retirement” themes and deeply examine the realities of aging beyond age 65, including the rapidly growing costs related to senior-living needs. How families will pay for care should they need it — whether at home, in assisted living or in a nursing home — ishould be a part of every comprehensive retirement plan.
For more information, I encourage you to refer to the Genworth/CareScout website. It provides an interactive tool that allows you to compare costs for locations germane to the families for whom you provide consulting services — and it may be a startling wake-up call for them.
Long-term care insurance may be one strategy. But folks who bought protection years ago may be startled at the maximum benefits specified in their policy versus the costs today. Costs in an upscale care facility in the Atlanta area, where I reside, can easily run from $8,000 to $10,000 a month or more. The pricing largely depends on a resident’s health status and the level of care needed. Independent living is less expensive than assisted living, and memory care is the most expensive.
Additional Costs to Plan For
Many residents of care facilities (or their children) also hire caregivers from outside agencies to assist with activities of daily living such as bathing, toileting, dressing, transferring from bed to chairs, eating, grooming, etc. This is an additional cost. Since moving into a 55-plus senior facility in 2024 during cancer treatment, I’ve seen residents leave because they exhausted their long-term-care benefits. They moved into the home of an alpha child or to a cheaper facility.
Meanwhile, seniors who’ve made the choice to “age in place” in their own home will be stressed by rising home-maintenance costs. As people age, they are more inclined to use lawn maintenance services and landscapers, plumbers, electricians, painters and handymen to keep their house in good shape. With more people retiring and aging at home, inflation and rising demand for home-maintenance services will strain budgets.
A Hospital-Bed Crisis
Where to live isn’t the only thing that families are worried about or need to worry about — another challenge is finding acute medical-care services. On May 31, 2025, The Wall Street Journal published a headline warning, “America’s Hospital Bed Shortage Is About to Become a Crisis,” highlighting a growing scarcity of hospital beds nationwide.
Add the “gray tsunami effect” and the fact that as folks age the demand for medical services on an emergency basis arises. Love ones, along with their alpha child daughter or son, may be forced to spend an inordinate time waiting in the emergency room for a hospital-room bed. A cardiologist who was cited in the WSJ article noted that one of his patients suffering from congestive heart failure had to wait three days in the ER before being transferred to a medical ward.
Added Frustrations
For many older seniors who left the workforce before laptops and desktop computers became ubiquitous and are accustomed to more personal methods of communication, managing medical appointments and other healthcare needs can be a frustrating experience. Many independent medical practitioners have sold out to hospital systems and now you cannot call your doctor directly — you have to communicate through a portal, exchanging messages back and forth with a nurse practitioner, if you’re lucky.
Often the more “tech savvy” alpha child is called upon to manage medical matters for mom or dad or in-laws, including scheduling and driving them to and from appointments … more things to add to their “busy list.”
Financial Buckets for Peace of Mind
As adult children watch their parents struggle with care needs, many realize it will likely be much worse for them when they, too, require care. There seems to be one constant in the preparation for a well-funded retirement: the reality of inflation. The cost of living and the cost of getting sick and dying are going to get ever more expensive.
Counsel your younger clients to own assets that are likely to appreciate in excess of inflation and taxation over the years. Encourage them to own a home in a vibrant and expanding community. Help them build a diversified stock portfolio, and explain why it’s important. Talk to them about the benefits of owning a growing business that they can eventually sell. Explain the importance of debt management.
Remember Cash-Flow and Tax-Minimization Strategies
As your clients approach and enter retirement, emphasize dividend-paying stocks that can throw off cash flow to help them fund the costs of aging and needed care. Remind clients not to file for Social Security with reduced payments early if they can avoid doing so. You should also have a good relationship with your client’s CPA to ensure tax-minimization strategies are in place and in sync with shifting tax laws.
Financial advisors have a significant opportunity, more like a duty, to educate clients and the alpha daughters and sons — grown children and married couples often in their late forties and early fifties — about the realities of aging and the need for early planning.
“Aging” has a way of sneaking up on one, as seniors generally tend to think they’re younger than they are. After retirement, most assume that they will continue to live in their home, that they will travel and that they will finally enjoy the fruits of retirement (spend more time with family, etc.) They often fail to anticipate the jarring realities that the “fickle finger of fate” can throw their way.
My Personal Journey
In his 1980 song “Beautiful Boy,” John Lennon included a line that has been attributed to writer Allen Saunders: Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.
My life began to change rapidly in late 2021 as my wife’s health started to deteriorate. In 2022, I became a caregiver, a role that men generally find challenging. We just want to figure out what the problem is, fix it, and move on. Some things cannot be fixed. My wife of 55 years was put on hospice care in our home as prelude to her passing in July of 2022.
Travel has always been my passion, and after successfully selling my financial planning practice in 2016, after 40 years of practice, my wife and I traveled extensively. After the restrictions of Covid and my caregiver responsibilities, I resumed my wanderlust ways in 2023, visiting ten different countries over multiple trips. I had ambitious travel plans for 2024, until a doctor told me that I had cancer and my life changed overnight.
Two Choices
Chemotherapy took a toll, and I was very sick. As a widower, I had no one at home to take care of me. So, my daughter Jennifer, who lives nearby, stepped in. She visited a number of senior-living facilities and selected one in Alpharetta, Georgia, near Atlanta. As my journey began, I realized that I had two choices: I could be miserable or I could get on with life.
I sold my home and now reside in an upscale over-55 community, in a spacious, well-appointed apartment. I’m very active in my new community and am president of its resident council. The cancer is in remission. My next trips are scheduled. My nearby daughter and my son, who lives in Delaware, have been very supportive and helpful as I’ve navigated a challenging life transition. I thank God daily for the gift of family. They also provided incalculable help as I dealt with their mom’s illness and passing.
The Circle of Life
As you speak with your client families, bear in mind, that dealing with the end stages of life is emotionally draining. Disposing of years of accumulated possessions, holding an estate sale, and selling a house is complicated and time-consuming — and often emotional. When grown children do not live near their parents, it’s even more difficult.
As I live my new reality, I appreciate more than ever the need for detailed pre-planning. Comprehensive living and testamentary estate planning, powers of attorney for assets and health care, trust planning — and confiding in grown children as to one’s wishes as to “what if?” scenarios — are foundational to peace of mind for all concerned.
Yes, you want sufficient funds and investment assets to power a meaningful retirement, but you also want ample funds to cover the ever-rising costs associated with the infirmities of aging so you won’t be a financial burden on your loved ones.
We are born as children and at the end of life we become children again. Our children become our parents. It’s the circle of life.
Lewis J. Walker, CFP®, graduated with the third class from the College of Financial Planning in 1975. He served for many years on the board of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners (ICFP), including terms as national president and chairman.The ICFP was a forerunner of the Financial Planning Association (FPA). Honored by the FPA as a pioneer in the profession of financial planning, Lewis was a recipient of the P. Kemp Fain, Jr. Award in 2011. Now retired from active practice, Lewis continues to serve as vice chairman of the board of Atlanta-based SFA Holdings, Inc., parent company of The Strategic Financial Alliance (SFA) and SFA Partners, organizations which provide a myriad of support services to independent financial advisors.
