Aging In Place Directory

16 - The Real Price of Staying Home as You Age

• Esther C Kane CAPS, C.D.S.

Share episode

Got a comment or idea? Send us a text.

Can aging in place truly be more economical than assisted living, or is it a costly myth? Find out in our latest episode as we navigate the financial landscape of aging in place with Esther Kane, a trusted certified aging in place specialist and retired occupational therapist. You’ll gain essential insights into the significant home modifications needed to ensure safety, independence, and comfort, from installing grab bars and ramps to enhancing lighting and accessibility. Esther unpacks the often-overlooked expenses tied to home maintenance and utilities, giving you a clear picture of how these compare with the potentially more economical option of assisted living facilities, which come with added benefits like community dining and support services.

Beyond finances, this episode tackles the multifaceted challenges of aging in place, emphasizing the necessity of early and proactive planning. She discusses alternative transportation solutions for those with limited driving abilities and the evolving role of technology in maintaining independence. Esther highlights the critical importance of preparing for future needs by considering home modifications, evaluating health requirements, and exploring financial options like savings and Social Security benefits. This episode is your comprehensive guide to taking control of your aging journey, ensuring a longer, more independent, and comfortable life. Tune in for valuable advice that could transform the way you think about aging in place.

Thanks for listening!

You can see this podcast on our Youtube channel!

Sign up to our Homeowners Newsletter - it's a weekly newsletter filled with expert tips and advice on how to age safely and more comfortably in your own home.

If you provide services for modifying homes for disabled or seniors aging in place, sign up to our directory and expand your business.

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Aging in Place Directory podcast. This is episode 18. Today we're going to talk about some financial considerations and planning strategies for aging in place. My name is Esther Kane. I am a certified aging in place specialist, certified dementia care specialist and I am a retired occupational therapist with 12 years of experience in geriatrics. So I have seen quite a bit of in my own family and then, of course, in my patients patients the struggles that they go through when they don't plan for issues such as aging in place or senior housing or any of that. I personally have a friend right now at the very moment, going through those struggles herself and it's very difficult because it's unnecessary. And it's very difficult because it's unnecessary. If you plan for it, then it will believe me, growing older will be so much easier, safer, would provide you with many more years of independence and comfort and, for your family, great needed peace of mind. All right, so let's talk about some of these issues.

Speaker 1:

First of all, what do I mean by aging in place? In case you're not familiar with that term, it really refers to the ability of older adults to live in their own homes and communities safely, independently and comfortably, regardless of age, income, ability level. It's basically about maintaining control of your life and dignity as we all grow older, and I can't think of anything, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't want that. Actual studies actually recent studies show that around 90% of older adults want to stay in their current homes as they age. Well, I mean, that makes sense to me. I'm sure it makes sense to you too. So, however, successfully aging in place requires careful planning and considerations of a variety of financial factors. You may be under the impression that aging in place will be less costly for you, but truthfully, I have to tell you that's not the case, and that's what's happening with my friend and her elderly mother, who just always thought that it would be much cheaper to stay at home. But that's not the case. We're going to talk about that.

Speaker 1:

One of the first things to consider when you're planning to age in your home, if you're going to make this your forever home, is modifications. Now there's. If you want to stay independent and you want to stay safe and comfortable in your home as you age, you're going to have to make changes in the home to modify how you are changing, how your body is changing, changing how your body is changing, you have to make sure that the home meets your needs as you get older, and this means making modifications like installing grab bars, at least in the bathroom. You know, sometimes you need to stall it in other areas of the home as well near the bed, down the hallway, up and down stairs well, those would actually be called handrails. But you know you will have to have installation of things that can help to keep you balanced and keep you from falling. I'm adding a ramp or stair lift or a residential elevator, widening doorways to accommodate walkers, wheelchairs, scooters, improving lighting. Our vision becomes dimmer and dimmer as we get older. You don't realize it because it's just so slight, but having low vision in your environment can easily contribute to you falling. Replacing doorknobs with lever handles, replacing shower heads so that they're mobile and placement near a shower chair. You know, removing rugs install, install, making sure that flooring is non-slip, having contrasting colors so that you can identify walls and floors and this is usually true in bathrooms, showers.

Speaker 1:

There's just so many different things that need to be done to accommodate whatever it is that you need. Of course, you don't need to do them all at once, but it's important to do them as you need them. And the point is it's important to be able to finance them as you need it. The costs can vary, you know, everything from a few hundred dollars to just installing a few grab bars, to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on what needs to be done. You know, if you have 10 steps to get to your front door, you may need to eventually add a lift or, you know, accommodate a different way to get into the home. That's maybe at a lower level. That could be quite costly. But the things to consider when you're aging in place are these home modifications. But in addition to that is the ongoing home maintenance and just the living costs of housekeeping, yard work, groceries, property taxes, utilities. You know all of that can easily add up to several thousand dollars per month.

Speaker 1:

You know I have some friends who are considering going to an assisted living facility, and they really should. You know they're in their mid-80s, mid to late 80s and they could use the help of an assisted living facility. And they're for the taxes that they pay, the groceries that they're buying, the housekeeping if somebody come in every other week and then just the amount of maintenance costs that they paid in the previous year, you know, for HVAC maintenance, for gas, gas, termite inspection, you know, pest control All of these little things added up to more than what they would be spending at an assisted living facility. So I urge you to sit down and break down the numbers to see what exactly is that you're spending and what you would be spending if you were in an ALF type of community.

Speaker 1:

Now many people think, oh, once you go into one of those communities, that's it, you're locked in. Well, no, it's an apartment, it's a regular apartment. They're smaller, albeit, that's true, some can be larger, depending on where you live, I guess. But they are usually an apartment. You have your own car, you can go in and out as you please, but they you do have a community. Right there in the building. You have meals that are served to you if you like. You do have a small some have very small kitchen in their apartment, but most people really enjoy going down to the dining room and just enjoying having a meal made for them, even if it's just one meal a day. They usually serve two meals a day, but, you know, maybe you only want dinner and not breakfast.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, in-home care costs can be very costly. My mom-in-law, who lived to 102, required in-home care the last two years of her life. It started out as part-time but ended up in the last little over a year as full-time, and that cost was $20,000 a month for 24-hour care. The average is actually around $45,000 to $5,000 per month for 44 hours of care per week. So it's not full-time, but if you were to need someone full-time it can be extremely costly. And this she was in South Florida, so I don't I know rates will change from state to state and area to area and state to state. The other cost that I think people don't think about is the lost wages that the family caregivers are experiencing in taking care of their senior loved one $304,000 of income while they are caring for their senior loved one because they have to go part-time or they have to quit completely, they lose benefits, etc.

Speaker 1:

The national average cost for assisted living is $64,000 a month roundabout, which may be comparable or even less than what you are actually spending to live in your home. So I want you again I repeat that again to consider what the costs are. Go to local assisted living facilities or you know communities where you would like to go see what their costs are, see what they offer. Spend a night there, have a meal there, get an idea of what is involved in being there, and you don't have to give up your home in order to do that. Check it out and then compare that to the cost of what you're spending now. It may actually be less. So I don't want you to think that aging in place is just going to cost you less, because it won't, unless, of course, you do nothing. You can age in your own home and do absolutely nothing, but often that ends up horrifically.

Speaker 1:

I saw patient after patient after patient in that situation. They stayed in their home without doing any modifications to make the home safer. They ended up in some silly little accident tripping over a rug, tripping down the stairs, you know, dropping a pot of hot water on themselves, setting the stove on fire. All kinds of issues occurred, and the end result was that they were then, at that point, forced to leave and go somewhere. And so they hadn't planned for it, they weren't mentally prepared for it. It was all a shock, it was devastating. It's not a good situation, and why wouldn't you want to take control of your own life? And this is the way to do it. So all right.

Speaker 1:

Many seniors, many adults, not even seniors many people underestimate the future care needs that they need and they feel great, they feel healthy, they feel young, they feel amazing, but they don't realize that it only takes one second and having the 12 years of history working as an OT looking at the end result of these one second mishaps that occurred time after time again, I am very well, very well aware of that issue and I tell everyone it only takes a second for something to happen and your entire life is changed. So take control. If you want to be independent and comfortable and safe in your own home for as long as you possibly can, can take control. Make the home modifications that you need. Contact an aging in place specialist to come help you assess that. Do all of that. Get contractors in there to fix up that home. But but before you do that, before you spend the money on that, check out assisted living communities and see what, or 55 plus communities and see what they offer and what the cost difference is. You may be surprised that one may actually end up being less than you thought and yet you're spending much more than you thought you were spending in your home.

Speaker 1:

All right, in-home care costs. As I said, for a someone to come in to take care of you, the national hourly wage for home health aid is a in 2024, which is now, is about $34 an hour. So if you needed someone 24 hours a day, that's about $816 a day. That's about $5,700 a week, which is par for what was with my mom-in-law, because hers was $20,000 a month. So that is very much, and my mom-in-law just passed away in 2023, so that is very, very true those rates. Of course, if you needed someone for less, then it wouldn't cost as much, but if you needed someone 24 hours, that is an extremely expensive rate. In addition to that, if you needed someone 24 hours to help take care of you, then you may also need a maid service to come in and clean the house. A home health aide is not a maid, unless you find somebody who can do both, but the average cost for a maid service for a 1,200 square foot home is anywhere between $120 and $200, depending on where you live, and that's per visit. Now, these costs are not typically covered by Medicare.

Speaker 1:

A lot of people think Medicare is going to take care of everything as I get older, but that is not true. It's never been true. So it's very crucial to plan financially for these kinds of possible costs. Options, of course, include long term care insurance that may pay for some of it. Savings, of course, potentially using home equity, reverse mortgages, types of loans, those kinds of things, mortgages, types of loans, those kinds of things.

Speaker 1:

Healthcare expenses are something that a lot of adults don't consider. They know that it's going to get higher, but they don't really understand or realize how much higher. I read years and years ago that most adults will spend the majority of money that they've ever spent in the last two years of their life, and that certainly was very true for my mom-in-law, it was true for my mother and true for my father. So it's true you will spend a lot of money those last two years of your life, mostly, mostly due to care, being taken care of and medical expenses. The average fidelity fidelitycom estimates that the average 65-year-old couple retiring this year, in 2024, will need about $330,000 saved to cover health care expenses during their retirement. This is not to cover the last two years, this is just during their retirement, which is usually an average of 20 to 30 years, I believe. So $330,000 is a good chunk of change. So $330,000 is a good chunk of change. So that's the kind of money that you need in order to stay at home, to take care of yourself, to live independently, in addition to modifications and anything else that you have to do. So see, it does add up after a while.

Speaker 1:

Transportation is also another issue. I myself have a difficult time driving due to glaucoma and you know just other visual issues. But if you're planning to age in place and you live in a community where you have to drive, well then you may end up having to use ride-sharing services or public transportation, if you can get it, or rely on family and friends, which can be annoying to your family and friends, or use senior transportation services if that's in your particular area, but that's going to cost you if you can't drive any longer. So I urge you to consider you know where you will retire and what is around you that can help support you as you grow older if you happen to not be able to drive any longer. It's just an if doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Speaker 1:

As I said before, home maintenance is an issue that you don't really think about until something goes wrong. You know you don't really maintain plumbing until something goes wrong with the plumbing. Most people don't maintain their HVAC system or any other appliances. You know they don't clean out the dishwasher or the freezer and the refrigerator or so on. It's not something that most people do on a regular basis and certainly you do it much less as you're older, but those things will end up causing erosion or damage to those appliances and everything else the roof and HVAC and everything else. So when the inevitable happens, if you don't take care of something and it breaks down, it's, of course, going to end up costing you more to fix it because you probably end up having to replace the whole thing. So those you need to look back at what you've spent on home maintenance issues and you look to and you want to see if you can um minimize that in some way or if at least maintaining those things, if you're able to do that, um to do that in order to make these uh appliances and everything running in your house for as long as possible. And that includes things like your roof and gutters, any you know, your sprinkler systems, all kinds of things around your home.

Speaker 1:

Technology is another issue that makes your home safer. It makes you safer. It connects you with family and friends. There's a lot of great things that technology can do to keep you more independent, but it also comes at a price. Medical alert systems, you know, anywhere from $20, $30 a month. More advanced systems, $50 to $100 a month. Smart home devices like Alexa or Google Home, fall detection systems, medication reminders All of these things you may not need all at once, but you may eventually need them bit by bit, and each one comes with a price. It just reminds me of you know, when you know we were not paying anything for television service. And now you know, I mean, you can still get away with that with some antenna, but most people are using cable and so you're paying for cable and then you're paying for this channel and that channel and it just keeps adding up. Before you know it, you're paying just as much as you paid for cable. So it's just things add up bit by bit as you need them. Now the best way that I can tell you to plan is to start early.

Speaker 1:

I just had lunch today with someone and we were discussing remodeling. She's a contractor and she was talking about remodeling a home. It's an older home and the person is deciding to leave their toilet and their bathtub and remodel just the vanity area, the flooring and whatnot. But the toilet is extremely low, like they used to be, and the bathtub is also extremely low. It's basically almost unusable except by a child. But they have no children, they're you know. Their children are grown and gone and live elsewhere. So I urged my friend, the contractor. I said, please, you know they're in their late 50s. This is exactly the time that they need to start.

Speaker 1:

If they're going to age in place in this home. This is going to be their forever home they plan it to be then they need to really they're going to make these modifications in the bathroom. They need to make the right modifications now. Why tear it up again later? They need to get a comfort, a height toilet that's a proper size for them, and they need to, if they have to have a bathtub, at least get a bathtub that they can easily access, that is not so short that it's easy to trip over or eliminate the bathtub altogether, and get a curbless walk-in shower, which would really be the best thing for them. I know a lot of people think you can't sell a house without a bathtub, but that I've never seen that happen. I've seen many homes sold without bathtubs. It just depends who's buying it, so I don't know that it's all that important.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, you want to start early, so 50s at the very least early 60s. If you plan to stay there, plan it out, contact an aging in place specialist. They will help you to identify what needs to get done, what could be done, eventual costs, that kind of thing, and that will help you to figure out if it's worth it. You want to assess your current needs. You know what are you needing now, which, of course, an aging in place specialist can do that for you, can help you with that.

Speaker 1:

You want to take a realistic look at your current health, at your lifestyle. You know if you have a history of cardiac issues, a history of stroke, a history of, I don't know, if you have Parkinson's, diabetes, any chronic type of illness. Chronic illnesses are labeled chronic for a reason. They tend to get worse, not better, as you get older. So you want to try to anticipate what will happen as you get older and make those accommodations as soon as you can so that you can be as independent as possible.

Speaker 1:

The type of funding options that you will, that you can look at, are, of course, savings and investments, which you know you can all figure that out, but some Social Security benefits may help to pay pensions. If you are lucky enough to have that, long-term care insurance may pay for some, not all. Check to make sure. Reverse mortgages are helping a lot of older adults. Home equity lines of credit you know. Each of these options of course have their pros and cons, so it's important to carefully consider which ones might be beneficial for you.

Speaker 1:

I would consider speaking to an elder law attorney. They can help you with some of these questions and some of these issues, and I would also speak with a financial planner. Those two combined can really help you to lay out the next few decades of your life, so that you're comfortable, you're independent, you're safe, you know exactly what is. You know you've done the best that you can to prepare for whatever may happen. Hopefully nothing will happen and you will live a long, healthy, happy life and pass away in your sleep. I mean that would be just make sure you have your paperwork all done. My husband passed away suddenly and not having all the paperwork done is not fun. I am here to tell you as the survivor.

Speaker 1:

I hope that this information in this podcast helps you to understand what is actually needed in the Aging in Place process. It's so important to plan it out, to take control. I mean, I understand wanting to live as independently as possible for as long as possible, but the only way that's going to happen is if you take control of your own situation. If you do nothing, then you're basically leaving it up to everyone else to end up making the decisions for you, and no one wants that. I saw that hundreds of thousands of times as an OT, working with so many patients in that situation, and it's unnecessary because it's so easily avoided. All right, I hope this was useful. I want to thank you so much for listening and for watching, and I will see you next time at the Aging in Place Directory podcast. Thanks.

People on this episode

Contributor

Esther C. Kane, CAPS, C.D.S.

Host