Boomers and Gen Xers may have retirement money worries in common. They both voice concerns about outliving income, but for different reasons.
In his article about retirement decisions, Steve Vernon reports on several research studies about retirement income. How to maximize Social Security income? Should retirement be postponed? How to manage medical costs and more.
Perhaps the most significant risk to financial security in retirement is the cost of long-term care.
Outliving income now the #1 retirement concern
Over the past 17 years we’ve heard many reasons why clients choose insurance as their funding option for long-term care. You can read about the top four reasons here.
But today, the number one reason that clients cite for buying long-term care insurance is different. It is the fear of outliving income.
We read a lot about retirement preparedness today. The 2019 National Retirement Risk Index reported that 49% of households were at risk of being able to maintain their standard of living in retirement. This was before the COVID pandemic.
The risk of needing long-term care is high – 70% for those of us age 65 and older.
And it’s expensive – annual national median cost of home care $58,256, assisted living $54,742 and nursing home $112,296.
Yet, less than 10% of Americans age fifty and older own long-term care insurance!