Was chatting with a wholesaler and she told me about how healthy her great grandma is, how she is still functional compare to her grandparents... She worries that her grandparents might need health care sooner than her great grandma! I was telling her I have a number of clients who are in their 60's taking care of their parents who are in their 80's and 90's. This kind of picture is getting more and more common because we all live longer.
The ones who are in their 60's, if they were lucky that they had a good job or if they had been discipline enough to save up for retirement, they think are set for themselves (at least). Until they find out they need to find ways to take care of their parents (which might or might not be functional as much or even in their sick beds.
Canadians had been spoiled all their lives that we don't have to pay out of pocket directly for all the health care services we use. When they retire, health benefits costs often shock them, although there were many many articles we can find online warning us.
Over the last 40 years, we are living much longer. In the 50's, we expected to live only till 60 years old, now we are commonly live till 80's. Problem is, we are not healthy, at least not as healthy as we like to be. As sandwich generations, we are taking care of our parents, grandparents as well as our kids.
As a financial advisor, I now not only have to make sure my clients' plan is good for themselves, we need to talk to the parents and see what is going on there to make sure their situation will not affect what we in place for my clients.
The fact that we don't even know what is available often throw us off the roof because we do not know where to start. When we need help, it is often needed urgently. This is widely because we are not well-prepared.
Lately, I got a lot more enquiries on long term care insurance coverage from not only clients in their 60’s but those in 40’s and 50’s because (like the wholesaler I mentioned in the beginning of this blog) they realize how expensive health care costs can be and they want to make sure their hard earned money doesn’t eventually goes to health care expenses - some clients are afraid that will not only drain their own savings but become their kids’ financial burden.
As we all know, premiums on Insurance coverage is always lower when we are younger. It is never too young to get coverage as we don't foresee sicknesses and we don't plan for accidents. As well, it is never too late to look into different coverages as what didn't happen doesn't mean it won't happen. Get a sense of what is out there and what your options are. Contact us for consultation. Here are some resources from our governments (as long as Doug Ford has not made any changes, although he said he would give more funding to health care for seniors):
Some people might be able to qualify for free dental care in Toronto or even certain health care services.
Changes ahead on OHIP+ to everyone under 25 on April1, 2019