I don't believe that - at the lower margins at least - it's the same dollar amount for everyone. It's related to the standard of living you want and the resources you might reasonably need to maintain that.What dollar amount is “seriously wealthy”?I don’t believe that gifting $30,000 today to our kids is going to materially affect our ability to obtain good LTC in 10 or 20 years.It seems like Bogleheads have far too much confidence/faith in planning, and miss this point. Obviously if someone is seriously wealthy that might be different, but for most of us in our 50s-70s, we could still need decades of full-time care. And we have no idea of what inflation etc. over that period might do to the cost of obtaining that. Once you give money away you can't get it back if it turns out you need it.OP’s gift is conditional upon having excess money. You won’t know how much money you’ll have when you die.
Why not both?
Since we aren’t seriously wealthy (good term!), if we each end up needing 10 years of simultaneous LTC then one or both of us eventually will end up on Medicaid because our resources will be spent down. That’s my worst case scenario.
Up to a few years of LTC each, we have covered even if we gift to our kids annually as above.
To me, it’s the difference between prudence and paranoia. Make sure you can cover 6 years of LTC (total for a married couple), which includes any available home equity. Then live your financial life according to your priorities/beliefs.
Statistics: Posted by tibbitts — Sun Jul 21, 2024 11:30 am — Replies 28 — Views 2277
