It’s on so many people’s minds. “How do I stay out of the nursing home when I get older? Next to that – “how do I save my assets that I’ve worked so hard for all my life?”
Well, I think one goes with the other. If you stay out of the nursing home when it comes to your long-term care – you will almost certainly protect your assets. In fact, 90 percent of people over 65 want to remain at home as long as possible.
BUT – It takes planning. Nobody wants to plan for being in a nursing home. Why would they? I think that makes sense and I am 100 percent behind strategies that keep someone at home and out of a nursing home. Like I said that takes some specific planning and some intentional efforts. We are going to talk about some of that in this episode.
First of all, here’s the truth – the forecast is not good. I’ve talked about this before. 4.1 million Americans will turn 65 this year. The numbers of people aging over 65 is growing. In 2020 1 in 6 people in the U.S. was 65 and older. In 2030 all baby boomers will be over age 65 – more people will be over age 65 than any other age group. People are also living longer. You think this is going to change things? Absolutely……without a doubt. In fact, it’s so significant it is called the Silver Tsunami – like a tidal wave crash clearing everything in its path. This is expected to put unprecedented pressure on our health care system – that’s why I’m 100 percent behind anyone that wants to avoid nursing home care – just need to plan specifically. The government expects that out-of-pocked health care costs to double to $27 billion by 2030. It’s also supposed to be harder to find space in these facilities.
So in this episode, we’re talking about getting started with a strategy to stay at home and out of a nursing home. There is a direct correlation between staying out of a nursing home and staying healthy, i.e. maintain good physical and mental health through regular exercise, healthy diet and regular checkups with a health care provider. Here are the keys:
- Planning – the right way early – Legal and Financial
- Mobility – you have to maintain your ability to get around on a daily basis
- Activity, Strength, Balance
- Accessibility in your home – proper updates avoiding falls
- Planning – knowing who to call and when to call – open to help when you need it
- Family support – medical support – social support
- Good diet/nutrition
- Regular check ups
- Accessibility in your home – proper updates avoiding falls
- Clutter free home – help with accessibility and preventing falls
- Hiring the right help – personal care – household support
- Good team of financial advisors, legal team on your side
- Comprehensive Estate planning early
- Proper medicine management
- Money management
- Transportation assistance
- Social support
There is a pattern to staying healthy and living longer and maintaining a higher quality of life.
Have you heard of these “blue zone” areas? I think this is relevant. So a blue zone is a region in the world where people are found to live exceptionally long lives beyond age 80 and often times into their 100’s and are healthy into those older years. Genetics only plays a small role – 20 percent or something like that. The larger factor is a combination of a lifestyle of physical activity, low stress, social interaction, local whole foods, and low disease incidence. Scientists have studied these blue zones to see the correlation between them and a long healthy life. Life expectancy in the blue zones has been found to be a decade longer as compared to world life expectancy. The documentary on those blue zones that was on Netflix was released not too long ago – you might want to check that out called “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” and we will put link on the website.
Blue Zones Netflix Documentary – Blue Zones
So big surprise, right? Probably not. On the opposite end when it comes to lifestyle that promotes disease the Mayo clinic reports that things like smoking and genetics put us at risk for developing different diseases, but neither are the biggest risk factor. “Nutrition is now the No. 1 cause of early death, and early disease in our country and the world.” Bad lifestyle for disease will increase your risk by 300% to 400%.
In other words, there have to be some changes made to keep you safe and put some new support in place. You want to stay home – change your lifestyle.
Downloadable resources mentioned in this episode:
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