How Will You Take Care of Your Parents? Cost of Caregiving

This post is brought to you by Genworth Financial. All thoughts 100% my own.

I’m thankful to have never been in a caregiver position. But I know this won’t last forever, while my family is young, my parents are getting older and there will come a time when a caregiver decision will need to be made.

Ideally, I can imagine that my sister and I will step up together to help take care of my parents when they are in old age. Thankfully, I have a sibling to help make those decisions.

Life can change in an instant and we all worry about what life will bring us. A stroke could happen tomorrow, a car accident could leave you paralyzed, there are so many things that could instantly put us into a caregiver position.

I recently came across an article that talked about the cost of being a caregiver. Coming from a survey taken by Genworth in 2012, the median annual cost of a private room in a nursing facility is $81,000.

Click on the map above to compare the cost of care in your area.

The cost of living in a nursing home is well out of the reach of many people, specially if proper savings hasn’t been established to help pay for it.

nursing home

Here are 3 other options that you could consider when making the decision of who will take care of your parents:

  1. Let your parents move in with you
  2. Hire an in home caregiver to help monitor your parents when you can’t be there
  3. Daycare for adults

There are many things to consider when deciding who will be a caregiver, many questions to ask and many elements that can affect every decision. I’m not ready to think about becoming a caregiver for my parents, though it’s something that we all need to keep in the back of our minds. Thankfully, Genworth Financial has some very helpful tools about becoming a caregiver and options for financial resources.

18 thoughts on “How Will You Take Care of Your Parents? Cost of Caregiving

  • July 31, 2013 at 8:49 am
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    This is something I don’t like to think about either. I have four children and hope that I won’t have to have them take care of me. I am hoping that I will have enough saved when I am older to not have to worry about burdening them.

  • July 31, 2013 at 7:59 am
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    this is something i honestly haven’t even thought about it but probably should start now.

  • July 31, 2013 at 7:10 am
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    This is a very important topic. My Grandparents raised me and they are coming into an age where we have to give this a lot of thought. With a big family it would be nice to devise a plan or a schedule.

  • July 30, 2013 at 9:00 pm
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    My father has Alzheimer’s Disease. He’s in a unit that specializes in treating folks with AD. Thankfully, my mom and dad discussed at length, wrote out health care directives and planned very, very carefully for what might come down the road. It has never been easy, but having the care plans and insurance in place ahead of time has definitely made it easier, especially for my sister C who’s the power of attorney.

  • July 30, 2013 at 6:43 pm
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    Great resources you shared; my parents are in Germany, so not sure how all that will work once we get to that point, but great tips and totally gave me something to think about. Thanks for the post…

  • July 30, 2013 at 6:20 pm
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    Thanks for sharing these resources, luckily we have some time to plan and start considering what our options might be. It’s always good to be prepared, that is for sure. Thanks for sharing this topic!

  • July 30, 2013 at 5:25 pm
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    My mom already lives with me, but she is very active and acts younger than me most of the time. LOL It’s hard to imagine her needing help taking care of herself, but I know that the day will eventually come.

  • July 30, 2013 at 1:26 pm
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    This is something no “child” at any age wants to think about, yet it really is very important. Thanks for sharing your story to help others be aware of the hurdles you went through to maybe make it less difficult (if possible) for them.

  • July 30, 2013 at 1:09 pm
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    I hope to be able to have my parents live with me when they need to.

  • July 30, 2013 at 12:26 pm
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    I always thought that I would have my parents live with me or get them homecare. We’re not to that point just yet, but it isn’t that far off either. I hate thinking about it and just hope it all works out. I do not want to put them in a nursing home, but sometimes that’s the only option.

  • July 30, 2013 at 11:57 am
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    This is such a tough one – even when an older parent can live with loved ones for a time, if they have a serious illness they may get to a point where they medically require professional care in a hospital or nursing home 24/7, no matter how much the family want them home. The cost is truly scary! Each situation is so different. It’s something that I think about with many members of our family, because I think waay into the future, haha; I don’t have any perfect solutions but I’m doing my best to build security for myself so I’ll be in a better position to help the rest of the family when they need it.

  • July 30, 2013 at 11:47 am
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    I worry about this a little bit for myself. I don’t have enough savings to last years and years if I should need care, but I can’t bear to burden my children. I really need to get to planning.

  • July 30, 2013 at 11:28 am
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    My father is at this stage and it is very difficult to decide what to do.

  • July 30, 2013 at 11:26 am
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    So many things to think about and plan for. My FIL is showing early signs of Dementia, so we’ve been thinking of this a lot these days.

  • July 30, 2013 at 11:24 am
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    Thanks for sharing. This is such a tricky topic, especially when our parents are not honest with us about their finances and future right now when it honesty matters and will help us a lot. I’m going to share this post with our parents to see if they will reconsider working on planning with us.

  • July 30, 2013 at 11:18 am
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    My parents live with my sister since she always lived next door so the transition was easier. I’ve cared for two friends and the health costs are expensive no matter how well you save.

  • July 30, 2013 at 10:09 am
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    My mom already lives with us so we would continue with that I’m sure. But I’ve seen my dad have to make quick plans for his parents. It was a huge challenge and very stressful.

  • July 30, 2013 at 10:00 am
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    This is a very tough situation, as my Mother is now at this stage. But most of us live too far away to step in and care for her. And moving her is not an option. And we can’t move closer to her because there are no job options. It’s so difficult because we can’t afford the nursing home, nor can we afford the in home care. It’s far too expensive and her insurance doesn’t help one penny. It’s a bit frustrating.

    It’s something we never thought much of until it was a bit too late.

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