This week, the slap might be more aptly titled “a good swift kick in the pants.” And it goes out to almost all of us in or entering retirement who haven’t done any planning about when we’re unable to take care of ourselves.

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, when you work in current life expectancies and consider the fact that 70% of us will require some type of long-term care, the chance of having enough money to make it through retirement drops from 99% to 59%. And that assumes you have funded your plan.

[ad#Google Adsense 336×280-IA]Not pretty, right? But here’s the big kick in the pants: Those numbers are for the top earners in this country. You don’t even want to think about what the numbers look like for the average guy.

According to Genworth, the median cost for in-patient long-term care ranges from $43,000 to $91,000 a year… and that’s not for the concierge, high-level lifestyle depicted in most commercials.

And yet, less than 40% of us have even discussed how to handle this almost-guaranteed-to-happen situation with our advisors.

The only good news is that 90% of us want to stay at home as long as possible, and that reduces the cost by two-thirds. But that doesn’t get us out of the woods.

You’re still looking at about $20 per hour for in-home help with things like shopping, errands and light housework. At 12 hours a week for a part time person, that’s $12,480 a year.

Anybody got an extra 12 grand a year lying around they can afford to give away?

Round-the-clock in-home care quickly runs up as high as $175,000 a year.

So much for dying at home!

It is not a pretty picture, and when you consider that one person in an average couple has a 50% chance of living to the age of 92, “not pretty” just went to “really scary.”

I’m 62 and I can’t even imagine what it would be like to live another 30 years. If I feel like this now, what’s it going to be like in 30 more years?

Here’s a cartoon I found online that offers one of the few low-cost solutions.

If only.

See you next week.

Good investing,

Steve

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Source: Wealthy Retirement