Oh I should clarify that I meant late health care could far exceed your tax concerns, not that it would alleviate them. Although my understanding is that once you’re broke and your savings and assets are gone, then the government will finally help you. At least in the US.
Ah, gotcha. Sorry, I read it as something a bit different! The joys of asynchronous Internet comms.
And yes, in general, if you have insufficient assets to pay for care, you can qualify for Medicaid, which will pick up the tab for assisted living or nursing home care. Done that with both my mother in law and father in law, neither of whom let us say were in the 1% and both of whom lived to ages that their generation never really considered likely. Medicaid is a complex beast, though, and my wife had to develop a good deal of arcane expertise to navigate the bureaucracy. In addition, only certain facilities take Medicaid, and as you might expect, it ain’t the Club Med ones.
My experience is that none of them really are. No matter how much an individual care giver wants to provide, the corporatization of these facilities means their staffs have to do more with less as the management pushes for efficiency. That means minimal staff to resident ratios and quantity over quality in materials and food.
I didn’t have much choice but I’ll always feel guilt over using them. Unless the family is completely incompetent or a bag of total assholes, facilities generally can’t care more than the family can.
Retirement talk revolves around money but just as important is health.
I give lectures on various topics (history, culture, etc.) at senior facilities off and on, and really enjoy it, as the residents are super engaged and really love it. Some of the places I’ve been are really nice, comparatively; they’re also the most expensive. Where my mother in law was (two different places), and my father in law were, not so much. Even the best, though, do have a certain vibe (and smell, to be blunt) that is less than encouraging. The quality and humanity of the people working there can be the saving grace (or not, as the case may be). As you note, institutional pressures towards cost containment mitigate against quality care.
I don’t feel at all guilty, though, not about moving either to a facility at least. Both my in-laws needed far more medical care than I or my wife could provide, not to mention we didn’t have the physical space or material resources to do that anyhow. The hard part was moving them from their long-time place of residence. In my father in law’s case, he was living in the house he was born in. That was tough.
Great of you to volunteer like that.
The memory care place we used had some good caregivers but they could only do so much when the residents have memory issues. I’m thankful for their efforts in any event. I guess i shouldn’t feel too bad about the whole thing. I too had logistical issues that made it very difficult to give care at home. Both my spouse and I worked, the children were in school, and my folks’ conditions were such that I couldn’t leave them alone in the house.
Yes. It’s one of the ways I can tell that a lot of the financial independence/early retirement people are young dreamers (there’s nothing wrong with that, just being realistic). I can tell that a lot of them haven’t gone through a big recession, where you cannot find work. They have not been in their mid-40s and 50s, and realized that no one is going to give them a chance in a new career/field anymore when they decide “maybe I do want to start working again.” Things like that.
After 24 1/2 years at Intel, I put out my retirement notice today. I’ve been looking forward to this date for so long, it’s hard to believe I finally made it.
In 2 weeks, I’m completely free to do whatever I want.
Amazing.
Congrats!
Very nice, you don’t hear or see people staying at company’s for more than 20 years anymore. Congrats on sticking with them.
Now you can retire to play video games. ;)
Congratulations! 24 years in one place seems like the stuff of yesteryear.
Congratulations! That’s a heck of a run. Enjoy your very well earned retirement.
Yes! Being able to play whenever will be great. Sometimes my OCD kicks in & I power through because I know I have a limited time to game, so I’m looking forward to gaming the same amount, but spread out more evenly!
Huzzah! Enjoy your gaming backlog, taking the camper out, putting a patio in your backyard, filling a backpack and being a hobo of leisure – whatever path you take, good luck! I hope to join you in three years. Let’s meet for croissants and espresso at a nice sidewalk cafe in Paris. They have at least two or three there!
Congratulations! You’re gonna love it.
I think I’ve mentioned it before, but when I was younger I thought I could work forever…now at 50 I’m like, “Damn, Corporate America is fucked up, get me out of here!”
Congratulations. Enjoy it.
Tower Defense backlog, you are dead!
Yeah, a weekend off isn’t enough anymore. The five day week seems so long. As I age I value time away from work more.
Congrats! That is indeed a long time at one employer. Enjoy your new phase of life!
I wrote this some time ago and have since learned more so thought I would update it.
We’re still in Ecuador and liking it very much, but we’re considering making a move to Spain in the next couple of years. It turns out that you can get a temporary residence visa for Spain which permits you to live there for up to 5 years. After that, you can apply for permanent residency provided you meet fairly stringent travel restrictions during the your stay.
To qualify you have to apply in advance and not be a crook etc, and you have to be able to prove sufficient income to live (looks to be about €30k for a couple) and you have to buy private health care coverage in Spain. The health care coverage is the toughest fit but it looks like a reasonable policy can be had for something like $300 per month for two people.
The only real challenge is the travel restriction. We want to travel, but it looks like you’re only allowed 10 months out of Spain over the 5 year period. I don’t think more time away invalidates your visa, but it does make you ineligible for the permanent residence later. If that’s the case, it’s not unworkable, but we have to have a plan to leave after 5 years rather than stay.
With that in mind, we’re thinking about moving there in about 2 years when we are 60, so that we time the end of the 5 years to coincide with our Medicare eligibility.
I guess pick a place in Spain that you really like staying at?
And does that travel only count for places outside the EU or Spain itself?
I like Spain a lot, but with C’s family in South Africa, we go there every year. With mine in the US, we have to go there every year. Doesn’t leakage much time for travel elsewhere.
I think if you leave Spain for anywhere — even the EU — it counts as travel. But we’ll find that stuff out in the visa process if we go ahead with the idea.