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Publication #FAR9051

 

Family Factors Involved in Making Long-Term Care Financing Decisions1

Donna Davis and Josephine Turner2

Figure 1. 
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When visiting friends recently who had purchased a new condominium in a retirement community, they told us that when they made the move, their kids thought they were nuts. The children continued to fight the decision until they discovered that Mom and Dad were actually quite happy in their new home. This scenario is not uncommon among families who are dealing with changing life stages.

Multiple factors are known to influence family decisions related to financing long-term care. Marlene Stum, PhD, family social scientist with the University of Minnesota Extension Service, suggests families consider the following: Take time to identify and clarify individual and family later-life financial goals. It's also important that families are realistic about what resources are available to achieve those goals (Stum, 2003).

Families should also be aware of competing life demands. At the same time that someone needs long-term care, other family members may be facing their own life events, such as a divorce, job layoffs, or the birth of another child.

Additionally, when it comes to financing long-term care, individual family members may have very different interpretations regarding the costs of long-term care, who should be making the decisions, who can be trusted with the family's resources, and what are appropriate financing options. The more family members involved, the greater the potential for conflict within the family. Finding a trusted professional to help navigate the process may help some families make decisions with less conflict and greater confidence.

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/359.mp3

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/359.wav

Reference

Stum, M. (2003). Long term care and family decision-making: Identifying and addressing sources of conflict. Retrieved April 12, 2007, from http://www.financinglongtermcare.umn.edu/basics/carrying/factsheet/identifyconflict/identifyconflict2.htm [9 September 2012].

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR9051, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 359. Published March 2009. Reviewed September 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Donna Davis, senior producer, Family Album Radio, and Josephine Turner, professor, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.