One of the things that it can be important for a person to think about in relation to planning for the future and estate planning is the potential of them needing long-term care or other costly medical care later in life. Sadly though, there are many individuals who don't put a great deal of focus on long-term care planning.
There are many things that could potentially lead to a person ignoring long-term care planning. One is an assumption that, if they do end up facing long-term care costs, their own assets and finances will be able to handle the costs just fine. A recent survey indicates that such an assumption might be particularly common among the very wealthy.
In the survey, 640 wealthy individuals were asked various questions about medical care and medical care planning. Each of the surveyed individuals had investible assets in excess of $3 million.
Of the surveyed individuals, only around half said they had done much in the way of advanced planning for future long-term care. However, despite this, a fair number of the survey respondents (around 70 percent) said they did feel that they were financially ready to handle current and future medical costs.
Just as can be the case with individuals with more modest incomes, an assumption by a wealthy person that their own assets and finances will be able to comfortably address the costs of their future long-term care needs can sometimes end up being quite wrong. Long-term care costs can be very high and thus can potentially create major financial problems and concerns even for those with a fairly high amount of assets.
Thus, long-term care planning can be a very important thing for individuals of all different sorts of economic levels, including the very rich. Attorneys can help individuals with finding long-term care planning strategies that are a good match for their financial situation and their overall care planning goals.
Source: CNBC, "Wealthy need to worry about health costs, too," Bertha Coombs, May 28, 2015