Turns out most of us (over 75 per cent) would rather think about what we want when we’re no longer here, according to a study by the US branch of Home Instead Senior Care.
Their survey, which looked at two groups – one aged 45 to 69 and the second aged over 75, found while 73 per cent had taken financial steps to prepare for later life, only 13 per cent had saved financially for their long-term care.
Over half the respondents who said they had made plans hadn’t actually made any arrangements either – mainly because they are still in good health (54 per cent) and they trust their loved ones to handle their arrangements for them (48 per cent).
It tallies with my own experience among family and friends of a similar age. We often know what songs we would like played or who we would like to speak at our final farewell, but ask us whether we have thought about home care or how we are going to fund our aged care and we have no answers.
Forward thinking
To get the conversation going, Home Instead have come up with a great list of questions for people to consider:
- How do you want to live your final years?
- Where do you want to live?
- What’s your plan if you need help?
- Do you know the cost?
- Are products and services available to support a plan?
- Is your plan flexible?
Interestingly, the research also revealed older parents were a lot more comfortable (89 per cent) than their children in discussing their plans (68 per cent). I understand this too – none of us wants to think about their parents getting older.
But it’s time for all of us to start talking about aged care and what will happen if we do need extra support.
You’ll know your family are respecting your wishes and everyone can be comfortable in their decision-making – isn’t that what we all want?
You can find more information about planning for aged care and the legal and financial documents you should have in place on agedcare101 here.
