Compare one, three and five years of professional care, projected to the age it may be needed.
WAR CHEST / Long-Term Care
Could long-term care drain our retirement savings?
Long-term care can put two retirements at risk. An X-Ray could reveal how much an unexpected event might consume—and whether shifting some risk could be worthwhile.
Explore whether this applies to you ↓
Practical Example
MEET PAPA JOE / A FICTIONAL EXAMPLE
Care for the person. Protect the choices.
Papa Joe wants his family to have choices if he needs care. He explores an assumed funding gap without treating any coverage illustration as a product quote.
THE STARTING POINT
$60,000 additional annual care cost for three years.
THE POSSIBILITY TO TEST
Eligible policy pays assumed $40,000/year for three years.
ILLUSTRATIVE POTENTIAL / TEN PREMIUM YEARS, THEN THREE-YEAR CARE EVENT$80,000
Potential net event-date funding difference
Conditional care protection. This is one hypothetical comparison, not a promised improvement.
See the napkin math and what could change the outcome
The assumptions
Gross benefit: $40,000 × 3 = $120,000. Subtract ten $4,000 premiums = $40,000; illustrative net nominal difference $80,000. Premium opportunity cost excluded.
The trade-offs
Not a quote. Trigger, waiting period, benefit duration and underwriting must match. Event-date result excludes foregone growth, taxes and premium changes. No care event means premiums cost money without an assumed payout.
Open the full-size illustrated example ↗YOUR TURN / TWO SIMPLE STEPS
Could this deserve a closer look?
First, check practical fit. Then explore hypothetical numbers. A professional helps determine what belongs in your whole plan.
Independent fictional Papa Joe scenario. Educational feasibility illustration, not your situation, a forecast, product quote or recommendation. All assumptions need professional verification; do not add examples together. Independent examples can overlap; do not add their benefits together.
Explore my whole picture in the Retirement X-Ray Demo →Care can change two retirements.
Model reduced household income, additional retirement withdrawals and years of remaining resources.
Compare self-funding against an illustrative asset-backed protection design—including no-care outcomes.
ⓘ What are the odds of needing care?
In an HHS historical study, about 70% of people surviving to age 65 developed severe long-term support needs; 48% received some paid care. Most paid-care episodes were shorter; this is not the odds of a five-year nursing-home stay.
ⓘ 2025 national cost of care
Nursing home private room: $129,575/year. Assisted living: $74,400/year. In-home nonmedical help (44 hours/week): $80,080/year. National medians vary significantly by area.
ⓘ Doesn't Medicare pay for it?
Medicare generally doesn't pay for ongoing custodial long-term care. Medicaid may pay for qualifying care if financial and other eligibility rules are met. Never assume either pays a particular future care bill.
War Room / Long-Term Care & Legacy X-Ray
What could a care event take from the retirement you built?
3-year care bill at future care age
Before reimbursement, household offsets and tax effects.
Retirement assets with self-funding
At the selected ending age, in nominal projected dollars.
Retirement assets with asset-backed design
Includes modeled survivor death-benefit proceeds when applicable.
One year, three years, or five years of care?
| Care duration | Projected care bill | Self-funded ending assets | Hybrid ending assets | Additional survivor assets / (cost) |
|---|
Same starting household money. Hybrid capital is removed from investable assets at the start; remaining death benefits are recognized at the first death for couples. Ending assets are not guaranteed and may hide an income shortfall, which is flagged below.
What happens if neither of you ever needs care?
Keep the money invested
Illustrative final resources with no care costs.
Reposition money into hybrid protection
Illustrative final resources with no care claim.
Difference, with no claim
Positive favors hybrid, negative favors keeping assets invested.
How much risk might actually transfer?
| 3-year illustration | Self-fund | Asset-backed hybrid | Traditional coverage |
|---|
A paid benefit is NOT equal to added household wealth. The calculation also reflects premiums/capital committed, missed portfolio growth, taxes and the remaining death benefit assumptions.
What should the family consider next?
ⓘ Assumptions, formulas and limitations
Projected care costs use 2025 CareScout national medians, a user-controlled local cost factor and yearly inflation. We subtract a share of ordinary living costs assumed replaced by care. We then fund the uncovered amount and ordinary household shortfall from retirement investments using a simplified effective tax gross-up. We show no-care and care outcomes using matched spouse-death timing.
These are fixed-return illustrations. The model does not calculate Medicaid eligibility, policy premiums or guaranteed cash values, tax deductions for qualified LTC expenses, actual insurance claims, market sequence risk, home equity, state income taxes, IRMAA or stochastic probabilities.