Lets do a quick case study... (this is the type of thing that I deal with on a regular basis)
Your grandmother, who is 75 is healthy as can be, she 90 lbs and shes been caring for your grandfather whos 85… his life expectancy is around 5 years, hers is closer to 10…
They have $150,000 in cash assets, and a $100,000 residence (a house if you will)
Grandpa weighs 220lbs, and other than a little dementia has been a breeze for granny to take care of, except last week he fell and broke his hip and wont walk (well; if at all) again for the rest of his life.
Granny cant lift him, so she hires help 7 days a week, 4 hours, a day (just to put him to bed and wake him up, to get him in his wheelchair)… which costs about 500 a week… or 2k a month… which pretty much eats up ALL of their monthly income. How can they afford to eat? how can they afford to pay their bills?
Well, they can spend down their assets, and when it hits an allowable rate, qualify for medicaid, VA benefits, etc etc… Or with some advice, they can qualify for all of the above right now and have an extra 1500-3000 a month to help pay for said benefits. They can use an attorney for this advice (around her attorneys charge 5,000-20,000 for an elder law case)
I would hope you would make her aware of these benefits, because god forbid that grandpa goes into a nursing home, that 150k will be burned through in a matter a year or so. And if you’re a poor planner, grandma is going to be left with nothing when grandpa dies, and then she’ll have her income cut in half when she loses his social security. (good luck paying all your bills on $1000 a month, especially if she gets sick now and she needs assistance, after all she’s been stressed to the max up until grandpas untimely death)
And for the next 10 years of her life, she’ll live below the poverty line… Not exactly a great plan if you asked me… she will most likely move in with her kids when she comes to the realization that her house is unaffordable. (Hopefully, it will have enough equity in it for her to sell it and profit some)
I see this EVERY day.