How should money be spent during a senior loved one’s move? It’s very emotional and sensitive time, with parents and their adult children having different perspectives and agendas.
Rebecca Bomann, the CEO of SASH Services, and Suzanne Newman talk about these perspectives. Adult children are worried about the parents’ money lasting long enough for their care. They worry that they might have to mortgage their own home in a few years to pay for their Mom’s care. Unless parents have set aside a nest egg, it’s a concern because the cost of care is so high that proceeds from a home sale might only pay for care for a handful of years. Sometimes they don’t want their parent to sell the home because they expect that home to be there for them when their loved one passes away.
Meanwhile, what’s best for Mom in her situation? She’s alone, doesn’t see friends, needs social activities, needs medical care, the home has become too much to care for, and the home needs to be sold to fund further care. Sometimes mom intends to bequeath her home to her family, and she places her sense of duty above her own care.