Budgeting
Home Healthcare and Nursing-Home Costs Add to Retirement Burden
Kiplinger News
October 25, 2010
Already, the Employee Benefits Research Institute says, Americans are facing a severe retirement-savings shortfall - a situation that's made even direr when nursing-home and home healthcare costs are added to the mix.
The average savings shortfall for people between the ages of 36 and 62 is nearly $47,000. That estimate doesn't take into account the costs of nursing-home care or home-health services, however.
The average married couple would need to save $25,317 more to account for those expenses. Single people face an even greater burden: For single men, the shortfall is $32,433; for single women, it's $46,425.
Another expense to consider is the cost of healthcare. While Medicare is offered to Americans older than 65, the program only covers 50 to 60 percent of the average retiree's healthcare costs, the EBRI says.
With the hidden costs of retirement so substantial, it's little surprise that few people expect to be able to live comfortably after they stop working. Just 16 percent of people are "very" confident they'll have enough in retirement; 46 percent, by contrast, are "not too" or "not at all" confident their savings will be adequate.
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