re: 80 years old - 100k

You should all convince her to leave you enough $ to manage her final arrangements and spend every last dollar on herself

Rental property is the easy choice here...

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Yep. Same with my grandmother. 90k gone in 18 months in a nursing home. Kinda crazy, people like my grandmother who was a teacher for almost 50 years, very frugal and saved every penny. Making a low income as a teacher she somehow managed to save 150k. Couple of years in assisted living and 1.5 in a nursing home, 50 years of saving every penny was gone.

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He had the money, why should it not be used to pay for his care? I am retired, but have taken steps to assure I have enough money to take care of assisted living or nursing home should I need it, if I don't use it my kids can have it, but that is secondary to my care.

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This is it, in a nutshell. Your elder saved his/her funds and was frugal. If round-the-clock care becomes necessary, that’s what the funds are for. Why is it such a shock to the potential heirs that much money is needed if no one in the family steps up to provide the care? If the assets are major, then wealth preservation should have been part of estate planning.

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I also prepared to take care of myself because I don't want to be any type of burden to my children, regardless of what they may say, they will be much happier spending their time pursuing their own interests instead of caring for me. I would also hate to end up where the only option for nursing home care would be what could be obtained through Medicaid.

I’ll ask again in this thread: what’s yalls experience with long term care insurance?

I have a relative who has held a long-term care policy for the last 20 years or so. She recently received some mail saying that the company had basically become insolvent and offered her a couple of options (i.e. drastically decreased benefits, cash buyout, etc.). I have to wonder what the folks who are currently depending on benefits from a similar policy are getting. The whole thing just smacks of a giant scam, IMO.

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She’s petrified of the stock market and wants to have the vast majority of the 100k available to her kids when she passes.

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I'd simply repeat my initial post on this topic. If that is her true desire, then do what you can to satisfy that desire, while making her future care a priority in the plan. Since she needs about $300/month and wants very limited risk, an annuity may be a viable option, or maybe a savings vehicle combined with a partial drawdown of the principal. Probably several things she could look at. But I think you should consult with a financial planner/advisor who has experience in this area. That's what my parents did a long time ago. Whatever she does, it's important to do it right.

There may come a time when more of the decisions relating to her care may fall on you or other family members. Given her age, her options are more limited now than when she was 50 (securing long term care insurance, for instance). And without putting too fine a point on it, it most certainly is not as all or none as some are making it seem in this thread. I don't know what the situation is in Louisiana, but in my state, apart from certain higher end private facilities that don't take Medicaid, there's NO difference (within the same facility) between the care given to private pay residents vs. those who are 100% Medicaid or partial Medicaid plus private pay (as in paying extra for a private room). The facility where my mother is just received an award from U.S. News & World Report for Best Long Term Care in VA. It's much higher rated than a private pay (only) facility that's less than 20 miles away. So that's definitely not a factor that I'd use to judge facilities or care quality.

My parents protected their assets about 20 years ago. The assets are still there and fully available to my mother (through me), now that my dad is deceased. It's just a question of how the assets are held/titled. It most certainly was not the case that I encouraged them to do things this way. I didn't and don't need the money. But that was their desire. They did it. And now I see that my mother has the very best care that is available. If there comes a time when the assets that I direct are exhausted or aren't enough to satisfy additional (non covered) care items, then I'll spend my own money - just as I did when my mother was still able to live at home and I hired a caretaker.

Desire aside, not everyone has five brothers and sisters or a family unit that's even capable of caring for an elderly family member in failing health (especially if we're talking about strokes, dementia or Alzheimer's). As for trusting that the money would be spent properly for care, any family member that I wouldn't trust with my money (in trust or where ever), I equally wouldn't trust them to take care of me in their home.

Does the current situation relating to long term care in this country suck? Yes. But I wouldn't (and don't) give a second thought to that argument right now. Just do what your grandmother wants, and do your best to not stress her while you're looking out for her best interests. That's really all that matters.

LTC companies are realizing a ridiculously higher claims percentage than they anticipated.

They assumed a lapse rate somewhere in the 20-25% range. The actual lapse rate has been under 4%. The exposure could be catastrophic.

It has crushed Genworth (the spinoff). They have been bought by a Chinese company. Happy birthday America!

If all she needs is 300 bucks a month, and income annuities is not the wrong route at all. It could easily generate twice this, and some of them even allow 3% for inflation adjustment