Four Tips for Dealing With Life-Altering Health Conditions
Plenty of health conditions can change your life, even when they’re not terminal. Making appropriate adjustments can help you age in place longer.
“But other than that, I am in perfect health!” I heard these words from my 95-year-old grandmother when I called her recently. She is, in fact, in remarkably good health for her age, but her diagnosis of macular degeneration about 20 years ago and her acute hearing loss have dramatically changed how she now lives her life. She lived independently into her 80s, but when she began to experience more issues with her vision, our family knew we would need to make some adjustments and plan for her care in the future.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, low vision and blindness are the leading causes of disability in the United States. Nearly 500,000 people were diagnosed with low vision this year, and a recent JAMA Ophthalmology study reports that low vision and blindness are expected to double in the next 30 years, with 2.3 million people expected to be blind and more than 9.5 million living with low vision.
What do you do when you or a loved one are diagnosed with a health condition — such as low vision, severe hearing loss or a physical impairment — that is not terminal but can dramatically alter the way life is lived in the future? Not surprisingly, making changes in your physical environment are usually involved, but changes to your financial plan may also be necessary to properly manage a long-term chronic health condition or expected diminished physical capabilities.
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Whether it’s planning for future in-home care services or working together as a family to prepare and budget for long-term health care costs, creating an updated financial plan is a critical component of managing long-term health conditions.
1. Look for resources.
For many conditions, there may be aid available that can be used to help improve or cope with limitations. To help my grandmother, we found a low-vision specialist in her community who outfitted her with high-magnification glasses and ordered a table-top magnification device, along with a very bright desk lamp, that allowed her to continue to both manage her own bills and read books for several years.
After reading became too challenging, she turned to audiobooks available from the public library. We worked on her budget to accommodate the cost of the glasses and devices, which were not covered by insurance, but improved her worsening vision for an extended period and were worth the added costs.
2. Make living spaces safer.
The biggest risk to my grandmother was that she might fall if she couldn’t see something on the floor or ran into something in her way. We looked at the most frequent pathways she walked between rooms in her home and realized that a decorative half wall in her entry was a hazard.
We hired a contractor to remove the half wall and replace the flooring to remove the obstacle and give her more space to walk. Again, it was an additional expense, but it made it possible for her to be safer in her home.
3. Adjust lifestyle expenses.
It was clear that it was not wise for my grandmother to be driving, so we sold her car and used the funds in her budget that she had earmarked for auto maintenance and gas to be used instead for rideshare services to maintain her independence for spontaneous trips and connected her with the community senior center bus service for planned outings with friends.
4. Modify timelines and expected costs for future care.
My family knew that it was highly likely that my grandmother would require skilled care at some point. When her vision limitations began to surface, we adjusted our plan from having her move to a live-in health care setting in the future to implementing in-home assistance right away. We started with having a caregiver come a few times a week to help with general household tasks like grocery shopping, cooking and laundry.
After my grandmother started to have trouble navigating her home in the evenings due to lower light levels, we had a family meeting, and she decided to move in with one of my uncles. She is still fairly independent and is able to handle her own personal care, such as getting dressed and eating, but simply having other people in the house with her makes the situation safer and easier for her.
When she can’t handle her personal care any longer, we plan to have her move to an assisted living facility and will use the money she is saving by living with my uncle to help fund those future costs.
A health diagnosis that is life altering can be difficult to accept at first, but with careful financial planning and research on what alternatives may be helpful to enhance your lifestyle and needs, you can make the best of the situation. Your financial adviser can be a valuable resource as you make any transitions needed.
Kara Duckworth is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional at Mercer Advisors. The opinions expressed by the author are her own and are not intended to serve as specific financial, accounting, or tax advice. They reflect the judgment of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change. The information is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed or warranted by Mercer Advisors. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and delivers all investment-related services. Mercer Advisors Inc. is a parent company of Mercer Global Advisors Inc. and is not involved with investment services.
Related Content
- What Gen X Needs to Know About Their Aging Parents' Finances
- No Long-Term Care Plan? Here’s What to Do About It
- Long-Term Care Insurance Quandary: Keep Paying or Let It Go?
- Are You Afraid to Retire Even Though You Can Afford To?
- Financial Planning Now That Your New Baby Has Arrived
-
4 Great Tools to DIY Your Own Financial PlanSmart Savings Several tools picked out by Kiplinger that DIYers can use to make their own financial plan.
-
The 7-Month Deadline That Sets Your Lifetime Medicare PremiumsUnderstanding Medicare enrollment is crucial, as missing deadlines can lead to permanent late enrollment penalties and gaps in coverage.
-
Retirees Living in Portugal: You Need a Post-NHR Tax StrategyWhen your 10-year Non-Habitual Resident tax break ends, you could see your tax rate soar. Take steps to plan for this change well before the NHR window closes.
-
If You're a U.S. Retiree Living in Portugal, Your Tax Plan Needs a Post-NHR Strategy ASAP
When your 10-year Non-Habitual Resident tax break ends, you could see your tax rate soar. Take steps to plan for this change well before the NHR window closes.
-
Could Target-Date Funds With Built-In Income Guarantees Be the Next Evolution in Retirement Planning?With target-date funds falling short on income certainty, retirement plans should integrate guaranteed income solutions. Here is what participants can do.
-
Your Year-End Tax and Estate Planning Review Just Got UrgentChanging tax rules and falling interest rates mean financial planning is more important than ever as 2025 ends. There's still time to make these five key moves.
-
What Makes This Business So Successful? We Find Out From the Founder's KidsThe children of Morgan Clayton share how their father's wisdom, life experience and caring nature have turned their family business into a respected powerhouse.
-
Past Performance Is Not Indicative of Your Financial Adviser's ExpertiseMany people find a financial adviser by searching online or asking for referrals from friends or family. This can actually end up costing you big-time.
-
I'm a Financial Planner: If You're Not Doing Roth Conversions, You Need to Read ThisRoth conversions and other Roth strategies can be complex, but don't dismiss these tax planning tools outright. They could really work for you and your heirs.
-
Could Traditional Retirement Expectations Be Killing Us? A Retirement Psychologist Makes the CaseA retirement psychologist makes the case: A fulfilling retirement begins with a blueprint for living, rather than simply the accumulation of a large nest egg.
-
I'm a Financial Adviser: This Is How You Can Adapt to Social Security UncertaintyRather than letting the unknowns make you anxious, focus on building a flexible income strategy that can adapt to possible future Social Security changes.
