What Does It Cost? Staying In Your Home Versus Moving To A Life Plan Community

Although continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs, or life plan communities) offer residents many conveniences and amenities, the top reason that seniors decide to move to one of these communities is the full continuum of care services. In fact, according to the 2019 myLifeSite Consumer Survey, this access to care is the number one reason that people choose a CCRC over other senior living options.

However, looking at the survey results, there are factors that are holding people back from making a decision about a CCRC or causing them to delay their move to one. Top on that list is that prospective residents simply don’t think they are old enough to move to a CCRC yet (46.6 percent of respondents). But second on the list of things that are holding people back is concerns about the long-term affordability of living in a CCRC (41.9 percent of respondents).

Is It Really Cheaper to Stay in Your Home?

We often hear people say that, while they would like to move to a CCRC or Life Care Community like Sierra Winds, they believe staying in their home will be less expensive on a month-to-month basis. But is this actually the case? Maybe, maybe not.

The first thing to consider is your current home’s mortgage or rent, which is most people’s biggest monthly expense. Of course, many seniors are living in a home that has already been paid off. In this case, the equity is a common source of funding for a CCRC entry fee as well as potentially the monthly fees charged by a CCRC.

Utilities are another considerable expense for those who live on their own. The cost for your home’s power, water, phone, cable, internet, and other utilities can add up pretty fast. When living in a CCRC or other retirement community, these costs may be rolled into your monthly fee.

Homeowners insurance and property taxes can be quite expensive for homeowners, especially in high-tax states.

Other miscellaneous costs that come with owning a home, like trash removal, HOA fees, lawn and landscaping services, housekeeping services, gym memberships, and most home repair costs, will also likely be included in the monthly fee for the majority of CCRCs.

As for your monthly food expense—almost all CCRCs will include at least one meal per day as part of the monthly fee, but meal plans are becoming more flexible and the options can vary from one community to the next.

The Biggest Difference in Costs

When calculating the cost of moving to a CCRC versus staying in your home, perhaps the number one cost to consider is care services. Generally speaking, there are two options for in-home care: either hire someone to provide the services you need or have an unpaid loved one perform those duties.

The Genworth 2015 Annual Cost of Care Study revealed that the 2015 median hourly cost for homemaker or home health aide services hired from a home care agency is $19.50 and $20, respectively. In-home skilled nursing care (usually from an RN) can range from $13-30 per hour.

So, for just 20 hours of in-home care per week (part-time care), the cost can range from around $1,600 to $2,400 each month. That’s a hefty tab, but the cost of having an unpaid loved one serve as caregiver can be even greater.

According to Caregiving in the U.S. 2015, a joint research study between the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, in the prior 12 months, approximately 34.2 million Americans have provided unpaid care to a loved one age 50 or older. And studies from the National Alliance for Caregiving revealed that, over their lifetime, the average unpaid family caregiver loses approximately $300,000 in wages and benefits.

In addition to these financial losses, there are other well-documented non-monetary costs often experienced by these unpaid family caregivers such as higher stress, health issues, and time away from other family members and friends.

So, staying in your home, with the long-term assistance of a loved one, may or may not save you money as compared to moving to a CCRC, but people often don’t realize that those costs actually get transferred to the next generation in the form of lost wages and benefits, as well as health impacts.

Calculate the Cost Difference for Yourself

To help you get a better idea of the real monthly cost of remaining in your home as compared to moving to a CCRC, MyLifeSite has prepared a simple “Monthly Cost Impact of Moving to a Retirement Community” downloadable worksheet (PDF). You can fill in those values for your particular home situation. Then, go through this worksheet with the senior living communities you are considering, like Sierra Winds, to get a full picture of what the side-by-side cost difference really is. Quite often people find that the monthly difference is much less than they thought. In fact, some actually find that they will save money each month.

It’s important to note that the cost of assisted living or healthcare services would be in addition to the expenses listed within this worksheet, but this is true of staying in your home or living in a retirement community. However, as it relates to CCRCs, the cost of such care services may be included in your monthly fee, depending upon which type of contract you have.

Want to Learn More about Long-term Affordability?

In addition to the worksheet above, myLifeSite has an interactive financial tool that projects the long-term financial impact of moving to a CCRC or other retirement community. It incorporates not only your month-to-month expenses but also the impact on your savings and assets over a lifetime. If you plan to use this tool, it will be helpful to have on hand the community’s pricing, as well as other basic information such as your approximate level of savings, investments, and income. Create your myLifeSite profile to get started.

The above article was written by Brad Breeding of myLifeSite and is legally licensed for use.

Want to See How Sierra Winds Compares?

Call (623) 738-2962 to schedule a no-obligation consultation and complimentary lunch in the Sierra Bistro. We’ll answer all your questions about planning for your future and the benefits of Life Care at Sierra Winds.