Financial Planning

As you research your senior living options, you will find that communities set up payment arrangements in different ways.

Typically, you will be required to sign a contract. Then, you will pay either a one-time entrance fee combined with monthly payments or you will pay according to a month-to-month payment plan or Fee Simple Plan. Depending on the community, convenience services, such as laundry, housekeeping, meal preparation, lawn maintenance, etc. may be included in your monthly fee or offered at an additional cost.

Research the ownership categories of the communities you're interested in to determine any impact on your costs. Senior Living communities typically fall into one of three ownership categories:

• Not-for-profit Communities are owned and operated by religious, charitable, fraternal or community organizations.
• For-profit Communities are owned and operated by individuals, partnerships or corporations.
• Government-owned Communities are owned and operated by a state, county or other public entity.

When you're gathering information, ask the tough financial questions. What's included in the monthly fee? Will there be periodic increases in my monthly fee? What services are provided on-site? If my financial situation changes and I can no longer pay my monthly fee, will I be forced to leave, transferred to a less costly facility, allowed to stay, or is there a different solution unique to your community? Will my one-time entrance fee be held in trust and returned to my beneficiaries after my death?

Finally, take the time to interview residents at the communities and their family members, read the community's annual report if it's for-profit, and go to www.Medicare.gov and look at a Nursing and Rehabilitation Center's Survey Report (report card), etc.

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