Nevada residents may be interested to hear that baby boomers will pass down an estimated $30 trillion in wealth in the coming decades. However, these individuals will have to plan properly to ensure that rising long-term care costs don’t take away everything inside of their estates. Buying a long-term care insurance policy is seen as a particularly smart decision despite the cost of paying for it.
In addition to the high premiums some may pay, individuals may not fully understand how much long-term care will cost in the future. For instance, the median cost of an in-home health aid is $3,861 per month. While Medicare and Medicaid may provide some assistance, it won’t be enough on its own. Individuals may need to liquidate or spend down their own assets before they qualify for Medicaid while Medicare only provides some long-term care benefits.
In addition to considering the impact of long-term care costs, individuals may want to consider how they pass down their wealth. Parents looking to provide an inheritance to their children may wish to do so through a trust. A trust may contain language that stipulates when assets can be passed down or how they can be used.
Trust planning can be an effective way for individuals to preserve wealth for future generations. It may be structured in a way that helps an individual control how assets can be used in the future or help to reduce an estate’s tax burden. By using a trust, assets stay outside of an estate, which means that they may not need to go through probate. An attorney may be able to talk more about the benefits of trusts as part of a comprehensive estate plan.