I will make two assumptions:
1. WBF population is more affluent than the general population of the world.
2. WBF population is older than the general population of the world.
Reason I started this thread is because I had personally witnessed two individuals close to me whose hard earned money did not really afford them the best last few days of their life.
guy number one was an immigrant like me, lived a frugal life and died with well over $200m under his name. he was at one point kept at a nursing home and was living exact same life as the homeless people thrown in the same facility/unit by the government social services. he was a very smart man, but did not plan for his advanced age adequately, and lived as if he’s gonna live forever till he 85. he worked till 87, he got into an accident and kids suddenly placed him in a nursing home because he was also starting to show signs of dementia. he could have hired nurses to watch him 24/7 but family didn’t. he died at 89
guy number two is still alive. currently 90 yrs old. he has 7 children. his wife passed away in 2019, he now has dementia. he appointed one of his children to be in charge of his personal (directive) care, and also the executor of his will etc etc. he is living with this daughter, who hired caregivers to take care of him 24/7. this daughter want to unload some of his assets to pay for care, but his other children are preventing her to do so by invoking their right to 50% of their estate (maybe for fear of losing or reducing their inheritance) and are doing everything so she could not sell anything. their assets are in a country that has this law wherein the children automatically becomes the co-owners of 50% of the estate upon death of one of the spouses. they did not want to talk about will when his wife was still alive. they both assumed their children and grandchildren will take care of them. it didn’t happen as only 1 of the 7 showed genuine interest for his well being.
me and my wife have plans in place, and while what we want to do is not totally parallel, it is reconcile-able. one thing for sure is we will do our best not to be a burden to our children and will also have a plan in place for our well being just in case our children will not take care of us. we have saved enough to afford to hire personal caregivers for a number of years even if we are confined in a nursing home.. but so far, the plan is to stay in our house as long as we can, and hire people to do things for us in our advanced age.
who will take care of you when your spouse is no longer around or able to? who will take care of you when you and your spouse are old and vulnerable? how will you ensure your kids will take care of you?
getting old with no money is scary, but getting old with a lot of money can also be scarier. a lot of people in my circle (60-70 yrs old) have no clear exit plan. we took care of an aunt and visited her at the nursing home a lot, not a pretty sight. some people had said borrow a lot of money so that there will be people praying that you stay well and alive. sometimes people will wish you dead when you have a lot of money.
my wife is very clear, she only want to live up to 80 yrs old if she is no longer healthy, she is a firm supporter of MAID.
my grandmother who was a very religious person always believed that you can request to God for a quick and dignified death, same as one of my uncles. she died of heart attack while doing laundry, leaned on one side and died with no drama. the person next to her thought she just fell asleep. my uncle was hospitalized for slight pneumonia, my auntie was feeding him dinner, she turned around to get his water, he was dead when he turned back towards him. if I could plan my exit, this is the way I want to go.
1. WBF population is more affluent than the general population of the world.
2. WBF population is older than the general population of the world.
Reason I started this thread is because I had personally witnessed two individuals close to me whose hard earned money did not really afford them the best last few days of their life.
guy number one was an immigrant like me, lived a frugal life and died with well over $200m under his name. he was at one point kept at a nursing home and was living exact same life as the homeless people thrown in the same facility/unit by the government social services. he was a very smart man, but did not plan for his advanced age adequately, and lived as if he’s gonna live forever till he 85. he worked till 87, he got into an accident and kids suddenly placed him in a nursing home because he was also starting to show signs of dementia. he could have hired nurses to watch him 24/7 but family didn’t. he died at 89
guy number two is still alive. currently 90 yrs old. he has 7 children. his wife passed away in 2019, he now has dementia. he appointed one of his children to be in charge of his personal (directive) care, and also the executor of his will etc etc. he is living with this daughter, who hired caregivers to take care of him 24/7. this daughter want to unload some of his assets to pay for care, but his other children are preventing her to do so by invoking their right to 50% of their estate (maybe for fear of losing or reducing their inheritance) and are doing everything so she could not sell anything. their assets are in a country that has this law wherein the children automatically becomes the co-owners of 50% of the estate upon death of one of the spouses. they did not want to talk about will when his wife was still alive. they both assumed their children and grandchildren will take care of them. it didn’t happen as only 1 of the 7 showed genuine interest for his well being.
me and my wife have plans in place, and while what we want to do is not totally parallel, it is reconcile-able. one thing for sure is we will do our best not to be a burden to our children and will also have a plan in place for our well being just in case our children will not take care of us. we have saved enough to afford to hire personal caregivers for a number of years even if we are confined in a nursing home.. but so far, the plan is to stay in our house as long as we can, and hire people to do things for us in our advanced age.
who will take care of you when your spouse is no longer around or able to? who will take care of you when you and your spouse are old and vulnerable? how will you ensure your kids will take care of you?
getting old with no money is scary, but getting old with a lot of money can also be scarier. a lot of people in my circle (60-70 yrs old) have no clear exit plan. we took care of an aunt and visited her at the nursing home a lot, not a pretty sight. some people had said borrow a lot of money so that there will be people praying that you stay well and alive. sometimes people will wish you dead when you have a lot of money.
my wife is very clear, she only want to live up to 80 yrs old if she is no longer healthy, she is a firm supporter of MAID.
my grandmother who was a very religious person always believed that you can request to God for a quick and dignified death, same as one of my uncles. she died of heart attack while doing laundry, leaned on one side and died with no drama. the person next to her thought she just fell asleep. my uncle was hospitalized for slight pneumonia, my auntie was feeding him dinner, she turned around to get his water, he was dead when he turned back towards him. if I could plan my exit, this is the way I want to go.
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