**This is a Guest Post by Genworth Financial.  All writings and opinions are my own.  Please see my Disclosure statement for more information.**

As I age, gracefully and with a smile, I might add, I am more and more aware of the things in life that are most important.  No longer do I need the nicest, largest house, the best furniture, the most updated cell phone – OK, that I need but mostly for work.

I no longer aim to spend a ton on a name brand when I could get the same thing without the ‘label’ and I am not ashamed to use coupons, discount codes and loyalty points to walk out of a place for less than anyone else.  The Joneses can have all of their fancy stuff.  I am buying discount, purging my home and life of things I don’t need nor want anymore, and simplifying as I enter the second phase of my life.

But one thing I am starting to really think about is long term care.  Not only for my own security in retirement, but for my children’s security in their adulthood as well.  I mean, obviously, they will all want their amazing mom to live with them when she is older, but to prevent fights, I need to plan for other options.

 

Luckily, the folks at Genworth have some great information to help me plan for the day when I need a place to stay, money to pay for it and the wherewithal to make that decision without being a burden to my children. I would hate for any of my girls to have to change their lives in order to accommodate me if they truly don’t want to.

And if I were to ‘meet someone’ some day and remarry or plan a life with him, I would be the primary caregiver through our lives, as this article Long Term Care is a Woman’s Issue discusses.  So no matter what happens in my life, I still will need a solid plan on what to do about me when that time comes.

So, instead of trying to go out and buy the newest car, have the fanciest vacation and the best summer camps for my kids, I will be trying to come up with a way to plan and save for that inevitable future that will probably include long term care for me or someone I love.  And the Joneses can keep to themselves the knowledge that if they had planned better instead of spending it all, they would been better prepared as well!

Have you started thinking about what will happen when you are older and don’t care to live alone anymore?  Do you have any great tips for planning for long term care?  I’d love to hear them!

**This is a Guest Post by Genworth Financial.  All writings and opinions are my own.  Please see my Disclosure statement for more information.**