With rising elder care costs, the Great Wealth Transfer won’t be so great
With rising elder care costs, the Great Wealth Transfer won’t be so great
Based on Federal Reserve data, Americans over 60 — that includes baby boomers and the Silent Generation — hold more than half of the nation’s wealth, amounting to around $96 trillion. For decades, economists, estate planners and families have anticipated a Great Wealth Transfer in which older generations would pass their money and other assets on to their children, mainly millennials and Gen Xers.
However, according to finance writer and Insider contributor Annie Logue, this doesn’t seem likely to happen. Due to the rising costs of living and long-term care, older generations are spending their wealth on themselves, without leaving much for their children. For an Insider article, Logue wrote, “Instead of an inheritance boom, the reality is that most Americans will not receive a vast fortune to ameliorate their grief.”
Logue spoke with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about how the costs of long-term care mean smaller inheritances, or none at all, for some families. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Kai Ryssdal: Tell me about your grandmother-in-law, Sue.
Annie Logue: Grandma Sue, yes. My husband took over her affairs after his grandfather died, and at that time, she was 87. She had some health issues. And she told Rick that he would inherit everything, everything, as soon as she died. And at that time, it would have been a fairly substantial amount of money. It would have been about a quarter of a million dollars. But that money was used to take care of her. She eventually spent all that money down, she eventually qualified for Medicaid, she died at the age of 98. And that is a fairly typical story because people live a long time and long-term care can be very expensive.
Ryssdal: Can we detour for just a second here into the idea of long-term care and the cost of it? First of all, it is, I think, it’s far more expensive than most people realize. But also, it does not appear that there are solutions to this.
Logue: Long-term care in the United States is paid for by a few main sources, the biggest one is out of pocket. The second is Medicaid. And what happens is a lot of retirees who have spent through their assets qualify. Some long-term care is provided by Medicare. And then some long-term care is paid for by the Veterans Administration [now called the Department of Veterans Affairs] for people who served. A lot of people got called up, did their two years and left, but they qualify for veterans benefits. All of those programs are looking at the coming increase in the population, and the planners are getting nervous.
Ryssdal: So this whole idea of the generational wealth transfer that we’ve been hearing about now for 20, 30-something years, that maybe it actually existed 30 years ago, when these pieces first started appearing, but it sort of doesn’t exist anymore.
Logue: It doesn’t exist for the vast majority of people.
Ryssdal: Right, yeah. What did your husband do when Grandma Sue departed?
Logue: Well, first of all, he was grateful that she had enough money that we didn’t have to help pay for her. And also that he was able to get good care for her. Most people want their elders to have a good life. So he was very grateful for that. I think when it all came down to it, he got about $2,000, and that went towards new windows in our dining room, which was, you know, a good thing, saved us some money. We’re in Chicago. So winters are a thing here. We’re also, like I said, very grateful that we were able to ensure that Grandma Sue had a good quality of life. But that costs money.
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