Eldercare Financial Planning
Eldercare financial planning for families in the thick of it
Maybe Dad fell. Maybe the rehab stay ends Friday and the facility wants an answer, and a five-figure monthly check, by Monday. Or maybe nothing has happened yet, and you'd like to keep it that way.
Either way: there are more options than you think, and it is almost never too late to plan.
What families are usually carrying when they call us
The crisis arrived before the plan did
Hospital discharge deadlines, placement decisions, and paperwork are all landing at once, usually on the shoulders of one sibling. Decisions that deserve a month are getting made in days.
The math is frightening
Nursing care in the Baltimore area often runs well past $10,000 a month. The first honest question is how long your parent's assets can carry that, and almost nobody has actually run the number.
Everyone has an opinion
The internet says give away the house. A neighbor mentions Medicaid. An attorney quotes a retainer. Some of that advice is right for somebody. The question is what's right for your parent, in Maryland, this year.
Your own retirement is quietly at risk
Adult children often start bankrolling care out of love and don't stop until real damage is done. A plan keeps one generation's crisis from becoming two.
What eldercare financial planning covers
Eldercare financial planning organizes a parent's income, assets, insurance, and legal documents around the real cost of long-term care. The goal is paying for good care without needlessly draining everything: projecting care costs, timing Medicaid correctly, reviewing VA and insurance benefits, and getting the family making decisions together.
It's not too late. It's rarely too late.
Families often assume that once a parent is already in a nursing home, or about to be, the planning window has closed. Usually it hasn't. Between income structuring, spousal protections, and Medicaid's actual rules (as opposed to the internet's version of them), there are almost always moves left that protect both your parent's care and the family's savings.
What we work through together
- The care-cost runway. What the likely care path costs in real Maryland prices, and how long current assets and income can sustain it. This one page changes the whole conversation.
- Long-term care costs and how to fund them. Insurance, income, home equity, and family contributions, weighed honestly.
- Medicaid planning done right. The 60-month look-back is real. So are the legitimate strategies. Timing and sequence decide which side of the line you're on.
- The house. Keep it, sell it, rent it. We run the scenarios before emotion or urgency makes the call for you.
- Documents and decision-makers. Powers of attorney and healthcare directives need to exist while your parent can still sign them. We coordinate with elder law attorneys and handle the financial side.
- The family meeting. When siblings disagree, a calm third party with a spreadsheet is worth a lot. We've refereed plenty.
Go deeper on the pieces
Long-Term Care Costs
The first honest step in eldercare planning is a number: what the likely care path costs, and how long your parent's money can carry it. Most families have never run it. It changes everything once they do.
Read the guide→
Medicaid Planning
Medicaid is the largest payer of long-term care in America, and the most misunderstood. Half the internet says give everything away; the other half says you have to die broke. Both halves are wrong.
Read the guide→
A note from Colin
If you're caring for an aging parent and feel blindsided by everything you're suddenly responsible for, you're not doing it wrong. It really is this much. There are professionals who do this every week, and asking one for help early usually beats untangling things later.
Colin Meeks, CFP® · Owner
Questions people actually ask
Usually not. Even with a nursing home stay underway, families often have options around income structuring, spousal protections, and Medicaid timing that meaningfully change the outcome. The sooner we look, the more options remain, but the answer to "is it worth a call" is almost always yes.
Start with a 15-minute call. It's complimentary.
Tell us what's on your plate. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and you'll know exactly what working together costs before you commit to anything.
Prefer the phone? Call 410-663-0700 and ask for Colin.