For the first time in a Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement study, more middle-income Boomers now consider themselves retired than not retired. And as 10,000 Americans continue to turn 65 each day, retirement care—whether at home or in a facility, due to injury, chronic illness or decline in physical or cognitive function—is becoming an increasingly urgent issue for which Boomers need to plan for and address.

Boomers More Prepared for Death Than Life – And It's Not Getting Better

In this study, A Growing Urgency: Retirement Care Realities for Middle-Income Boomers, the Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement seeks to understand how prepared middle-income Boomers are for the possibility of needing long-term care in their retirement—their changing expectations, insufficient preparation activity and dangerous misconceptions.

Key Findings

• Eight in ten (81%) middle-income Boomers have made at least one formal preparation for when they pass away, while only three in ten (32%) have a plan for how they will receive care in retirement, should they need it.

• Fewer than one in five (18%) middle-income Boomers report that planning for retirement care is a high priority for them.

• Three quarters (74%) of middle-income Boomers are somewhat or very confident in their ability to manage their and their spouse's healthcare costs as they age.

• Three in 10 (30%) middle-income Boomers have less than $1,000 saved in financial emergency funds. Nearly four in five (79%) have no money set aside specifically for their long-term care needs.

• More than two in five (40%) middle-income Boomers cannot accurately guess the cost of a home health aide, and over one third (35%) of Boomers can't accurately guess the average monthly cost of a nursing home.

• Just over half (56%) of middle-income Boomers mistakenly believe that Medicare will pay for their ongoing long-term care.

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Methodology

This study from the Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement— A Growing Urgency: Retirement Care Realities For Middle-Income Boomers —was conducted in October 2018 by independent research firm The Blackstone Group.

The Internet-based survey consisted of a nationwide sample of 1,500 middle-income Americans age 54 to 72. Quotas were established based on the U.S. Census Current Population Survey data for age, gender and income to obtain a nationally representative sample. The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Multiple answers were accepted on some questions; results on these questions sum to greater than 100%.