A guide for your 50s
What I wish I knew in my 50s about long-term care
Your 50s are the decade most people buy long-term care coverage, and for good reason. Waiting until 65 costs about 50% more for the same plan.
What we are hearing
You want to protect what you have built.
Findings from the 2026 Staying Power Planning Report.
Independence and savings top the list.
People in their 50s in the Planning Report ranked staying independent (36%) and protecting their savings (27%) as their top priorities.4
Cost is the first question.
“What does it cost?” is the most-asked question in the Planning Report, ahead of Medicare and when a policy pays.4
You are caring for everyone else first.
A mid-50s mom with a parent to care for and two kids in college told us her own plan felt five to ten years away. Waiting that long is exactly what raises the price.4, 1
“For all I know, that 3,000 example, it might be more like 7,000 a month.”
“I ran it by the financial planner that we have, and she said, that’s a pretty good deal.”
Looking back
Five things I wish I had known in my 50s.
From people a decade or two down the road, and the numbers behind them.
It is the biggest hole in most retirement plans.
A person turning 65 can expect about $137,800 in future long-term care costs, and families pay almost 59% of that themselves.2 Most retirement plans never model it.
Paying from savings is a plan, and an expensive one.
A nursing home private room now runs $129,575 a year at the national median. A home care aide 44 hours a week is $80,080.3 Insurance turns that open-ended cost into a known one.
Today’s policies are not use-it-or-lose-it.
Many plans now pair long-term care benefits with life insurance. If you never need care, your beneficiaries receive a benefit instead.
The price jumps between 55 and 65.
At the industry price index's level-benefit rates, a woman pays about $1,500 a year at 55 and $2,700 at 65 for the same starting coverage. A couple pays about $2,080 at 55 and $3,750 at 65.5
Your health is the deadline, not the calendar.
24% of applicants in their 50s were turned down in 2024. By 60 to 64 it was 33%.1 One new diagnosis can close the door.
Your next steps
Three moves to make this month.
Book a call and get your real number.
Your age, your state, your health. A licensed advisor can show you a side-by-side in one call.
Add a care line to your retirement plan.
Ask your financial advisor to model a few years of help at home. Bring your quote to that conversation.
Decide together.
Choose what you want to protect: your home, your retirement income, what you leave behind. Then choose coverage that guards it.
Book your call
Lock in your 50s rate.
Book a call with a licensed Staying Power advisor. We will show you what coverage costs now, and what waiting would cost you.
Bring your partner.
Most people we talk to decide together. Your partner is welcome on the call.
Leave with it in writing.
A plain side-by-side of what you pay, what is guaranteed and what is projected.
Costs where you live.
Care prices for your area, not national averages.
No hard sell.
One licensed advisor, no pressure to decide on the call.