Aging in Place on Your Own: What Solo Agers Should Plan For
If you’re aging without a spouse or nearby family, the things a family might handle informally need to be set up on purpose: who you’d call in an emergency, who can make decisions if you can’t, how your home will work as needs change, and how you’ll pay for help. Planning early gives you the most choices.
Who will be your support network?
Without a default family caregiver, it helps to build a network deliberately: friends, neighbors, community or faith groups, and trusted professionals. Write down who could check in regularly, who could help after a hospital stay, and who has a key to your home.
Who can make decisions for you?
Choose someone you trust to make health care and financial decisions if you’re unable to. That’s typically done through legal documents such as a health care power of attorney and a financial power of attorney. If family isn’t available, some people name a close friend or a professional fiduciary. See Planning Ahead for Cognitive Decline.
Will your home work as your needs change?
Consider whether you could live on one level, how close you are to services, and how you’d get around if you stopped driving. See Making Your Home Age-Ready, Room by Room.
How will you pay for help?
For solo agers, paid help is likely to be the main plan rather than the backup. Close to full-time help at home runs about $6,700 a month at national median rates. (CareScout) Long-term care insurance pays a benefit toward that help. With the coverage we offer, the benefit is paid in cash, so you choose who provides care, including a trusted friend, when your plan of care states that informal care is appropriate.
Who coordinates it all?
An aging life care professional, sometimes called a geriatric care manager, can assess your needs, arrange services, and advocate for you. (Aging Life Care Association) Daily money managers can help with bills and paperwork.
Where should you start?
Name the people who can make decisions for you, and put it in writing
List your support network and share it with them
Assess whether your home will work long term
Find out what care costs in your area and how to fund it. Get started.
Staying Power is a licensed insurance agency that helps people build a funding strategy for aging in place, including people without family nearby.
Frequently asked questions
What is a solo ager?
Someone aging without a spouse, partner, or adult children available to help, whether by circumstance or choice.
Who makes medical decisions if I don’t have family?
If you haven’t named someone and can’t decide for yourself, state law determines who can decide, and in some cases a court may appoint a guardian. Naming someone in advance keeps that choice with you.
Can long-term care insurance pay a friend to help me?
With the coverage we offer, yes, when the plan of care from a U.S.-licensed health care practitioner states that informal care is appropriate.
