It is the beginning of 2020 and I’m looking over the financials. My household, the firm finances, and Mom’s finances – I guess it is just that time of year.
One of the biggest safeguards against self-dealing, or a fiduciary misappropriating funds, is the disclosure of information – particularly to beneficiaries. This is the reasoning or basis of most sunshine laws – and it turns out it works well with trusts, financial planners and estates as well. This morning, I sent transaction level detail to my sisters of how I’m handling the finances.
Why we took this step.
As some of you know, and as I covered in a past post, You aren’t Going Home, we came to the decision that my mom could no longer live independently and we moved her into assisted living. Making this decision was not easy, and, thankfully, it has turned out for the best. In a couple months Mom adjusted. She is active in the community, plays cards, has her friends over to her apartment – I mean it has just been great.
At the time we made the decision, Mom had been in a clinical episode for over ninety (90) days. She spent roughly four months (or 120 days) of 2018 hospitalized. Total, for 2019, she spent less than fourteen (14) days in the hospital and they were all at the beginning of the year.
Here is a summary of how money was spent in 2019. I am hoping we do a little better in 2020, as we expect that the expenses related to her house and car insurance will be gone.
INCOME
- Disability/Teaching Retirement Income…………. $27,193
- Social Security Income …………………………………. $ 1,821
EXPENSES
- Rent – Assisted Living Facility ………………………. $48,330
- Medical Expenses – Meds, Docs, Etc. …………….. $ 3,325
- Personal Effects/Clothes/Misc. …………………….. $ 4,715
- Medicare Premiums ……………………………………. $ 1,625
- Bank Fees …………………………………………………… $ 275
- Cable/Telephone ………………………………………….. $ 1,221
- Legal Fees ……………………………………………………. $ 2,500
- House Expenses – From Residence …………………. $ 7,775
- Car Insurance ……………………………………………… $ 1,135
With that tallied. Income was ~$30k. Expenses were about $71k. We’ll let this serve as a benchmark for us to see if we can do any better this coming year, and hopefully this will serve as an insight for others to remove the fog of the unknown around the cost of care.
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