Unpredictable Medical Costs:

Did you know that a death of a spouse can decrease your net worth by more than $30,000 over just two years.  A study funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration and conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that a people ensured by Medicare who experience a catastrophic health event, such as a stroke, can decrease your average wealth by more than $25,000 or 6%. Net worth in this study was determined by including financial assets and home equity mins debts.

When comparing people who are Medicaid eligible to those who are not, there is a stark difference in the amount of wealth spent on these expenses. Those who have both Medicare and Medicaid spend very little while those individuals who do not can spent from 3 percent to 14 percent of their wealth on these expenses.

Nursing homes are a huge player in the depletion of one’s wealth.  With a person spending an average of $43,000 for stays that exceed more than seven days. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates the national average price for a semi-private nursing home room was $6,844 a month in 2016.

On a more positive note, other medical conditions, hearth attack, arthritis, diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure were less impactful when it came to depleting an individuals finances. Due to the fact that arthritis is so pervasive the cost for the medication has lessened.

With that said, it is important to remember that Medicare won't pay for most dental care, dentures, hearing aids and routine foot care. The most important to consider is that it doesn't cover long-term care. It's those costs that can quickly add up which is why a health event like a stroke puts you at risk for such exposure as it is chronic.

In addition to medical costs there are some other elements that you might not be considering.

Boomerang Kids:

According to a 2017 report from the Census Bureau, one-third of people aged 18-34 are living with their parents. Today’s young adults are often in school longer and delaying marriage. According to Paul I. Franklin, principal of financial advisory firm Franklin Capital Strategies in Vienna, Virginia this type of situation is “delaying the ability of parents to retire.” It is advised that parents hold firm boundaries about how long support will continue and when these children need to start paying their own way.  

Elderly parents:

Retirees don’t just have their children to worry about but their aging parent’s as well. The Pew Research Center found 14 percent of adults living in a shared household in 2017 were parents who had moved in with an adult child. Unfortunately, baby boomers feel an obligation to both generations and have been nicknamed the “the sandwich generation.”

Divorce.  A 2017 study from the Pew Research Center found the divorce rate for those age 50 and older increased 109 percent from 1990 to 2015. It appears that those individuals at retirement age may be changing more than their employment status, they might be losing a spouse. "Once they become empty nesters, [couples] drift apart," says Garrett Oakley, a CPA and certified financial planner with online advisory firm Betterment. "People just realize they want different things out of life."