May 17, 2026
It's not new information that a 'great wealth transfer' is impending in the U.S. and other nations.
In fact, in 2022 Cerulli Associates (1) projected that wealth transferred through 2045 will total $84.4 trillion. That being said, there are costs on the rise that could significantly impact where exactly your wealth is being transferred.
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While boomers might assume that they're passing money down to their children, elderly parents in need of long-term care might put a wrench in this plan.
The price of long-term care
According to 2025 data from CareScout (2), the monthly median cost for a semi-private room in long-term care is $9,581 and $10,798 for a private room. Long-term care (aka nursing home care) involves supervision and nursing care 24/7. Though, even options for people who need less assistance are quite costly. For example, the monthly median cost to live in an assisted living community is $6,200.
These high prices are affecting Americans' wallets and their long-term wealth. One example is Zach Hefferen. During the peak years of his career and beginnings of his own family, his father was diagnosed with dementia and unable to care for himself. "His dementia left him unable to sign up for veterans benefits, manage his finances, consistently take prescription medicine, or handle such basic tasks as managing the refrigerator, charging a cellphone (leading to a landline), hanging up the handset for the landline (leading to a corded phone), or putting in hearing aids (such that all phone calls were missed)" he wrote in Business Insider (3).
In the end, Hefferen ended up spending $17,000 for a studio apartment in a memory care unit to help his father get the care he needed. "We also had to pay for incidentals, physical therapy, and haircuts, all of which were not included in the monthly rate" he wrote.
While there are definitely care facilities with lower fees, this was Hefferen's best option, as the others had long waitlists and he needed the care immediately.
"The complexities of Medicaid and Medicare, red tape, and the high cost of long-term care insurance only make things worse…In total, we spent over $270,000 over the last few months of his life," he shared.
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Experiences like Hefferen's are not uncommon, especially with so many people falling into the 'sandwich generation,' meaning people who are supporting aging parents and raising children at the same time.
About 29% of American adults are currently in this position, according to the AARP and NAC's report (4). A study published by the National Library of Medicine (5) found that 23.5% of sandwich generation caregivers were more likely to experience substantial financial difficulties compared to non-sandwich caregivers.
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Where do you go from here?
There is certainly no easy solution to navigating the high cost of elder care, but some people have found ways to cut costs.
For instance, some are moving to places like Mexico (6) where long-term care can often be cheaper than staying stateside.
Others are opting to live in a multigenerational household. By sharing a home with multiple generations of your family you can ease costs by having more people available to help keep an eye on things, or just having more people with income to contribute to typical household costs.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Cerulli Associates (1); CareScout (2); Business Insider (3),(6); AARP (4); National Library of Medicine (5)
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Em Norton is a Content Specialist at moneywise.com. They have been with the company since 2022.
