<prompt> Human: Hi- My mother turned 65 last year, and while she is in reasonably good health, shes also of course starting to get a bit older. We are beginning to have the conversation about what happens when inevitably she needs long term care assistance down the road. She has a 501bIRA similar to a 401k plan with a few hundred thousand dollars on it that she takes monthly distributions from- currently she is taking out less than the fund generates in income.That said, we are confident that in 10-15 years, her medical expenses are likely to skyrocket, which could easily liquidate her nest egg, her house, etc... particularly if she needs to get on Medicaid.Any advice? Some options weve started to explore include one or more of the following: Long Term Care Insurance can be expensive! Moving her assets to a trust or to her children Simply acknowledging that private based assisted living is going to be expensive and to try and avoid it for as long as possibleIve read a fair amount on AARP ALFAs web sites, but am interested in what others have done along these lines.  <response>: I am the manager of a home health care company. There are a few things you can do to plan ahead if you suspect your mom may need care down the line.Evaluate her home for any potential fall risks or other hazards. Make sure that the place is well lit and she can easily get in and out of bed. Also, encourage her to be as active as possible now both physically and cognitively. Many seniors unexpectedly end up in rehab or nursing facilities due to falls in the home. Once you are admitted to these places it can be very hard to return home and stay at home. Ask her what she wants. You may have fight with her a little bit to get the information out of her but it is worth to know what she wants ahead of time. Take tours of facilities a few times look for activity boards, peek into rooms, scan for fatigued staff, etc., interview home care companies ask detailed questions about their policies, hiringtraining practices, etc., basically shop around until she has a clear idea of what her quality of life would be like in any given scenario.To give you an idea of some costs...I live in a large city in the U.S. having a live-in, non-medical care giver costs about 245-295 a day the caregiver is allowed to sleep at night and take breaks and an hourly care through an agency is between 20-25hr. A double occupancy room at a rehab facility will run about 250-300 a day not including physical therapy. An assisted living facility runs about 3000 a month and up. You an also hire an independent caregiver they usually get paid between 10-17hr but then you are responsible for them as an employer so I highly recommend doing research ahead of time. Care.com has a lot of good tips for hiring independent caregivers. If your mom only has 300,000 set away then I think your best bet is to focus on preventative care right now. Do everything possible to keep her healthy and engaged in life. Make sure she goes out with friends and that she is eating well. Be on a constant look out for dips in her activities of daily living. If she is not preparing nutritious meals, doing her won laundry or having trouble making it to the restroom on time these are signs that she may need help. Basically your instincts are right in that she will save the most money by continuing to live at home for as long as possible. Also, keep in mind some Life insurance policies have a LTC rider so check her life insurance before you invest in LTC insurance as a separate product. Also, LTC does have other downfalls. Many of them have maximum daily limits on payouts. 