4. What if we both go into care homes?

Your retirement could last many years and while some of the questions look at how you might get the best deal, others are about what you might have to deal with.

Your retirement is hard won and well deserved.

But coming as it does in the later years of life it’s also prudent to think about how you’d cope with different eventualities. You may stay in good health for many years, but equally, one or both of you may need to go into full-time care at some point in the future.

On top of the emotional stress, long-term care is very expensive. According to Independent.ie, the average weekly cost per resident in a nursing home is now €1,615 and could be even higher. Needless to say, that can quickly burn through your retirement savings, that’s why many of our clients ask us to model these scenarios for them when we work on their Metis LifePlan.

“Some people steer a wide berth around questions of health and wellbeing for fear of tempting fate, but our answer to that is don’t leave things to fate – plan.”

It’s not as enjoyable as thinking about holidays, but it’s really important. Smart financial planning is about facing up to all the questions you may need to deal with, the good and the bad, to understand how you’d respond to those situations and to know you have a plan in place.

There are practical considerations to the care question.

Whether it makes sense to pass on money to the kids now, for example, or whether the best time to take that once-in-a-lifetime holiday is sooner rather than later. But there are deeper benefits that deal with peace of mind and reassurance. Some people steer a wide berth around questions of health and wellbeing for fear of tempting fate, but our answer to that is don’t leave things to fate – plan.

Once it’s planned, it’s done and dusted. You know what you can afford, what your next steps are, and you can live the life you want without the worry of overspending in active retirement.