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DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO LAST UNTIL YOU’RE MORE THAN 100 YEARS OLD?
When Aunt Jo was born in San Francisco in 1910, the life expectancy for women in the United States was 51.8 years. In April she turned 106 years old.
She survived polio as a child, though she’s still affected by it to this day. A polio vaccine was not released to the public until she was 45 years old.
In the year of her birth, homes were just being wired for electricity. The telephone was a hot new commodity. Sliced bread was 18 years in the future.
In her lifetime, humans learned how to fly, then went to the moon and began to explore the stars. Women won the right to vote and the Civil Rights Act was passed. Commercial radio and TV was invented. So was the computer, which she learned in her 80’s so she could go online and keep track of investments she made to remain independent for the rest of her life.
Aunt Jo worked for a doctor as a lab technician. She saved as much as she could. And with help from a pre-real-estate-boom sale of the family home, she managed to remain financially independent living on her own with no live-in help for 103 years.
But she never imagined she would need to have enough money to last beyond her 100th birthday.
Now at 106, her money is running out. To stretch her dollars, my husband and I have taken Aunt Jo into our home. But my family must continue to work full time.
That means Aunt Jo, who has lost her ability to get around due to post polio syndrome and blindness, needs full time care. We will continue to pay for food, utilities, housing and have started picking up the cost of medical and daily living supplies. But we cannot afford to pick up the cost of her caregivers. With care costing more than 12 thousand dollars a month, her funds are dwindling quickly.
To transfer her to a skilled nursing home would mean separating her from her family, placing her among strangers for the first time in her long life, and limiting the interaction that her sharp wit and keen mind still craves.
The few remaining family members left have explored several possibilities, all of which require 60 to 100 thousand dollars a year. Most options mean she’ll suffer a significant reduction in the quality of life and care.
We are urgently trying to find a way to keep her at home. We are asking for help from the community. She doesn’t want to be a burden to taxpayers or her family. She has been in a nursing home for rehabilition and is fearful of the prospect of being in one permanently.
Aunt Jo has worked hard and deserves better than to be put in an institution after taking care of herself for 106 years.
Put yourself in her place, you’ve made it through 106 years on your own. Home care is so expensive you may be forced into a nursing home and ultimately dependent upon state support. This is not the end she planned. Would it be how you would want to spend the last years of your life?
Just ask yourself: What would you do if you outlived your money after 106 years?
Please, help.
For those of you wishing to send a check, please send to Aunt Jo's Trustee:
Laura Brockwehl, CLPF
3701 Sacramento #312
San Francisco, CA 94118
Please note on check that this is a gift to Aunt Jo
When Aunt Jo was born in San Francisco in 1910, the life expectancy for women in the United States was 51.8 years. In April she turned 106 years old.
She survived polio as a child, though she’s still affected by it to this day. A polio vaccine was not released to the public until she was 45 years old.
In the year of her birth, homes were just being wired for electricity. The telephone was a hot new commodity. Sliced bread was 18 years in the future.
In her lifetime, humans learned how to fly, then went to the moon and began to explore the stars. Women won the right to vote and the Civil Rights Act was passed. Commercial radio and TV was invented. So was the computer, which she learned in her 80’s so she could go online and keep track of investments she made to remain independent for the rest of her life.
Aunt Jo worked for a doctor as a lab technician. She saved as much as she could. And with help from a pre-real-estate-boom sale of the family home, she managed to remain financially independent living on her own with no live-in help for 103 years.
But she never imagined she would need to have enough money to last beyond her 100th birthday.
Now at 106, her money is running out. To stretch her dollars, my husband and I have taken Aunt Jo into our home. But my family must continue to work full time.
That means Aunt Jo, who has lost her ability to get around due to post polio syndrome and blindness, needs full time care. We will continue to pay for food, utilities, housing and have started picking up the cost of medical and daily living supplies. But we cannot afford to pick up the cost of her caregivers. With care costing more than 12 thousand dollars a month, her funds are dwindling quickly.
To transfer her to a skilled nursing home would mean separating her from her family, placing her among strangers for the first time in her long life, and limiting the interaction that her sharp wit and keen mind still craves.
The few remaining family members left have explored several possibilities, all of which require 60 to 100 thousand dollars a year. Most options mean she’ll suffer a significant reduction in the quality of life and care.
We are urgently trying to find a way to keep her at home. We are asking for help from the community. She doesn’t want to be a burden to taxpayers or her family. She has been in a nursing home for rehabilition and is fearful of the prospect of being in one permanently.
Aunt Jo has worked hard and deserves better than to be put in an institution after taking care of herself for 106 years.
Put yourself in her place, you’ve made it through 106 years on your own. Home care is so expensive you may be forced into a nursing home and ultimately dependent upon state support. This is not the end she planned. Would it be how you would want to spend the last years of your life?
Just ask yourself: What would you do if you outlived your money after 106 years?
Please, help.
For those of you wishing to send a check, please send to Aunt Jo's Trustee:
Laura Brockwehl, CLPF
3701 Sacramento #312
San Francisco, CA 94118
Please note on check that this is a gift to Aunt Jo
Organizer and beneficiary
Laura Brockwehl
Beneficiary