According to Genworth, the median yearly cost of care in an assisted living facility in the United States in 2021 was $4,500 per month. Based upon this data, the Planner's default modeling includes $1,600/mo for 12 months and then $4,800/mo for 16 months in today’s dollars during the last 28 months of your life (or your spouse's) if you do not indicate that you have a long-term care policy, plan to purchase a long-term care policy to cover long-term care, expect a family member to help care for you, or predict that you will not ever need long-term care. You might want to research costs in your area and at your comfort level and make adjustments you feel appropriate.

You can see these Long Term Care expenses in more detail in your Insights > Income and Expenses > Estimated Expenses Chart. They are represented in deep red.

You have the ability to change the Long Term Care assumptions in My Plan > Expenses > Long Term Care.

The options include; you have a long term care policy, plan to purchase an annuity or long term care policy to cover long term care, plan to use home equity, expect a family member to help care for you, or predict that you will not ever need long term care.

If you select "Plan to use home equity to fund the costs," you may want to go to the housing page and estimate when the care would be needed and how you might want to access your home equity. Common solutions include getting a reverse mortgage to fund in home care and selling your home to fund a nursing home.

If you select "Have a long-term care policy" or "Plan to purchase a long-term care policy," the Planner will model 20% of the long-term care expenses in the last 28 months of your life (or your spouse's), as if the insurance pays the other 80%. Take care to include the cost of any long-term care insurance in your recurring expenses.

If you have medical coverage or don't need long-term care, you can select "Will never require any long-term care." The Planner will assume that you have no long-term care expenses.