“The Benefits of Working Longer,” by Sandra Block, Kiplinger

Quote:  “If you’re in your fifties or sixties and in good health, it’s difficult to predict whether you’ll need long-term care, but earmarking some of your income from a job for long-term-care insurance or a fund designated for long-term care will give you peace of mind, Baxley says. And working longer could not only help cover the cost of long-term care but also reduce the risk that you’ll need it in the first place. A long-term study of civil servants in the United Kingdom found that verbal memory, which declines naturally with age, deteriorated 38% faster after individuals retired. Other research suggests that people who continue to work are less likely to experience social isolation, which can contribute to cognitive decline. Research by the Age Friendly Foundation and RetirementJobs.com, a website for job seekers 50 and older, found that more than 60% of older adults surveyed who were still working interacted with at least 10 different people every day, while only 15% of retirees said they spoke to that many people on a daily basis (the study was conducted before the pandemic). Even unpleasant colleagues and a bad boss ‘are better than social isolation because they provide cognitive challenges that keep the mind active and healthy,’ economists Axel Börsch-Supan and Morten Schuth contended in a 2014 article for the National Bureau of Economic Research.”

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

Finally, a solution to the middle-market LTC financing problem. Keep that crummy job, stay sharp interacting with “unpleasant colleagues and a bad boss,”  and set aside extra money for LTCI premiums. That’s bound to catch on with Uncle Sugar paying people more to stay home than to go back to work and dreaming up more and more ways to make Medicaid LTC more attractive and easier to get.