Kate Ashford

Because really there's only a small percentage of the over 65 folks are in assisted living or nursing homes.

It's only about three and a half percent.

I think for as long as people can, they try to get by with family or some situation where they don't have to go someplace else that isn't home.

Sure.

So you're basically looking at two setups here.

Facilities with monthly payments, it's exactly like it sounds.

You're paying rent.

There's a monthly fee that covers a certain base level of services.

That's the typical setup for assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

Buy-in facilities are generally things like continuing care retirement communities.

You might hear them called CCRCs.

And those are the places that offer different step-up levels of living.

So they'll have an independent living location, assisted living and skilled nursing kind of all on one campus.

And as you need more care, you kind of step up in housing.

And those usually require an upfront lump sum, like a big deposit and then an ongoing monthly fee.

And those can be a really good option for certain people at certain times of their lives.

It's worth noting that

You must be healthy enough to live independently when you move into a CCRC.

They're not looking for folks that are moving in and going immediately to assisted living.

They're looking for folks who can live independently for a while and exist in that community for a few years.