Key takeaways:

  • Knowing what to expect from Medicare is a key first step in planning for your health care costs in retirement.
  • To cover the highest-cost aspects of long-term care, you may want to explore private insurance options.
  • A health savings account, or HSA, can be a valuable tool for planning your retirement expenses.

As you near retirement, you may be anticipating all the things you’ll do with your time. But to fully enjoy this next phase of your life, it’s best to get a firm grip on your finances — including planning for health care costs.

A survey from Edward Jones and Age Wave found that many people’s greatest financial worry in retirement is health care costs, especially long-term care costs. In fact, health care will probably be one of your largest expenses in retirement — about $10,000 to $12,000 per year for a couple. For one person, health care costs — not including long-term care — are about $4,500 to $6,500 per year.

Talk to your financial advisor for help on estimating your health care costs in retirement.

What’s the best way to prepare? Have a plan. Health care costs in retirement are a critical part of your retirement planning. Here’s what you need to prepare for.

Important Information:

We have provided this information for educational purposes; it isn’t meant to promote the sale of insurance or investments. Edward Jones doesn’t offer health insurance; however, we believe discussing the impact of health care costs within your retirement strategy is important, especially considering that rising health care costs may affect many investors approaching retirement. The examples used in this report are for illustrative purposes only and shouldn’t be relied upon as a quote or description of coverage for a particular insurance product. While the Medicare content is believed to be accurate, you should rely on information provided by that organization before making a Medicare decision.