Depending on what source you are looking at, the average cost of Honolulu senior assisted living is roughly $4,700 per month, or $56,400 annually. Relative to living in New York City, parts of California or one of the ultra-exclusive senior assisted living communities, $56,400 per year is actually very reasonable.

However, relative to the financial situation of most people, $56,400 per year adds up to a very large number in a hurry. In fact, it is not uncommon for individuals to move into a senior assisted living community, and within just a few short years begin experiencing serious financial difficulties.

Most of the time, the financial struggles of seniors are due to a combination of factors and there are some very common mistakes.

Common Financial Mistakes Seniors Make

• Only using base cost of Honolulu senior assisted living services for budget and planning without factoring in extra costs for medical expenses, holidays, clothes, personal items, travel
• Failing to review overall financial status with income/cash/expense projections extended for 10-20 years
• Failing to recognize the medical industry cannot cure and restore the health of every patient, but in a large majority of situations, they can keep a patient alive, with some level of comfort almost indefinitely. This means people are living for much longer periods, which requires significantly more assets to fund living expenses
• Assuming because you have reached retirement age, you can set annual expenses at a consistent fixed amount for the next 10+ years and you will not experience any significant problems that require large outlays of money
• Failing to review alternative options and solutions based upon several “what if” scenarios that recognize there is a high probability unexpected problems will occur

Reviewing your financial situation once every 6 months and entertaining several different possible scenarios in future years, is vital to ensuring your stability. There are very few individuals on the globe with absolute certainty they have enough money to last the rest of their lives and beyond.

Everyone else has varying degrees of uncertainty about how long their assets will last. However, if you take the time to periodically plan and review your situation, you will be much more prepared to deal with whatever comes your way several years down the road.