Americans Are Underestimating Their Senior Healthcare Costs -- and Could Wind Up Broke in Retirement Because of It
Housing is generally working Americans' greatest monthly expense. For seniors, however, it can be a toss-up between housing and healthcare.
Many people enter retirement with their homes already paid off. At the same time, health issues have a tendency to arise as people get older, so seniors are often burdened with medical bills at a time when they're trying to adjust to living on a fixed income.
It's for this reason that estimating future healthcare costs -- and saving for them accordingly -- is so crucial. Yet a recent Fidelity survey reveals that most people are underestimating the cost of healthcare during retirement. In fact, 37% of Americans think the average senior couple will spend $50,000 to $100,000 on medical care during that stage of life, when in reality, Fidelity estimates that the typical senior couple will spend $295,000.
Source Fool.com