Elder Care Cost Planning

Home equity and care funding runway.

Add the net proceeds from selling a home to savings, subtract monthly income that can go toward care, and see how many months or years the money lasts as care costs rise each year.

Your numbers

Home value

Mortgage or loan balance on the home

Selling costs (percent of value)

Other savings available for care

Care cost per month today

Monthly income that can go toward care

Yearly care cost growth (percent)

Yearly return on the money (percent)

All values are examples to replace with your own. Selling costs, taxes and any capital gains or other tax are your estimates; this tool applies only the selling cost percent. Cost growth is applied once a year; return is applied monthly. Reverse mortgages and other borrowing are not modelled.

Result

Fill the form and press Calculate.

Starting funds = home value x (1 - selling cost) - mortgage + savings. Each month, funds earn the return and then pay the part of care cost that income does not cover. With the example numbers the money lasts about 144.5 months, or 12 years.

Not financial, legal, insurance or medical advice. This is arithmetic on the numbers you enter. It is not a care assessment, a quote, or a recommendation. Talk to a qualified financial planner, elder law professional, insurance adviser or your care team before you commit money or choose care.

Worked example

A $600,000 home with a $100,000 mortgage and 5% selling costs nets $470,000.00. With $50,000 of savings, starting funds are $520,000.00. Care costs $6,000 a month and $3,000 of income covers half, leaving $3,000.00 a month to start. With care costs rising 3% a year and 2% a year earned on the money, funds last about 144.5 months (12.0 years). These figures are examples only.

How it works

Net equity = home value x (1 - selling costs) - mortgage, not below zero. Starting funds = net equity + savings. For each month: funds = funds x (1 + return / 12), then funds - max(0, care cost for that year - income). Care cost for a year = today's cost x (1 + growth)^(whole years elapsed). The run stops when funds cannot cover the month, with the final partial month pro-rated, or after 50 years.

Public funding by region

Pick a region for a pointer to the official source. These notes do not say what you qualify for or how much it pays.

Region

Sources

Long-term care in Ontario (ontario.ca), opened 2026-10-08.
Long Term Care Coverage (Medicare.gov), opened 2026-10-08.
Money, work, benefits and social care (NHS), opened 2026-10-08.
My Aged Care (Australian Government), opened via a Web Archive snapshot, opened 2026-10-08.

Arithmetic on the numbers you enter. No prices, rates or tax rules are built in. The funding notes link to official pages only.

FAQ

How long will my money last paying for care?

It depends on starting funds, monthly care cost, income, how fast costs rise and what the money earns. Enter your own numbers to see the months of runway.

Does selling the home pay for care?

Selling turns equity into cash after mortgage and selling costs, which this tool counts. It does not model the cost of moving, tax, or where the person would live.

Why subtract income?

Pensions and other income can pay part of the bill, so only the shortfall draws down savings and equity.

What if the money never runs out?

If income covers the cost and the cost does not grow, or the funds last 50 years, the tool says funds last at least that long.

Does this include tax or government support?

No. Tax rules and public funding differ by place. See the funding notes for official sources and speak to a qualified adviser.