How do you pay for years of help-without watching a lifetime of savings disappear in a few scary invoices? Planning for Long-Term Care: Paying for Aging Without Going Broke is for anyone planning their own later years or stepping in for a parent and realizing the rules, costs, and decisions don't come with instructions. If you want a clear plan before a fall, a diagnosis, or a sudden hospital discharge forces rushed choices, this book is for you. You'll learn what long-term care actually is (and what it isn't), how families move along the care continuum from home help to assisted living to skilled nursing, and why pricing can jump with "care tiers," hidden fees, and inflation. You'll also get straight answers on the Medicare myth, the basics of Medicaid and spend-down rules, and how to evaluate long-term care insurance and hybrid options without getting lost in policy language. What makes this book different is its practical, calm, real-world approach: plain-English explanations, relatable examples, and step-by-step actions you can take this week-organizing documents, setting family roles, stress-testing a care budget, and building a funding plan that protects both dignity and the healthy spouse's financial stability.