What late-life care really costs.

Care home fees average 1,000-1,500 weekly (52,000-78,000 annually) with costs rising faster than general inflation. A 5-year stay starting today can exceed 300,000 - often depleting lifetime savings. This calculator projects total cost factoring in inflation compounding.

At 5,000 monthly care with 3% annual inflation over 5 years, total cost is 319,000 (vs 300,000 without inflation). Over 10 years the inflation impact grows - 5,000 monthly × 10 years × 3% compounds to 688,000. Current savings earmarked for care reduce the shortfall.

The tool helps families plan for late-life costs that surprise many people. Key insight: most people underestimate by 20-40% because they forget inflation. Plan earlier rather than later - saving 500/month over 20 years compounds to real elder care capacity, while starting at 60 for your own care is usually too late.

A worked example

Try the defaults: monthly care cost of 5,000, expected care years of 5, annual inflation of 3%, savings set aside of 50,000. The tool returns 318,548.15. You can adjust any input and the result updates as you type — no submit button, no reload. That's the real power here: seeing how sensitive the output is to one or two assumptions.

What moves the number most

The result responds to Monthly Care Cost (Today), Expected Care Years, Annual Inflation, and Savings Set Aside. Frequency and unit price pull the total in different directions. The biggest surprise for most people is how small recurring amounts compound into large annual figures — that's where this calculation earns its keep.

The formula behind this

Year-by-year summation of annual care cost with inflation compounding. Shortfall = total - current savings. Everything the calculator does is shown in the formula box below, so you can check the math against your own spreadsheet if you want.

Spreading the cost

Starting earlier always costs less per month than starting late. That's the main lever this tool surfaces. Whatever the total, dividing it by the months until the event gives a monthly target that's easier to build into a budget.

What this doesn't capture

Life events generate side costs the figure doesn't include: time off work, lost income, travel for others, aftercare. Add 10–15% to the direct number as a buffer; the items you haven't thought of usually fill most of it.