Income Over Wealth

A long nursing home stay can top $300,000, Medicare covers almost none of it, and here's how to protect your house and your spouse

Show Notes

Most families learn how nursing home costs work too late, usually in a hospital hallway. This episode breaks down the two parts of the trap: the Medicare coverage gap and Medicaid estate recovery. It also covers what the healthy spouse gets to keep and why one popular move, gifting the house to the kids, usually backfires.

  • What Medicare actually covers in a nursing home, the 100-day cliff, and why it pays nothing for daily custodial care
  • How Medicaid spend-down and estate recovery can put a lien on your "exempt" home after death, and what the healthy spouse keeps
  • Why gifting the house away usually backfires, and the trust and five-year timing that actually protect it

Take the free Retirement Income Roadmap (7 questions, about 30 seconds): incomeoverwealth.com/map

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KINAVcLhNEo

This episode is educational and focused on strategy and math. Always consult a qualified tax or financial professional before making personal financial decisions.

What is Income Over Wealth?

Retirement is an income problem, not a net-worth problem. Dan Wilson is a real estate investor, not a financial advisor. He buys and rents houses in Ohio, funds them with private money instead of bank loans, and built enough income from real estate to leave the Air Force. Twice a week, in about fifteen minutes, he works out how to replace a paycheck in retirement: where monthly income actually comes from, what each source costs you in risk, and how private lending works — including what to demand from any borrower. Every episode is also a video on YouTube. Educational only — not financial, legal, tax, or investment advice, and not an offer or solicitation of any investment.