It might sound like a good plan, but nobody knows what their health is going to be like when they are older. The point of saving for retirement is so that you don't have to work when you are older. As long as you can be confident that you will have enough, that's all that matters. The worst thing is to be out of money when you are older and have to find a place that will hire someone in their 80-90s, especially if they have health issues and worked in a skilled industry but didn't keep their skills up. If a person has dementia or mobility issues and requires a seniors home, then it's even more expensive. I don't think it's reasonable to assume that family would or even could pay for those expenses either.