Caregiving can reduce women's lifetime earningsWomen are also balancing their own retirement planning while allocating wealth toward caregiving. This means that some people's long-term care completely revolves around the effort and time of one unpaid family member. Providing long-term care also worsens the caregiver's health, Vittyarukskul said, ultimately driving up the costs of women's own future long-term care. READ MORE: Long-term care costs outpacing retirement income: AARPGunderson said she advises clients to start long-term care planning when they're young. However, Baick has found that to not be the case, particularly when factoring in rising health care and long-term care costs.