Is Assisted Living Really Just About Money? Here’s the Truth
Nov 03, 2025
Starting an assisted living business can feel exciting—but some people wonder if it’s just about making money. The truth? Assisted living is about creating a positive impact while running a profitable business. This guide breaks down why it’s much more than a money grab, and how you can do it the right way.
Let’s dive in! 🚀
Check out this video, too:
Why Assisted Living Matters
Many seniors need help with daily tasks like showering, dressing, eating, and fall prevention. Assisted living bridges the care gap between being fully independent and needing skilled nursing.
Ask yourself:
✅ Who do I want to serve—seniors, disabled individuals, or another group?
✅ What care gaps exist in my community that I can fill?
✅ How can I make their lives happier and safer while also running a business?
With 24/7 coverage, social activities, and nurse oversight, assisted living provides more support than home health at a comparable cost. It’s not just about money—it’s about giving seniors a better quality of life.
Step 1: Understand the Real Value (It’s Not Just Profit)
Many beginners worry about ethics in assisted living. The reality? You can make money and still provide incredible care. Profitability lets you maintain a beautiful, high-functioning home, pay staff well, and create a safe, social environment for residents.
📌 Key points:
✅ Profit isn’t bad—it allows you to serve residents better.
✅ Cutting corners hurts residents, your reputation, and long-term success.
✅ Focus on purpose-driven profit: helping people first, money second.
💡 Tip: Keep resident joy at the center of every decision you make.
Step 2: Build Your Vision and Purpose
Before starting, define your why. Your vision will guide your business decisions and the type of residents you serve.
✅ Decide who you want to serve (elderly women, disabled adults, etc.)
✅ Create a home that reflects your values and care standards
✅ Turn your why into a vision that drives every decision
“You get to create a home tailored to your population and build an atmosphere that residents and families seek out.”
A clear vision ensures you provide meaningful care while staying profitable.
Step 3: Create an Atmosphere People Want to Join
A well-run assisted living home attracts residents naturally. Happy residents and families create a strong reputation and even higher demand.
✅ Focus on care, safety, and social engagement
✅ Offer activities and amenities that improve quality of life
✅ Maintain a beautiful, well-functioning home
Profit follows quality. When your residents and families see the value, they’ll happily invest in the care you provide.
Step 4: Balance Ethics, Profit, and Resident Well-Being
Success comes from balancing:
1️⃣ Ethical Care – Residents first, profit second
2️⃣ Vision-Driven Strategy – Know your why and turn it into a home you’re proud of
3️⃣ Financial Health – Profitability ensures you can maintain and grow
💡 Tip: Following regulations, maintaining quality, and investing in staff ensures long-term success and community impact.
“Doing it ethically and purposefully allows you to feel proud while running a profitable business.”
Step 5: Recognize the Rewards Beyond Money
Assisted living impacts residents, families, staff, and communities:
✅ Seniors live happier, safer lives
✅ Families gain peace of mind
✅ Staff members and their families benefit
✅ Your community gains a trusted care resource
The bigger your portfolio grows, the more lives you positively impact.
Take Action Today!
🚀 Ready to launch your assisted living business? Start taking action:
✅ Download the Business Plan Checklist – A step-by-step guide to building a strong foundation.
✅ Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
✅ Follow your vision and purpose – Serve your residents while running a profitable, sustainable business.
Got questions? Drop them in the comments below! ⬇️
Show full transcript 👇
Transcript
00:00:06
Hey friend, it's Brandon Gustafson. I help beginners like you launch their assisted living business in the next 12 months. Super excited to have you here with me on the channel. Today we're talking about is assisted living just a money grab. I get this kind of question all the time on on YouTube. People are like, "Ah, why are you doing this? Like is this this is unethical?" Um, and I really want to address that because doing assisted living and serving people um, in the capacity that we get to do it
00:00:30
in assisted living is one of the best things I think that you can do to help the elderly and help them um, progress and and live happy, healthy lives. And that's why uh why a big reason why I'm in this uh, why I'm in this industry, why I love healthcare, why I love uh, being able to to do a lot of this work. And so that's what we're going to talk about today um in our in our live. Um for those of you who are new, um welcome. Uh thanks for being here. Uh make sure you type in newbie down below.
00:01:03
Uh it lets me see who is new and who needs help as they're going along the path. Make sure you type in your questions down below as well cuz uh we we answer those and can make sure that you are getting the answers that you need to help you launch your assisted living business. So, make sure that you are uh typing in all of those things um here as we get going. And also make sure that you go and grab um down here, make sure you go and grab the the the ali.com, the profitable assisted living book. Um go to the alibook.com,
00:01:34
get your copy um and help you launch your assisted living business. It goes through my five-phase process of launching an assisted living business, which is foundation first, optimal property selection, um capital and funding, understanding the rules and regulations, and uh having a strategic launch for your assisted living business. Now, with that, um let's get into it. Is assisted living just a money grab? Um the short answer is no. But I want to make sure you stick around till the end of the video because, uh I've
00:02:04
got a a special invitation for you, number one. Um, but number two, I want you to see why I don't think this is really just a money grab. This is a way for you to have a a positive impact on people's lives. So, let's start off here. The the big reason why um why we need assisted living and why it's not just a money grab is because it meets real care needs of the residents. Um there's a huge gap when it comes to senior care. There is um and a lot of this is because it's misunderstood. A
00:02:35
lot of people go from, okay, you're you're old, you're an elderly individual, and I'm going to speak specifically to elderly in this case. There are other types of care that you can provide. Uh, so I want to acknowledge that, but we're going to focus mostly um here on on talking about elderly care. When it comes to senior care, a lot of people think, okay, cool. I'm on Medicare now and that's going to help me out whenever I need it. And I have part A which is impatient, part B
00:03:01
which is outpatient and part D which is prescription. But if you if you know anything about healthcare, you know that assisted living and the type of care that we provide in assisted living is not inatient, it's not outpatient and it's not prescription. Um we do offer medication management, but it's it's none of those things. And and so that's that's something that a lot of people um they have a hard time just kind of ga grasping that there is this care gap here where people are going to need
00:03:31
help. If you've ever experienced a loved one who is getting old, um they will they're going to need some level of care, some level of assistance to help them remember to get their medication or to take a shower, like remember to take a shower or just to physically take a shower or getting dressed. Um my grandpa who is 85 I think at this point um he he's in his mid 80s um struggles with with some of these things. He has Parkinson's um and he's very independent and he wants to do all the things
00:04:00
himself but he can't always do that and so he will resort to inh home care home health um oftentimes for what he wants. He does not want to go to an assisted living and so you have to respect people's wishes. even though I I do assisted living and and uh really believe in it, he doesn't want to and and that's his choice. So, he brings in somebody that does inh home care for him. Um his brother actually owned a franchise um that that did home health and so he's he's got a lot of experience
00:04:28
with it. The thing with assisted living is the costs actually are pretty equivalent there. Um home health and assisted living for the consumer, uh it's very very similar. And what you're going to find there is in assisted living, you're going to have 247 roundthe-clock coverage. May not be a nurse, which you're probably going to get with with home health, but it's going to cost you about the same. And you get more and I would maybe not higher quality cuz you're not a nurse,
00:04:57
but you definitely get more care. And you have nurse oversight with things that are related to medications. And so you get a lot of the same oversight and you get more people there to help you out to make sure that you are doing things. Plus, you're going to get the added bonus of social activities when you're in assisted living. So costs are pretty equivalent to to home health. Um but you get some extra benefits there. And it meets that the huge need of people just needing more help with
00:05:25
stuff. Um more help with uh meal preparation and getting dressed and toileting um and falls and and all of those things. is you always have somebody there in assisted living. This is why it's such an important piece of what we do and it really kind of helps bridge that care gap until somebody needs skilled nursing, which is the other thing a lot of people think, oh, you're you're old, you need to go to a nursing home. The reality is most people don't need that level of care. And
00:05:52
nursing homes are expensive. Now, that is going to m fit a Medicare benefit. It's part of the part A benefit of Medicare inatient care, but it's it's way more expensive than assisted living. It's it's and it's not sustainable for somebody that needs to be in a nursing home for months or years. That's it's too expensive. And so assisted living kind of bridges the gap between you're fine and you need a lot of care, you need skilled nursing, you can get a lot of that care, those care needs met
00:06:22
inside of assisted living. This is why assisted living is, I think, one of the coolest things cuz you you really fit into that care gap. You're providing quality care. You're prioritizing that resident joy. You're making sure that they have social activities, that they have all of the care that they need at a given time. Um, and and they're working through all of those things. So, that's that's a huge part of of why we do this. Now, let's talk a little bit more here.
00:06:46
Um, now let's address the the big question. Is it a money grab? And I would say, I mean, really, honestly, the the thing that I want you to be aware of here is senior care, it has just rising costs. Uh there's a lot of money that's going into this. That's why a lot of people are looking at assisted living as, oh, this is a this is a really great opportunity. I can make a lot of money here. And it's true. Um, and senior care is is rising. Um, healthcare in general is rising. The the cost of healthcare,
00:07:15
it's rising. And senior care is is one of those other things that that it's going up. And so it it can't be a money grab when when all of the care needs are rising. You're not just doing this because you can be profitable and you can you're you're doing this because you see there's a need. You're helping these people out and because people have to pay money for those services. It's just kind of it equals itself out. If they're not going to you for for that care, if
00:07:42
they're going somewhere else, they're going to a skilled nursing facility, they're they're doing something else, they're going to be paying for it anyway. So, you might as well be creating a great um atmosphere that is going to meet the care needs of the residents in a way that is is more affordable. Assisted living is more affordable than skilled nursing. Uh it's more affordable uh in the long run than home health. Uh it provides more care. And you're also creating more of that
00:08:06
joy. You're creating more of an atmosphere where people can can really interact and socialize and have a lot of um a lot of extra benefits when they're assisted living. So, this is where it's huge. uh you're you're actually providing an incredible service at a discounted rate compared to what they might have to pay if they had to go to a higher level of care because assisted living didn't exist. Um I would say there's a lot of headlines out there though that do focus on those bad actors
00:08:32
or neglect of residents. And it happens if you if you get online, you look for it, you look for news stories, you're going to find it that there are people it's news because it's it's it's abnormal, right? And so there are the things that stick out in your mind because you hear about it, but it's news because it doesn't happen very often, which is great that you don't have a lot of bad actors. You don't have a lot a lot of neglect going on in assisted living, but it happens. And I know I've
00:08:58
talked to enough of you to know that you have seen or experienced some of those bad actors, some of that neglect that happens in assisted living. And that's one of the reasons why you are so interested in assisted living. It happens. It really does. But there are far more good people out there that like you that are trying to do this uh that that can be successful with this. And the other thing I would say is especially when you're here in this ecosystem, you're watching me, you're
00:09:24
watching other YouTubers, other people that are coaching you on how to start your assisted living business. A lot of times there's a lot of dollar signs that are focused on uh people are just talking about the money. And the money is great. Um the money is real. You can you can generate very healthy profits in this business. you can be very successful with it, which is awesome. But it's not just about the money. Um, this is something that that somebody brought up in in a recent video that I
00:09:50
had like, "Oh, you say that the money is great, but but now you're saying that you have to do this for all the right reasons." And the reality is you could be successful and and be a horrible person and and be one of those people that is a bad actor or or neglects people and still make a lot of money. And I don't want you to be that person. you if you want to get into assisted living, you should be doing it for the right reasons. You should be doing it because you want to provide care to the
00:10:14
residents. You want to help them out and and provide an incredible quality experience and make them happy and healthy and have an incredible experience in your home rather than cool I made$10,000 $20,000 in in profit this month and you're just counting dollar bills. You don't want to be that person because then you will end up on the news. you'll be that person that's a bad actor that that is neglecting your residence and that's going to show up. So, you have to be very very careful
00:10:39
with this. Okay. So, is it a money grab the way I do it, the way I teach it? No, absolutely not. Is it for some people? Probably. Um, but I don't want that for you. I want you to be somebody that is focused on the care of your residents and helping them reach their full potential and and be happy in your home. Um, all right. Now, let's talk a little bit about um uh purpose and how purpose and profit actually go together when it when it comes to this. Um because this is something that I think a lot of you
00:11:08
probably struggle with. Um when you're trying to figure out, can I do assisted living? Can it be profitable? Should it be profitable? Or should I should I just be doing this to out of the goodness of my heart? There's a lot of you, especially those of you who are nurses, um I think struggle with this this question a lot, right? If if that's you, um, type in struggle down below because it's it's a real struggle. It's something that people that you you want to do this. You want to help people out
00:11:34
so much and and you kind of feel guilty that you're making a profit out of it. Um, but I want to tell you that it's okay to make money in this business. And when you do this the right way for the right reasons, you're going to help a ton of people. They're going to be so happy that you've helped them. and you're also going to generate a healthy profit profit off of it and it's going to be incredible experience. So, um something that I want you to pay attention to inside of this business is
00:12:01
there's real estate. So, real estate investment and there's also healthcare. It's running a business. You have to pay attention to both if you want this to be successful. you need to kind of know what you're doing, know how to ga navigate some of these things, how to buy the property, um how to manage that property and and maintain it and make sure it's good while also running a business and providing adequate care uh to to meet the needs of your residents. You have to pay attention to both of
00:12:24
these things. It can be a lot. It can be overwhelming, but you can do this. I also want to say that focusing only on the money if you focus just on the money, you could be profitable, you could be successful, but I I think there's a better way to do it. And and that's having the purpose of wanting to serve people around you and helping you helping them um obtain the the the the needs that they have, meeting those needs and and helping them kind of make some progress there and uh and receive
00:12:56
what they need to receive. You also are going to need to build a vision that you can be proud of. Um, a lot of people they get into this and they just the, you know, I I I want to do assisted living. I want to do it because of XYZ. My grandma, uh, my mom, my my my uncle, whatever it is, there there's a reason, there's a story for you for why you want to get into assisted living. And that's great. There's there's a why for you to do this. Could be profitability um, and time financial time and financial
00:13:25
freedom for you and your family. Could be that you want to create an incredible experience for a loved one. Um it could be any of those reasons, but you have to take that why and you have to turn it into a vision for where you're going to go and how and what it's going to look like and how you're going to achieve that. And when you do that and and you create this, okay, cool. This this this home is going to be specific to elderly women um who have uh experienced trauma in their lives. And that's what we're
00:13:52
going to focus on. It's a small home, but it's it's very close-knit and and we're creating this incredible experience. Or I'm going to focus on on this home and we're going to work with disabled individuals. And that could be anybody from ages 18 to to 80 and we're going to work with those those individuals specifically. That's the incredible thing about assisted living is you get to say this is what I want to do and then you get to go build it and it and it's you get to serve that
00:14:15
population. So, whoever you are most passionate about, you can build a home that can serve them. And and and all of a sudden that that that vision that that why for what you want to do, it turns into a vision. And that's your purpose. And now you're going and now you're creating something that um you're creating this incredible experience and people are paying a premium for it. And you don't have to feel guilty or feel weird about it because you are you're so focused on creating this incredible
00:14:40
atmosphere atmosphere for these people that they want to come to your house and they're seeking out your house and they are they're on a wait list cuz they want to be where you are and and the types of interactions that you're building there. And because of that now you're generating even more of a profit. and people will pay for it because they know that you are going to care for them, for their loved one, and you're going to meet their care needs. It's it's incredible what we what we get to do
00:15:08
inside of the world of assisted living. And I want to also tell you that profitability is good. You have to be profitable in this business or you you can't serve people. You have to make enough money that you can put it back into the business so you can maintain it so you can have a really high functioning beautiful home that people are excited for and also to support you in the way that you want to live your life and it's okay that you do that. So for those of you who are struggling who
00:15:35
those of you who typed in struggle down below because you're just uh you have this this kind of mental block and you can't get beyond it, it's okay. Like I don't know you from Adam, but I'm going to give you permission. You can do this. It's okay for it to be profitable. It's okay for you to want to make money on this. Okay? So, just make sure that you know that profitability is good. You need it if you're going to be a successful business and you're going to
00:16:01
continue to serve people and meet their care needs. There are also a lot of costs of doing this incorrectly. Um, so if you cut corners, your residents are going to suffer. Uh, if you cut corners, your home is going to be neglected and and all of a sudden what should just be a little maintenance on an AC unit or or something along those lines will break and you're going going to have to replace it. You cannot cut corners. You have to do things by the book. You're in the healthcare industry. You have to
00:16:31
follow the regulations. It's it's required of you if you're going to be doing this uh this type of business. you have to do this and and you're going to be successful because of that because you're not cutting the corners. So, make sure you are doing that. Now, um you also need to be um if you if you do this incorrectly and you're bringing in investors, uh whether that's a partner, you know, a family member that you're partnering with or a friend or or you're
00:16:57
raising money to to do these things and you are cutting corners, you're not doing it correctly and you get this bad reputation, all of a sudden the investors get burned and you're never going to be able to grow um your portfolio. People aren't going to want to do this again with you. So, you have to do it correctly. have to you have to go about this making sure that you follow all of the rules and regulations. Make sure that you know what you're getting into and um that's going to help
00:17:20
you out as you really try to progress and and and reach your goals of launching an assisted living business. There's also a hidden cost and that is losing out on creating a lasting impact. So, um, one of the incredible things about assisted living is we get to touch the lives of so many people in our homes. We are caring for our residents. That's the one that everybody thinks of, right? So, you you could have however many residents in your home. You get to create an incredible experience for
00:17:49
them. Um, but you also get to touch the lives of their families and the peace of mind that comes from having a home that is is comfortable and and is they're proud that their loved one gets to live in. You also are providing jobs for all of your staff members and their families and that is also extremely rewarding. The impact that you get to have as the owner of an assisted living facility is generational. It it it benefits you, benefits your family, yes, but you also get to have this incredible impact on
00:18:23
your community, on the people that you interact with. And the bigger you build your portfolio, the more people you add in and the more people you bring through your home, the greater your impact will be. And people will remember you until they die. And that's such like there's not a lot of other things that you get to do in life that give you that type of impact. So the impact that you have is something that you may or may not think about, but I think a lot of people kind of overlook it, but it is it's so
00:18:53
rewarding. So make sure that you are uh taking that into consideration as well. If you do this right, you're going to have a lot of success and it's going to bring you a ton of joy and a ton of satisfaction as you are trying to help people out um through their through their lives. The other thing I want to point out is that you need to have this e be ethical and be vision driven. So you need to start with this clear vision. We talked about this a little bit earlier. Um it needs to be from go
00:19:19
from the why to the vision. You need to make a connection there and that's going to help you um kind of turn this into what you want it to be. You are also going to need to balance some financial health and resident well-being. Uh like we mentioned, you've got to be profitable. You have to be profitable if you're going to serve the residents. If you're going to do activities with your residents and and have nice things, nice furniture, nice beds inside of the facility, you need to be financially
00:19:46
healthy. If you want to not be burned out and you want that time and financial freedom and you don't want to create just another job for yourself, then you have to kind of connect these things and you have to balance all of that out. It's very much a balancing game. It can be stressful um as as anything is when you own a business and and you're you're caring for people and uh people are close to death at times. Um it can be very stressful and and can be hard and difficult. But if you balance these
00:20:13
things out and and focus on resident well-being while also generating a profit, you're going to um you're going to be successful. And you do this ethically. And and that's something that I think is also very important. Also, when you get into this, and I mentioned this a little bit as well, you have some huge wins. The impact that you get to have with your residents, with their families, and with your staff is so impactful. So, make sure you are doing this ethically. You have this vision.
00:20:39
You know where you want where you want to go. And as you do this, you're going to make you're just going to have a huge impact on people's lives. And you can feel good about being profitable. And this is not just a money grab. It is something that you are doing to have an impact on your community, on the residents, their families, your staff, um while creating this incredible experience that they would have to pay two times as much for if they went to a nursing home. And you get to do that at
00:21:06
a discounted rate. You get to meet their needs and give them um a much better quality of life as you're trying to to help them reach their just their goals of living a a high quality of life. you get to help them do that and it's something that is so rewarding. So, uh just want to make sure you understand that. Now, something I want to point out to you, I I mentioned at the start of the video, I have a special invitation. We have a challenge coming up here. Um our next one starts in a in a few weeks.
00:21:36
Um so, make sure you go and check this out, a roadmapchallenge.com. I would love to have you there. Um I talked a lot today about creating a vision and also the importance of understanding and navigating the rules and regulations. I also talked about profitability. We go through all of that here in the challenge. Go check it out. roadmapchallenge.com. I would love to see you in there. There's also a VIP experience that you can get into to get extra coaching with me as you're trying to figure out the process of how you're
00:22:02
going to do this and how you're going to be successful. So, go check it out. Would love to see you there. Again, it's roadmap roadmapchallenge.com. And if you would like my five-phase process on how to launch an assisted living business, make sure you go check out the profit the profitable assisted living facility at the alibook.com. We'll have links for both the challenge and the book down below so you can go and make sure you get access to those things as you're trying to to launch
00:22:27
your assisted living business. Uh it's going to help you out a ton as you get there. Again, my five-phase process for doing this is build your foundation first, your optimal property selection, capital and funding, understanding the rules and regulations, and having a strategic launch. If you do those five things, you're going to be successful as you try to launch your assisted living business. Now, I want to thank you for watching. Thanks for being here. I appreciate uh those of you that have been on here
00:22:54
live. I hope you found this valuable. So, if you did, make sure you like the video, subscribe, and ring the bell as well, so you get notified every time we put out content like this. I love helping and coaching people and would love to help you along your path as you're trying to launch your assisted living business. Does residential assisted living sound interesting to you, but you don't know how to get started? At assisted living investing, I'm here to help beginners like you launch their assisted living business in
00:23:16
the next 12 months. I love helping and coaching people. It is one of my favorite things to do. Make sure you go check out the the challenge. Um, go check out the book. Um links again down below roadmapchallenge.com the alibook.com and remember it doesn't take a lot just a little bit just keep going step by step by step and I promise you if you do and you are consistent and persistent you will be successful. Thanks for watching and have a great day.
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