Maria used to think of her future in terms of shifts, not decades. On good weeks, she could pick up extra nights at the hospital, tuck a little more into savings, and imagine a modest but stable retirement. Then her 82-year-old father started needing help with nearly everything—getting out of bed, bathing, managing medications, even remembering how to use the microwave—and the math of her life stopped making sense. The home care estimates were higher than her rent. Assisted living was out of reach.