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Many don't factor in taking care of aging parents when making long-term financial plans — and this could be preventing seniors from getting the care they need.

On Yahoo Finance’s Decoding Retirement, Bank of America's head of retirement, Chris Herman, shared a personal anecdote about how his own mother’s divorce and eventual need for a caregiver forced him and his siblings to have some serious talks about money.

“When my parents divorced, my mom was not in a good position financially,” Herman said (see video above or listen below). “She was very concerned about her ability to continue her lifestyle, let alone retire, at some point in the future. And I took it as my role for her to be [her] financial caregiver.”

Herman admitted he wasn’t aware of his parents’ financial situation before their divorce, which meant that they had to sit down and take stock of all of his mother's assets to get an idea of where she was starting.

“Maybe just in finding the place where you are, you'll find some comfort,” he recalled telling her before they made a financial plan.

Herman said he worked with his mother as her financial caretaker “over the span of 25 years,” constantly checking in with her on her financial situation. This included factoring in what kind of care she would get if she were no longer able to live on her own.

“Ultimately, when my mom was not able to live by herself anymore, she moved in with my oldest sister,” he shared, noting that it was a decision made with his sister. “It was my mom's choice. That's where she wanted to be."

But while their years of financial planning had made that move possible, they didn’t consider what would happen if Herman’s older sister could no longer take care of their mother.

“Eventually, my sister's ability to care for my mother deteriorated as well,” Herman said. “As she got older, ... for my mom's safety, for my sister's safety, we needed to put her into an assisted living facility.”

Herman admitted that was one place they could’ve done a better job planning. Though assisted living or additional care was not their ideal situation, he noted that planning for that possibility would’ve helped everyone in the long run.

“Having that conversation with the person you expect is potentially going to need long-term care — it's a difficult conversation to have,” Herman said. “Oftentimes, the elder person will not want to engage in that. They'll be adamant in terms of, ‘I'm not going to be a burden on you, and I'm never going to live in assisted living.’”