Dychtwald, who is also an author, wants more public discussions of these issues. In addition to aging concerns, she also focuses on women’s issues. Her latest book is Influence: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better.
“Let’s open up the gates,” she says. “We need to be talking about these things. Demography dictates the facts; it is our responsibility to then deal with them.
“People feel it is the right thing to do to help their aging parents and their adult children. They need to be there for them, but they have to consider what it means to their own retirement,” Dychtwald adds. “Taking care of aging parents has always been a problem, but now it has grown exponentially.”
Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Transamerica Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization, wants more light on the subject. “Millions of Americans are serving as family caregivers for relatives or friends who need help taking care of themselves,” she says. “With people living longer, the high cost of long-term care and the aging of the baby boomer generation, the number of family caregivers is likely to increase.
“It’s time to raise awareness of the challenges faced by caregivers so they can simultaneously care for their loved ones and protect their own long-term health and financial well-being,” Collinson says. One of the things making caregiving so difficult is that it involves a wide range of duties and skills, according to “The Many Faces of Caregivers: A Close-Up Look at Caregiving and Its Impacts,” a study conducted by the Transamerica Institute, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Transamerica Center for Health Studies, which included 3,074 caregivers.
Hector De La Torre, executive director of the Center for Health Studies, says, “Caregiving responsibilities involve commitments of time and energy to perform a wide variety of tasks, ranging from personal care to household management to administering medications and treatments. These responsibilities can be fulfilling, but also exhausting.”
“Seventy-four percent of caregivers have been providing care for one or more years, and 27% have been providing care for five or more years,” according to the study. “Caregiving is a full-time job for many—36% of caregivers spend 100 or more hours per month providing care, with a median of 50 hours spent per month.”
Although the number of aging parents who need care is growing and should be top of mind for advisors and clients, many adult children are not dealing with the issue early enough, says Andrew Crowell, vice chairman of wealth management at D.A. Davidson & Co., based in Great Falls, Mont. “Being prepared starts with a plan,” says Crowell. “The advisor has to ask probing questions about the family history and about future plans. What are the plans if a parent becomes ill? The advisor should say, ‘Let’s talk about your extended family. How are you going to provide for them if necessary?’
“Often the advisor fails to have that extended conversation,” he adds. “The advisor focuses on the individual client or couple, but the clients do not live in a vacuum.”
“You have to have a road map of care for older parents, but you have to have it in place well in advance,” agrees Michael Hoeflich, wealth manager and Social Security claiming strategist with the Financial Guys in Williamsville, N.Y. “Create a support team for the parents and divide up the duties by the strengths of the family members. Having legal and financial help is critical.”