The Sandwich Generation
Earlier this month my friend Debbie and I went to North Carolina to study and sit for our Certified Senior Advisor designation. We had to read a 700 page book on topics like; Trends in Aging, Chronic Illness, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, Senior Nutrition, Fitness and Health Lifestyles, Senior Housing, Services and Transportation, Medicare and Medicaid, Grief and Loss, End of Life Planning, Ethics, Spirituality and Aging. This is in addition to the normal Financial, Tax and Estate Planning that one would normally associate with retirement planning.
Why did we do this? We both have been financial advisors for 18 years, and we realize that we need to take a much more holistic approach to retirement planning to address the needs of our clients. Retirement is not what it used to be. Seniors today are healthier and living longer than ever before. For many of us, retirement will not mean the end of our work lives, but just a transition. This could be an opportunity to do what we always wanted to do like start a business, volunteer, join the Peace Corps, consult, and travel. Creating a realistic vision for retirement is important because it can affect how much money you need during your lifetime. Many of us will live well into our 80s, 90s or even beyond 100.
Increased life spans also presents problems that our government is not prepared for. If you listened to President Bush the other night during his State of the Union Address, you will remember his comments about a crisis with Social Security. This crisis includes Medicare and Medicaid too.
When these programs were designed, life expectancy was around 63. For 99% of human history the average life expectancy was under 18 years of age. Not only are people living longer, but of all those who have reached 65, two thirds are still alive today.
Our fastest growing population is age 85. By 2030, 70 million people in the United States, or 1 in 5 people, will be age 65. Another 1 million people will be 100 years old. The need for healthcare and related services is exploding!
Women are faced with not only working and taking care of their families, but paying for college, saving for retirement and more than likely taking care of their parents. It is expected that women will spend more time taking care of aging parents than taking care of their children. The typical caregiver today is a 46-year-old woman. She spends 18 hours a week taking care of her mother who lives nearby.
These figures* may seem startling, but with early planning and good communication, parents and children can be prepared so they aren’t in crisis mode. Parents and children need to have a conversation about what they want done if something happens to either of them, how they want to be taken care of, where everything is and who has been designated as the decision maker.
Also important to many people is passing on their family values and legacy. This can be done during a life review which can be written in a journal, video taped or documented in a scrapbook. We should be sure to document our loved ones stories and family history before it’s too late. I wish now I had done this with my Grandmother and my Great Aunt. I was very close to them and I have pictures and antiques, but just bits and pieces of their stories. To learn more, consider joining us for our next workshop, or request a copy of our article, “How To Be Prepared for That Call in the Night”.
Have you had the conversation with your loved one - what is keeping you up at night? Post your comments below.
