I was pleased to see your article about (“The future of baby boomers” ODE Feb.14, 2007). The aging of this large generation has been overlooked until recently. While your tips for financial planning are valuable, caring for an aging parent entails much more than managing their bank account.
Your piece mentions long-term care insurance and planning for funeral arrangements, but fails to touch on the issue that lies between the two subjects: care-giving. There are currently 50 million Americans who provide voluntary care for aging family members. As the baby boomer generation continues to age, this number is expected to skyrocket.
Family care-giving is an important issue that is often overlooked, as it was in your article. While it’s important to understand your parents’ finances, it’s even more important to understand how their aging will affect your personal finances. When a parent’s insurance fails to cover something, such as an unexpected medical crisis or accessibility adjustments to their home, and their retirement account runs out, their children are often expected to take care of them financially and physically.
As university students, many of us are children of the baby boomer generation and are likely to provide care for a parent in our life time. It’s important to understand the full impact of their aging now so that we can prepare financially, physically and emotionally.
Nicole Wasowski
University student