Retirement Feels Out Of Reach For Grandparent Caregivers

Young people do not have an easy time these days, but neither do seniors. Journalists have had a lot to say recently about solo aging, since tens of millions of Americans who will be retiring in the next few years do not have a spouse or children and therefore will be spending their retirement alone. They certainly face a difficult situation. Without close family members to help them, they will have to rely on paid caregivers, and the seniors must pay for the services of caregivers with their own earned income. Of course, as single people, this also means that the same income must also cover other necessities. They simply do not have a financial cushion. Of course, family caregiving is not without its costs. People who spend many hours each week caring for an elderly spouse or parent deal with an extraordinary financial and emotional strain. There is yet another group of seniors who feel as pressed for time and money as their younger counterparts; these are the seniors who are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren. If you are the main caregiver in your grandchild’s life and you need help mobilizing resources for when you will be the one who needs care, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.

Meet the Grandparents With Little Family Support

Raising children is notoriously exhausting. There is even a whole genre of online content about the tight schedules to which families with young children adhere day in and day out. Part of the reason for this strenuous pace of life is that, while the parents are brushing their children’s hair and driving them to and from sports practices, the parents are also working full-time and, if they are lucky, saving for their own retirement so that they will not have to depend on their children financially.

Multigenerational households, where people live in such close quarters that it is difficult to stay out of each other’s business to a comfortable degree, at least have enough adults that they can distribute the childcare tasks in a manageable way. Your situation is especially difficult if you are the primary caregiver for your grandchildren because your child is not consistently involved in your grandchildren’s daily lives. Some grandparent caregivers receive public benefits in their capacity as foster parents, but if a grandparent and a grandchild are together on two fixed incomes, this does not leave much of a cushion for the grandparent’s eventual need for long-term care. Grandparent caregivers often feel that they cannot afford to retire. Therefore, they find themselves doing the exhausting job of working full-time and being responsible for all of their grandchild’s meals, appointments, and other needs.

Contact Gierach and Gierach About Estate Planning for Grandparent Caregivers

An estate planning lawyer can help you plan for a retirement, or even a scenario where you work indefinitely, where you are the primary caregiver for one or more grandchildren.  Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

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