Impact of Caregiving on Earnings and Wealth for Baby Boomers
Published August 4, 2011
Almost 10 million adult children over the age of 50 care for aging parents. While these family caregivers are themselves aging, they are also providing care to love ones at a time when they need to be planning and saving for their own retirement.
Did you know -
- The proportion of adult children providing personal care and/or financial assistance to a parent has more than tripled over the past 15 years.
- Total estimated aggregate lost wages, pension, and Social Security benefits of these caregivers of parents is nearly $3 trillion.
- The cost impact of caregiving on the individual female caregiver in terms of lost wages and Social Security benefits equals $324,044.
- Adult children 50+ who work and provide care to a parent are more likely to have fair or poor health than those who do not provide care to their parents.
These and other key findings can be found in a study, Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers – Double Jeopardy for Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents, which is an updated, national look at adult children who work and care for their parents and the impact of caregiving on their earnings and lifetime wealth. This study is provided by Metlife and can be downloaded from their website.
This is an eye-opening study which uncovers the shocking financial impact that caregiving has on family caregivers.
Senior Home Health Care Denver – A Better Understanding of “Empathy”
Published September 1, 2009Senior Home Health Care Denver – My Journey to Understanding the Challenges of our Seniors
The transition from a normal, independent middle-aged person to one with incapacitating Guillian Barré Syndrome is not a pleasant one. A three-week hospital stay and countless diagnostic tests resulted in my GBS diagnosis. This is an insidious immune system disorder that causes severe nerve and muscle damage. My case is much less severe than many who are afflicted with it, but it still caused a paralysis that made me fall numerous times ultimately resulting in a broken ankle.
I’m glad to finally be home, but I currently have to rely on a walker to move around. Daily mundane tasks like running the vacuum, driving a car and watering plants are still out of my ability range. My feet and hands are not working properly; the broken ankle is the least of my problems.
On a positive note, this experience has given me a new appreciation for the challenges that so many people face every day. I’ll never look at a person using a walker or a cane in the same way again; I will always wonder what chain of events led them to that predicament. Severe illness can take you to a dark place. I have been fortunate, until now, to be a very healthy adult and never visited this very frightening place before—one that forces you to realize that circumstances beyond your control can result in a loss of your independence.
Even though very little is known about the causes of GBS and there is no cure for it, the nerve damage generally reverses itself. The time frame for the reversal varies from individual to individual. There is hope for full recovery; many other illnesses do not offer this hope. This experience has taught me to “empathize” with those who are dealing with severe health issues. I have a better understanding of their fears and their hopes for recuperation.
Gerri Tyber, Operations Manager
Barton Home Care
Senior Care Colorado – The Benefits of Professional Caregiving
Published June 1, 2009Senior Care Colorado – You Do Have A Choice
As a result of these difficult economic times, many families are turning to hiring their own private caregivers in hopes of saving some money. In many cases, this may work out just fine – however, there are pitfalls that should certainly be considered. Our list below is meant to raise the awareness of all that goes into providing care to elder clients by a professional home care organization.
The advantages to hiring a professional home care company like, Barton Home Care, for your elder care is as follows:
- We hand-pick our caregivers after careful scrutiny of their background, talents, personality, compassion and desire to make a difference.
- We choose only those who have demonstrated their caring capabilities through helping someone in their family or from having a professional care background.
- Everyone goes through a thorough background check including validation of their social security number, address check, criminal background check and screening of their motor vehicle record.
- All employees are bonded and insured.
- Employees sign off on an extensive Policy and Procedures document as well as an Employee Agreement. Nothing is left to interpretation.
- Every employee goes through an Orientation session to ensure they know our expectations and requirements for providing superlative care.
- All employees are required to access our training site which covers the spectrum of challenges facing our elder clients as well as the fundamentals of providing extraordinary care.
- As a company, we carry general and professional liability insurance exceeding the requirements of the State of Colorado license law.
- All employees are covered by Workman’s Comp insurance so if they are injured on the job – it is not the concern of the client. We take care of the problem.
- All employees are supervised so if there ever is an issue, our client’s do not have to confront the employee – we handle the issues … and we have very few.
- Our caregivers keep us constantly updated with the status of our clients. We, in turn, keep the family up-to-date on how things are going.
- Compatibility is key – we ensure that the client caregiver match is as good as it can be.
- If an employee gets sick or has personal problems, we will arrange for substitute care if desired.
- Since we do employ, our clients are not faced with payroll tax issues including completing a 1099 at the year’s end and the potential for the IRS to consider their caregiver contractor as an employee requiring back payment of withholding taxes.
- As with all home care companies in this area, we are to be subject to regulation by the State of Colorado. Independent, private caregivers have no overseeing authority.
- Ours is a completely managed process. Our (almost) eight year track record is proof positive that our approach makes the most sense to those families needing elder care.
So, one can conclude that there is much to consider when exploring care for an elder in their home. The cost differential between a private caregiver and employing a professional home care company should not be the only consideration.
