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Caregiving in
Real Life
Transamerica Insurance Company has done a lot of research on caregivers. Consider some of their findings from this survey of more than 3,000 nonprofessional caregivers:
- 74% of caregivers have been providing care for one or more years and 27% for five or more years.
- Caregivers spend 50 hours (median) per month caring for the care recipient and 36% of caregivers spend 100 or more hours per month.
- More than half (55%) say their caregiving duties leave them physically or emotionally exhausted.
- Caregivers are juggling jobs and caregiving duties, with more than half being either employed full-time (39%) or part-time (13%).
- Among those currently employed or who have been employed during their time as a caregiver, 76% made some type of adjustment to their employment as a result of their caregiving duties, ranging from using vacation and sick days (30%), to taking on fewer hours or responsibilities (26%), to quitting their jobs or retiring (14%).
- 28% of caregivers who are employed or have been employed during their time as a caregiver have experienced adverse actions taken by their employers as a result of their caregiving responsibilities.
- 55% say that their own health is taking a back seat to the health of the care recipient, and 17% indicate their general health has gotten worse/declined since becoming a caregiver.
- 69% of caregivers gave little to no consideration to their own financial situation when deciding to become a caregiver.
Two Implications
Here are two relevant retirement income planning implications:
1.) One of the common mistakes a couple makes is that we each plan for our own personal retirement only. This makes sense when we are single, but a couple has more to consider. Typically, the wife outlives her husband, and therefore is more often faced with the concerns of an ailing spouse. An exacerbating factor is the social pattern where the husband is typically some years older than the wife, especially in second marriages.
We find that planning for this aspect of retirement often means planning for the younger or healthier spouse in at least two ways:
a) Is it realistic to expect the healthier individual, often infirm themselves, to be the primary caregiver for their spouse?
b) While the husband may assume he needs resources to provide income to, say, age 90, the couple really needs much more in resources to continue to provide income for the wife, who may live many years beyond that.
2.) It may not be a good idea to plan on using your children as caregivers, and certainly not without involving them in the decision-making process beforehand.
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Thomas Phelps DeVol
is the founder of DeVol Insurance & Financial Services. He enjoys helping people transform their hopes about the future into attainable retirement plans. His persistence, know-how and diligence are the keys to his success -- and that of his clients.
Tom has three children and lives with his wife, Connie, and their youngest children in Newton, Massachusetts. He enjoys gardening, tennis, jogging and opera.
Tom can be reached at 617-964-6404 or via
email
.
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Securities offered through Parkland Securities, LLC. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Sigma Planning Corporation, a registered investment advisor. DeVol Insurance & Financial Services is independent of Parkland Securities, LLC and SPC.
PHOTO CREDITS: Alisa Anton on Unsplash; Chi Pham on Unsplash; Janice Gill on Unsplash
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