Who’s going to take care of us? June 25, 2011
Posted by forwardfinancialplanning1 in Long Term Care Insurance.add a comment
A recent study conducted by Met Life, The National Alliance for Caregivers and New York Medical College revealed some sobering facts about caring for the elderly. The study combined survey results of 1,112 Americans over the age of 50 with some government data from 2008 to determine that over 10 million adult children over the age of 50 are providing assistance to their parents in one form or another. In some instances, it could be as simple as providing some financial assistance but for many, it consists of extensive caregiving.
While caring for aging parents is clearly a labor of love, the price of this labor is startling. The survey estimated an average cost of $324,044 for a female caregiver and $283,716 for male caregiver. The “cost” referenced here is in the form of lost wages due to the caregiving situation and emanates from missed promtions, reduced hours and the inability to take a better job requiring relocation.
The study concluded that a greater percentage of this group is caring for mothers (26%) than caring for their children (14%). The percentage caring for their father is slightly lower at 10%. This latest statistic is to be expected given the shorter actuarial life expectancy of males.
If anything should give us “50-somethings” a reason to consider long term care insurance, it’s clearly data such as this. Failure to heed this circumstance will result in the next generations being confronted with an even more demanding caregiver requirement.
How’s your financial literacy?? April 25, 2011
Posted by forwardfinancialplanning1 in Annuities, Financial Planning, Life Insurance, Long Term Care Insurance.add a comment
Here’s yet another on-line survey to test the nation’s financial literacy. Sponsored by Northwestern Mutual Insurance, it can be found at: http://financialmattersquiz.com. As always, they reveal some serious gaps in our population’s general knowledge of financial concepts. Nonetheless, it’s fun to see how you stack up against the country as a whole. This one appears to be a bit skewed towards insurance products—not surprising since it’s sponsored by an insurer. However, it does give us another good opportunity to benchmark our financial savvy.
