Hidden Struggles: The Challenges Faced by Caregivers
Written by: Suzanne Schmitt
“The last few years really challenged me to keep two things in perspective: caring for the people I love most—with the toll it takes emotionally, physically and financially.”
As a three-time caregiver, Lisa would know.
Parenting
Lisa, a former colleague of mine at a brokerage firm, became a parent a few years ago. She assumed she could keep her job when she became a mother, and she and her husband, Jeff, secured a slot for their son, Jake, in a daycare near her office.
Things worked well, until they didn’t.
Lisa earned more than Jeff, but she had an unpredictable schedule. A couple of times, the school needed someone to pick up Jake, but nobody was around. Lisa wondered if they could keep it up, and after a few heart-to-hearts with Jeff, she left her job and stayed out of the workforce until Jake started school.
Reversing Roles
After a few years, Lisa went back to work, Jeff was promoted, and Jake went to preschool. Things seemed normal.
But then one morning Lisa got a call that her dad was in the ER after what was suspected to be a heart attack. Her mother let her know he was stable but needed cardiac rehab. Could she come? Lisa gave her team a heads-up that she’d be gone for a week. One week turned into several. After she’d exhausted her vacation time, she took a leave so she could help Mom see Dad successfully through rehab.
Aging Alone, Together
Her father’s heart attack was a wake-up call for both parents. They decided it was time to retire, albeit earlier than planned, and enjoy life. To help compensate for their retirement savings shortfall, they downsized and moved to a state with lower costs of living. While Lisa was happy to see them thriving, she missed them. And neither family anticipated the costs of traveling to see each other. On a visit, shortly after her dad’s death, it was clear the house was too much for her mother to handle. Lisa talked her into moving back to their home state. Since buying was cost prohibitive, Lisa and Jeff converted their basement into an apartment for her mother.
The Real ‘Costs’ Of Caregiving
Lisa’s laborious experience is increasingly common.
- The National Alliance for Caregiving has come up with some unsettling figures:
- The alliance says 19% of Americans provide unpaid care to an adult, and 24% of caregivers look after more than one person.
- Caregiving affects more women than men. Sixty-one percent of woman say it affects them while only 39% of men do.
- The need for caregivers cuts across the wealth management and demographic groups among your clients, with boomers, Gen Xers and millennials all being called upon for unpaid care.
- It’s also expensive to care for others. Forty-five percent of unpaid caregivers experience at least one financial impact: meaning they must stop saving, deplete their emergency funds or take on debt.
- Their work is also affected when they take on care for others. Sixty-one percent of unpaid caregivers have also experienced at least one work-related shock, meaning they have to reduce hours or pass up on a promotion.
- Caregivers’ own health is on the line, too. Twenty-three percent of caregivers say their efforts have made their health worse. If health is wealth, unpaid caregivers face additional threats to their social, emotional and physical well-being in the forms of increased healthcare costs, higher premiums, reduced retirement savings and the depletion of wealth.
A When, Not An If
For many of us, like Lisa, caregiving is a role we’ll take on repeatedly over the course of our lives.
So what can advisors do to prepare and protect their clients—and their books?
- Understand who might depend on your clients. This could include older loved ones, children, spouses, extended family, pets, even friends. Your clients’ plans are only as solid as the least prepared person in their circle.
- Get to know the people they might depend on, too. While we all hope to live happily, healthfully and independently, life happens. Do you know whom your clients would call from the ER? Have you met their trusted contacts?
- Ask about key documents. Do your clients have current and complete powers of attorney, living wills, healthcare proxies, wills, etc.? Do the people named know they are?
- Monitor your clients’ life events. When people move, change jobs or experience a serious change in their health, these things rarely occur in a vacuum. Consider asking your clients this simple question: “What’s changed in your life since we last talked?”
- Get to know their family health history. What conditions are in your clients’ family trees? How long have older relatives lived? How well? When you unpack their health issues, you can build new relationships and deepen existing ones by addressing a key financial stressor.
- Raise the subject of workplace benefits whenever it’s appropriate. Do your clients have access to caregiving support services at work, including emergency/backup care, eldercare or (increasingly) paid caregiving concierge services? Be aware that many of these workplace benefits, including most financial well-being programs, come with access to advisors.
If you don’t raise these issues with clients and their families, someone else will.
Organic Growth Strategies for 2024
Leading advisory firms are engaging clients with strategies to retain existing clients and grow assets. This Innovation Studio highlights:
- Using alternative investments to enhance existing portfolios
- The increasing role of portfolio and account technology to help create better client outcomes and an easier advisor experience
- How longevity and planning solutions will both retain clients and engage Gen2 adult children by focusing on the preparation of Gen2
https://www.youtube.com/embed/rjp-e4muBWE
Hosted by Cheryl Nash, Chief Customer Executive, InvestCloud
Tom West, CLU, ChFC, AIF, Senior Partner, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors, LLC
Michael Keogh, Managing Director, iCapital
Michael Roth, Global Chief Product Officer, Digital Wealth, InvestCloud
The Four Unstoppable Trends Shaping Asset and Wealth Management
Organic growth has stalled in both asset and wealth management. The underlying trends include the impact of increased consumer expectations, new service preferences, provider capacity and the looming demographic challenge of longevity. What are the four key trends – and what are the leaders doing to win?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/0jGdI-C3Hqo
Steve Gresham, Managing Principal, NextChapter
Nalika Nanayakkara, Managing Partner, Americas Financial Services EY
Part 1 of the 2024 NextChapter Innovation Summit
PEAK 65™: Longevity is Here to Stay - Get Ready!
More Americans turn 65 in 2024 than in any year – ever. Historic longevity is the underlying trend changing the advice industry and society overall. Clients and their families face difficult choices and need assistance. This session provides the Peak65 research and backdrop for providing retirement solutions, plus:
- The implications for individuals and their financial advisors for the use of protected income strategies to improve investment portfolios.
- How the world of retirement plans will help improve retirement outcomes.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/lIbJex2jGXY
Anne Ackerley, Head of the Retirement Group, BlackRock
Jason Fichtner, Ph.D., Chief Economist at Bipartisan Policy Center & Head of ALI Retirement Income Institute
Tim Seifert, Head of Retirement Solutions Distribution, Lincoln Financial Group
Facilitating Access to Outcome-Shaping Products
Advisorpedia talked with Joanna Kanakis, EVP and Head of Business Development at Halo Investing, live at the 2023 MMI Annual Conference in Austin, Texas.
https://youtu.be/NTjXhzfDpIA?list=PLkSc-2XiNMQicjCT4XnGDqF98nlO_Axxh
Actions for Fixed Income Investors as Growth Decelerates
Advisorpedia talked with Manju Boraiah, Head of Systematic Edge Fixed Income and Custom SMA Investments at Allspring Global Investments, live at the 2023 MMI Annual Conference in Austin, Texas.
https://youtu.be/KDa4yPh9LlU?list=PLkSc-2XiNMQicjCT4XnGDqF98nlO_Axxh
Evaluate Risk and Return to Protect Against Inflation in Your Portfolio
Economic Realities was created to bring industry experts together to benefit financial advisors and individuals seeking to improve their financial outcomes.
In today’s episode, Chris Battaglia welcomes back economist and author of “Money Magic: an Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk & Better Outcomes”, Larry Kotlikoff, to discuss interest rate protection strategies and products investors may want to consider.
Specific strategies they discuss include:
- Alternatives to investing in the stock market to protect against interest rates and taxes, including Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS)
- How Larry thinks about the percentage allocation to inflation protected strategy by TIPS
- The importance of balancing risks in investment strategies, particularly between TIPs and Social Security income
- How to weigh the risk of different products inside your portfolio
Resources: Maxifi
Conversations About Longevity Planning and Preparing for the Unexpected with Steve Gresham
This may be one of the most important interviews we’ve done since the inception of Top Advisor Podcast.
The very best advisors know that their job is more than managing investments or selling insurance. The very best advisors are increasingly focused on Longevity Planning for the Baby Boomer clients.
These advisors prioritize building strong, meaningful connections with their clients, getting to know their individual life stories, and providing guidance through critical life-changing events.
In this episode, Referral Coach Bill Cates and Steve Gresham delve into the fascinating world of longevity planning and the importance of being prepared for unexpected events. As advisors, it’s crucial for us to anticipate these events and help our clients navigate through them with expertise and care.
You’ll hear real-life examples of advisors who have let their clients down in this area as well as examples of advisors who showed up big time for their clients.
But it doesn’t stop there. Bill and Steve explore the growing demographic wave of older individuals and the unique challenges they face. Longevity planning is not something to be taken lightly.
Steve Gresham & Bill Cates discuss:
- The concept of “family conversation” and why it is important for advisors to have the courage to engage with their clients.
- The 7 moments that matter in a client’s life AND the 7 phone calls every advisor should be prepared to receive.
- Why clients may hesitate to share personal health information with their advisors due to concerns about empathy and a safe space.
- The life events that may be a surprise to clients – but not to their advisors – who should be prepared and experienced in dealing with them.
- How financial advisors can ensure that they are addressing the concerns and needs of aging clients, even if the clients may feel hesitant to share personal health information.
- What longevity planning is, and key issues to consider when creating a longevity plan for clients.
- Stories of success and failure in longevity planning.
- … And so much more!
As always, this episode is packed with valuable information and practical strategies for financial advisors to better serve their clients. So, get ready to learn the secrets to success in the world of longevity planning as we dive into an engaging conversation with Steve Gresham.
https://media.blubrry.com/topadvisorpodcast/content.blubrry.com/topadvisorpodcast/TAP_Ep_48.mp3
Moments That Matter: The Default Caregiver With Steve and Phyllis Gresham
In this podcast, Steve Gresham, the Managing Principal of NextChapter and the Senior Education Advisor with the Alliance of Lifetime Income, is joined by his mother, Phyllis Gresham, for a special episode on the role as the default caregiver. Steve and Phyllis delve into the intricacies of caregiving, sharing personal anecdotes, financial challenges, and reflections on aging while highlighting the importance of planning for the future.
They also discussed:
- The advocacy and caregiver role in long-term care and the challenges that follow, especially for women.
- Dealing with care for elderly relatives with cognitive issues.
- The importance of planning and communication in caregiving and finances.
- The need for advisors to discuss potential constraints and scenarios with clients.
- The self-centered focus older individuals tend to have, not interested in others’ experiences.
- Addressing devastating diagnoses and the challenges of treatment decisions
- Phyllis’s reflections on her own aging process and how she chooses meaningful activities.
Resources: NextChapter | Alliance for Lifetime Income
https://media.blubrry.com/poweryouradvicepodcast/ins.blubrry.com/poweryouradvicepodcast/PYA_EP_177.mp3
Moments That Matter: Unexpected Health Events With Steve and Phyllis Gresham
In this podcast, Steve Gresham, the Managing Principal of NextChapter and the Senior Education Advisor with the Alliance of Lifetime Income, is joined by his mother, Phyllis Gresham, for a special episode on unexpected medical events. The duo explores the challenges, lessons, and need for preparedness surrounding caregiving, long-term care, and the inevitable health changes that come with age.
They also discussed:
- Challenges advisors face when clients experience unexpected medical events.
- The effects of chronic health issues gradually impacting daily life.
- The transition to a sudden and drastic change in health, leading to a need for external help and medical intervention.
- Acknowledgment of complex medical considerations for treatment and care, considering age and cognitive issues.
- The need for preparation and decision-making when facing retirement and potential health issues, including the consideration of long-term care facilities.
- Advocacy and involvement of family members in ensuring quality care in long-term care facilities.
- The lack of awareness and understanding among people regarding their roles in long-term care situations.
- Addressing the gender disparity in longevity and how it impacts retirement planning.
Resources: NextChapter | Alliance for Lifetime Income
https://media.blubrry.com/poweryouradvicepodcast/ins.blubrry.com/poweryouradvicepodcast/PYA_EP_176_2_.mp3