If you are part of the sandwich generation then one of the major responsibilities, you may face is taking over your parent’s financial well-being. This can take a toll on your own financial wellness, as well as your emotional health. Here are 5 financial wellness tips that make your life easier taking care of your parents’ and your children’s needs.
What is the Sandwich Generation?
You are a part of the sandwich generation if you have the responsibility of simultaneously raising kids and looking after your aging parents. Without any questions, you have an extremely challenging lifestyle that requires a lot of resilience and patience. This article including financial wellness tips will provide a better inside on how to manage your day-to-day financial responsibilities.
How Many Americans are Part of the Sandwich Generation?
47% of American adults are in the Sandwich generation. This number is expected to rise as more Baby Boomers age. Today, Americans live until approximately 78 years old, so the number of adults sandwiched between their parents and kids continues to grow.
Five Crucial Financial Wellness Tips for the Sandwich Generation
To help you better understand how you can manage your stress in the field of your parents and your own finances, we’ve compiled some helpful financial wellness tips and advice for you to better manage your money, your parent’s finances, and the stress associated with it.
#1 Tackle Your Sandwich Generation Stress Efficiently
Do you feel that there isn’t enough time in the day to handle all your and your parent’s personal and financial responsibilities? Tackling your stress is critical to ensuring you and your family are looked after. It’s important to remember to take care of your own wellbeing first in order to properly provide for the rest of your family members.
Here are a few tips you can do to help with your personal stress levels:
- Make a list of important tasks and prioritize them.
- Get enough sleep.
- Exercise more.
- Remember to socialize with friends and other family members for your emotional wellbeing.
#2 Try Not to Feel Guilty
Stay fresh and energized in your personal life so you can keep providing care for your loved ones by taking the time to meet your personal and professional needs first.
TIP: Start prioritizing your time for personal and family needs to enhance your physical and mental capacity.
No matter if you are taking a walk in the park or reading a good book, it’s important to make time to do things outside of your family.
#3 Gather and Organize All Financial Documents
TIP: Collect all your family member’s financial documents to help start the process of proper financial accounting.
Having your parents share their financial accounts with you as their caretaker can help ensure all their bills and taxes are paid and up to date. If they aren’t happy with you taking over their finances, remind your parents that you are only trying to do what’s best for them financially.
#4 Don’t Forget Your Parents’ Role
TIP: Remembering that your parent’s money still belongs to them is important.
If they are still in good mental health, collaborating with them on financial decisions can help ease the burden you face. Your parents have managed their own money for most of their lives. They deserve some involvement in the financial decision-making process.
#5 Ask for Professional Financial Help
As being part of the sandwich generation, managing your family member’s wealth is not an easy thing to handle. One of the most important financial wellness tips we have to offer is working with a financial planner or investment advisor who can help you with all financial aspects of your life, including retirement planning, education planning for your kids, and investing.
TIP: Local financial professionals can help you prepare the necessary financial documents for your parents, for yourself, and your kids, and avoid costly mistakes.
Managing the finances and wellbeing of both your children and parents can be stressful and challenging. These financial wellness tips above can help you stay on track with your health and financial goals.
Contact our financial and retirement planners or investment advisors today to see how we can further assist you in navigating these challenges and reaching your financial wellbeing.
Sources for Financial Wellness Tips
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/09/us-life-expectancy-has-been-declining-heres-why.html
- https://www.seniorliving.org/caregiving/sandwich-generation/
- Caregiver.org (2009) – [Caregiving page] https://www.caregiver.org/caregiving
- https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrea-love/surviving-sandwich-generation_b_9151744.html
- https://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/2018-08-10/coping-with-stress-when-youre-in-the-sandwich-generation
