7 Ways Women Can Help Aging Parents With Money
Many older persons with long-term care needs rely exclusively on family and friends to provide assistance. Women provide the majority of informal care to spouses, parents, parents-in-law, friends and neighbors. This includes helping parents with their finances.
Not every bit of help requires paying for bills. Many times assistance to parents comes in the form of just needing to step in and provide discussion, monitoring, help, guidance or simple assistance getting financial activities taken care of. The reasons can be many from mobility to financial acuity as one gets older and deals with sickness or failing mental abilities. And every generation finds itself in the same role, with a lot of common issues we can all learn from:
1. The Topic of Money can be Embarrassing
We’ve all been taught to be self-sufficient, so it can be extremely hard for parents, particularly older generations, to ask for help. Many won’t say anything, suffering in silence and believing that asking for help is a sign of weakness. In reality, younger helping relatives need to anticipate this and approach fears and egos softly. Communication is the key factor in successful help, but it won’t happen if people don’t open up.
2. No one Wants to be a Burden
Again, socially the idea of needing financial help or guidance is seen as burdening someone younger. American society is big on keeping younger generations free of familial responsibility today, but it’s only a recent phenomenon created by government social service programs.3 In the old days, entire families took care of generations in the same house.
3. Use Current Issues on the News to Open Up Discussions
Older generations have more time to spend listening to the news, so it’s a great avenue to open up discussions about money, using someone else’s example as a lesson or question about a parent’s financial status.2 Use these avenues to gain status information and spot risks before they become problems.
4. Respect Privacy
Parents are still well aware of their lives and don’t take kindly to someone, particularly a child, abruptly stepping in and directing their business.4Don’t be rude. Instead, be patient and wait for a parent to share information versus demanding it.
5. Visit Regularly
Presence and awareness of daily changes are the easiest and fastest ways to see if something funny is going on. And it opens up regular channels for discussion.6 Parents aren’t keen on opening up their lives if a child doesn’t visit more than once a year.
6. Show Them the Internet as Free Resource
Today’s older parents are the last generation that will exist who has lived two-thirds of their lives without the Internet. By guiding them to key digital resources for financial advice and how to search for it, as well as what to avoid, you can build both a means of talking about finance, teaching them, and providing a platform by which to help them with guidance without lecturing.1 Let the Internet provide the information; instead, you use it as a catalyst to engage closely with your parents.
7. Don't Ignore, Engage
The last thing you want to do with a parent who needs financial help is ignore them. Where there is a vacuum, it will be filled by something quickly.5 And older parents needing financial guidance will eventually find it in some form, often times a scam. Even financial advisers have been easily fooled, and they’re trained in the industry. So, don’t believe a scam only takes advantage of uneducated folks. In fact, the more educated a person is, the more likely a scam might work if intricate enough. By being involved, you can see these issues coming and help your parents avoid them before getting involved. But you have to be present and engaged. There’s no phone app for being an attentive child to your parents.
About Angela
Angela Dorsey is the founder and financial advisor at Dorsey Wealth Management, a fee-only financial planning firm based in Torrance, California, helping women prepare for retirement. Angela earned a BS in computer science from Loyola Marymount University, an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and spent 20 years as a Senior Compensation Specialist in large corporations before becoming a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). That background gave her the tools to couple with her passion for empowering women to make the best financial decisions possible. Angela lives in Torrance, California, with her husband. She enjoys spending time at the beach or surrounded by nature. To learn more about Angela, connect with her on LinkedIn.
1 https://www.vcstar.com/story/money/business/2018/12/14/liz-weston-these-four-tech-tasks-keep-your-parents-safer-online/2271562002/
2 https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-was-hoping-to-be-retired-the-cost-of-supporting-parents-and-adult-children-1542381023
3 https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/social-issues/retirement-age-do-we-need-to-raise-demographic-storm/
4 https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2018/04/25/it-is-about-respecting-aging-parents-but-how-do-you-do-it/#675f21e172e5
5 http://time.com/money/5317214/solo-seniors-elder-orphans-resources/
6 https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2018/08/13/advice-caring-senior-parents-keep-retirement-track/945207002/
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