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Double Jeopardy for Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents Nearly 10 million adult children over the age of 50 care for their aging parents. These family caregivers are themselves aging as well as providing care at a time when they also need to be planning and saving for their own retirement. The study is an updated, national look at adult children who work and care for their parents and the impact of caregiving on their earnings and lifetime wealth. The proportion of adult children providing personal care and/or financial assistance to a parent has more than tripled over the past 15 years. Currently, a quarter of adult children, mainly Baby Boomers, provide these types of care to a parent. Working and non-working adult children are almost equally as likely to provide care to parents in need. Overall, caregiving sons and daughters provide comparable care in many respects, but daughters are more likely to provide basic care and sons are more likely to provide financial assistance. The total estimated aggregate lost wages, pension, and Social Security benefits of these caregivers of parents is nearly $3 trillion. For women the total individual amount of lost wages due to leaving the labor force early and/or reduced hours of work because of caregiving responsibilities equals $142,693. The estimated impact of caregiving on lost Social Security benefits is $131,351. A very conservative estimated impact on pensions is approximately $50,000. Thus, in total, the cost impact of caregiving on the individual female caregiver in terms of lost wages and Social Security benefits equals $324,044. > read the report     By TMM Date 24-08-2011 Print this article  OTHER ARTICLES