Funding retirement isn’t as difficult as we make it out to be, but it isn’t a walk in the park either. You do have to save diligently and make wise investment choices as you move through life. However, the task of saving adequately for retirement can be severely hampered if you are a member of a “sandwich generation”.
What’s the Sandwich Generation?
The sandwich generation is a term given to individuals that are “sandwiched” between caring for aging parents while also caring for their own children. Hopefully your parents made wise decisions with their finances, but even so the cost of assisted living care or long term care insurance may mean they need your financial assistance in their elder years. This can put extra pressure on your financial situation as you try to care for your own family’s needs. Sometimes it feels like there isn’t enough money to go around to even buy groceries, not to mention saving for your own retirement.
How to Save for Retirement When You are Sandwiched
You can’t ignore your retirement no matter how pinched things can feel. Here are a few tips to make sure you save for retirement if you are in the sandwich generation.
Honor Your Parents
Your parents most likely made sacrifices when you lived under their roof to clothe and feed you. Those sacrifices may have put them in a bad financial spot or simply not allowed them to do some things they wanted to do. Honor your parents dedication to you by doing what you can to help them in their aging years.
Borrow for College, Not Retirement
One of the areas it can be easy to overwhelmed with is saving for college education. As a parent it is naturally to not want your kids to have to go into student loan debt to be able to pay for tuition. But be careful to not let your parenting instincts to push you toward a bad financial situation. At the end of the day you or your kids can always borrow for their college educations. The Federal Government has a multitude of loan programs to help them get that degree. But there is no loan program for retirement. You cannot sacrifice retirement saving to be able to save for college. If you can do both, great; if you can only afford one, choose retirement every time.
Don’t Jeopardize Yourself
Honoring your parents is the right thing to do. However, it is important to know how much you can actually afford to help with. You cannot jeopardize your own family’s living situation to be able to help Mom and Dad out. Never pay a bill late or overextend your finances in order to help your parents out. If you are the financial engine of several generations of your family, you can’t put that engine at risk. If you end up late on your payments you are going to incur late fees and interest, which limit how much you can help in the future. Help your parents as much as you can, but put you and your family first so you have the option of continuing to help them in the future.