Financial Caregiving: How Every Parent Must Help Their Adult Children

More than 90 percent of people who provide caregiving support to a loved one help out with the financial stuff, according to a recent survey.

One of the ways adult children –or other relatives or trusted friends –often help is to step in and handle paying the bills, insurance claims and tax filing. Yet according to an AARP survey, nearly half of the people providing that financial caregiving don’t have the legal authority to do all that.

Listen up Mom and Dad. I hope you feel great right now, and are on top of all the financial stuff. But the art of a graceful retirement is all about making sure you are prepared for the future. And a big step is to make sure your adult children can easily step in, if and when you are ready for –or need –some help. Waiting is selfish. Thinking you will never need help is selfish. I sure hope you don’t need help, but your focus is on retirement planning, not retirement hoping.

Please don’t put your adult kids in a bind. Step up right now and make sure your Must Have documents are in place. A durable power of attorney (with an incapacity clause) is the document that will help a child or anyone you choose to name, to step in and handle your finances.