Tips to Make Caregiving Easier from a Financial Advisor
At some point in your life, you may have to care for a family member or loved one. This could be due to unforeseen circumstances or as they age. If you are currently a caregiver or know someone who is, you might have experienced how overwhelming it can be—both emotionally and otherwise.
Caregiving demands love, time, and patience, but the financial side of caregiving often doesn't receive the attention it deserves. It's important to discuss this aspect with your financial professional, who can provide various resources and guidance to make things easier. Additionally, these 11 tips can help you manage your loved one's finances more effectively.
Talk About it Now Before it's too Late.
We must prepare for the unexpected, so have the financial discussion with the person you care for in advance. While talking about money with them can seem difficult, it doesn’t have to be. As a current or future caregiver, you need answers to some key questions. Let your loved ones know that it's in their best interest to address these things now.
Have they saved money? How much?
What's their source of income?
Do they have investments or insurance policies?
Who is their financial advisor/attorney/CPA?
Have they planned for elder care?
Review Estate Planning Documents.
Find out if your loved one has prepared estate planning documents, and ensure that their will and power of attorney are up to date. A living will and health care proxy are some of the more important estate planning documents to take care of right away. They are more about how you should handle medical treatment while your loved one is still living, but can no longer express their health care wishes or make medical decisions on their own.
Again, the best time to do this is while all parties are healthy and of sound mind. But if that time passes, it should still be a priority. It’s never too late to get these in order.
Know what's Important to your Loved One.
Generally, a caregiver’s number one priority should be to do what their loved one would want them to do. For that reason, take the time to talk with your loved one about their preferences for receiving care.
Is it important to them to not be a burden on their children? Are they okay with living in an assisted-living or nursing home? Would they rather live at home?
While you as a caregiver may not be able to fulfill all their wishes, you can still make the best possible decisions for them. Knowing what your loved one wants also helps you understand and empathize with them.
Keep Them Safe From Scams
We are seeing the elderly being targeted by online, email, and telephone scams at an increasing rate. Recently, there have been a wave of IRS imposters who have used aggressive measures to attempt (and often succeed) to collect unpaid taxes from the vulnerable and unknowing elderly.
There’s a real possibility that your elderly parent might get taken advantage of, so be proactive in preventing such events. One of the best ways to do this is to constantly remind your parent or family member of potential scams.
Give them examples. Tell them to never click on links in unfamiliar emails, avoid social media strangers, never answer personal security questions from an incoming caller, and always use hard-to-guess passwords. If your loved one is unsure of anything, encourage them to call you for advice.
Continue to Work.
The last thing a caregiver should do is allow their role to become a full-time job. While it may often feel like one, do your best to keep working if you can. Having a job will maintain a source of income that will no doubt ease the strain of financially supporting the loved one, if necessary.
More than that, keeping a job will give you an escape needed to maintain a well-balanced life—as much as you can.
Many companies offer benefits to employees who become caregivers. They may offer paid time off when caregiving responsibilities arise as well as other flexibility that would allow for leaving early or arriving late.
Take Care and Get Support.
Last, but certainly not least, take care of yourself and get support if you feel you need to. Caregiving is a hard job and can easily cause a person to forget about themselves. When someone spends their days worrying about someone else, it’s easy for them to forget about their own basic needs. It’s common for caregivers to eat less or eat in a less healthy way, lose sleep, and feel too tired to exercise or even get their daily tasks done, like house cleaning.
Take time for yourself and be mindful of your emotional needs. Local support groups exist where you can feel a sense of community and talk about your feelings with people who will understand. Websites like www.caring.com can also help create a sense of community.
Bottom Line
Caregiving isn’t easy, but the proper preparation and planning will make it easier, less stressful and time-consuming. And your financial professional can help you implement some of the caregiving tips and functions as covered above.
Disclosures:
This information is an overview and should not be considered as specific guidance or recommendations for any individual or business.
This material is provided as a courtesy and for educational purposes only. Please consult your investment professional, legal or tax advisor for specific information pertaining to your situation.
These are the views of the author, not the named Representative or Advisory Services Network, LLC, and should not be construed as investment advice. Neither the named Representative nor Advisory Services Network, LLC gives tax or legal advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Please consult your Financial Advisor for further information.