Caregivers Less Confident in Retirement Preparedness, Study Says

People who provide unpaid care to family members overall have less confidence in their finances and are more likely to express concern about circumstances that could affect their retirement security, a study based on an annual survey has found.

“Caregivers are more likely to have lower levels of financial assets and more likely to have a problem with debt than non-caregivers,” while above half of caregivers who are working and above a third of those who are retired meanwhile provide financial support to the recipient, it said.

The report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute follows a recent one from Seniorly, a resource center for assisted living and long-term care needs, finding that some 53 million Americans are now providing support to family members, leaving many of them fatigued both personally and financially.

Also like that prior report, the EBRI report says the caregiving burden, and the impact on their finances and personal health, falls disproportionately on women.

It also similarly said that unpaid caregiving can have a negative impact on the giver’s health, with 66 percent saying that of their mental health and 57 percent saying that of their physical health. Only 49 percent of caregivers said their health is excellent or very good compared with 55 percent among non-caregivers.

It added: “Caregiver retirees are more likely to say that their overall lifestyle in retirement now compared with how they expected it to be before they retired is worse than non-caregiver retirees” by 31 to 20 percent.