IRVINE, Calif. — Inflation and current economic conditions are creating problems for senior baby boomers, and new data from American Advisors Group (AAG) shows that those financial issues could become a problem for their Generation X children.
To learn exactly how Gen X adult children are feeling about their parents’ financial state, AAG, an Irvine-based home equity solutions provider for seniors, conducted the Adult Children Survey. The survey was conducted on May 12 of this year, with over 1,500 participants ages 40 to 55 who have senior parents.
“Americans want to see their parents age with grace and have the resources they need to live comfortably, but for many families the current economy is making that difficult,” says Martin Lenoir, AAG’s chief marketing officer. “With inflation driving up living expenses, an unplanned medical event can create hardship for families who can’t afford elder-care solutions such as an in-home caregiver.”
Over half of Gen X adult children do not have enough money to help their senior parents, while 55 percent of adult children said they are not financially prepared to care for their parents in a time of need. Meanwhile, 62 percent of adult children say they are worried about the impact that inflation is having on their parents’ finances.
Over a third of Gen X adult children are worried their parents’ financial issues will fall on them, with 35 percent saying they are worried their parents will become a financial burden to them at some point. Over half of Gen X adult children are not able to afford any type of elder care for their parents.
Communication is an issue as well. Half of Gen X adult children in the U.S. do not know how much debt their parents have amassed.
On the positive side, most Gen X adult children believe that their parents’ home equity could be a financial solution and 60 percent said they are in favor of their parents using their home equity to fund their later years. However, over 75 percent of parents have never spoken to their Gen X children about using their home equity.
To read the full survey results, click here.