Financial Strain: Middle-Aged Americans Supporting Aging Parents

Middle-aged Americans are increasingly struggling to save for retirement, in part because they're saddled with taking care of their elderly parents, according to a new survey released by AARP.

Nearly one-third of middle-aged adults with at least one living parent offered financial support to them over the past year, while an additional 42 percent expect to do so in the future, the survey found. And it's not a one-time payment: It generally occurs on a regular basis to help pay for expenses like groceries, other household items and medical expenses, with 54 percent of adults shelling out at least $1,000 or more to their parents over the past year.

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That's compounded with the fact that 51 percent of adults have offered money to their adult children in the last year, placing a strain on their ability to save up for retirement. Money for adult children mostly goes toward transportation costs, groceries and housing costs.

In the last 12 months, 54 percent of adults said they provided $1,000 or more to a parent and 20 percent said they offered more than $5,000, while 56 percent gave that same amount to their adult children. Twenty-five percent gave their adult children more than $5,000.

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Providing financial support to parents or to adult children is beginning to weigh on Americans between the ages of 40 to 64: More than a quarter -- 28 percent -- of individuals who gave money to their parents ranked it as a high financial strain on their own family, and 29 percent of those who provide financial support to adult children viewed it as a high financial burden on their family.

While one-third of all Americans are either just meeting their financial expectations, or not meeting them at all, about half are expected to help out their parents in the future financially and are worried about their ability to do so, the study found.

The poll of 1,508 adults between the ages of 40 to 64 was taken Sept. 30 to Oct. 7. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

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