Burning the candle at both ends is stressful. Pre-pandemic, 28% of all caregivers provided unpaid care to an adult and children in the home. The pandemic stressed the paid caregiver labor force, which raises the demands on family caregivers for the foreseeable future. The “caregiving sandwich” is a problem because it can disrupt one or both spouses’ careers:

1. Caregiving for a family with children may already consume a great deal of time, effort, and help. How you respond will impact you, your spouse, and your children.

2. If a parent needs full time care, that compounds the problem. The upside is that helping them provides a window to see what you and your spouse can expect later and ways to prepare.

You need to incorporate caregiving in your financial plan. Some ideas to help if your parent is a dependent include:

a) If you provide 50% of a parent’s support, and they have less than the IRS income limit ($4,400 in 2022) your parent may qualify as a dependent.

b) If they live with you, their support and living expenses, medical expenses, out-of-pocket costs for care, and home modifications can be considerable and may be deductible.

c) If they are a dependent, and you have a health flexible spending account (FSA) you may want to use those funds while they are available. (Avoid using funds from HSAs if possible. Those funds are important for your family’s future.)

d) If you share support with a sibling, make sure you have a multiple support declaration in place to establish that you are entitled to claim the parent as a dependent.