Summary
Caring for elderly parents can significantly impact the plans you have for your retirement and your own later life
When you think of retirement, what comes to mind?
Laughing around a golf hole in the sunshine? Sunset drinks overlooking yachts in a harbour? Strolling the streets of Rome?
It can be such an evocative vision. So many plans when the kids have left home and time is all your own.
Studies show that depression and anxiety are at an all time low in the lives of the newly retired ‘empty-nester’
BUT – you notice Mum is starting to struggle with things at home. Maybe she has a fall, or her memory is not as good as it used to be.
You look around and notice – it’s me. I’m the sibling or only child who will help. I’m the carer of the family.
Many people think of their own ageing and may even plan for it. But what about this time when you become the carer for an elderly parent? Your retirement days could be filled with medical appointments, cleaning another home, shopping for another house, trips to check welfare and wellbeing. And understanding where to start with getting services or help in place can take hours! It’s so complicated to understand.
My experience working in aged care and physiotherapy has presented this similar scene time after time – people whose children have left home and they have moved overseas to live out a dream, or take off in a caravan each winter to head north. They visit home and that sinking feeling hits that they are needed and they know they will answer the call.
As we are having children later in life, that gap between sending your children off into the world and having elderly parents that require assistance is narrowing.
” A Goal without a Plan is just a Wish”
Antoine de Saint-Expuery
Create a Plan
Educating yourself on how to get support in place, at the right time can help. You want to know your parent is safe in their environment and plan ahead of time for when they may no longer be. You will need to have an idea of the costs of home care as early as possible for effective planning.
You also want to know how to access home care and Government subsidies, whilst utilising assessments and services to their best and highest use.