More than 43 million working-age Americans serve as unpaid family caregivers. Although so much of the financial services industry has focused its attention on those who need care, the population segment that provides care has its own set of needs.<\/p>\n
Unpaid family caregivers are the focus of a LIMRA series focusing on the insurance and financial needs of those caregivers.<\/p>\n
Why caregivers?<\/p>\n
\u201cCaregivers present both an opportunity and a challenge for the financial services industry because so many unpaid family caregivers trade off the opportunity to work for being at home and taking care of family members – children, spouses, parents, whatever it may be,\u201d said James Scanlon, LIMRA senior research director. \u00a0\u201cSo while caregivers don\u2019t have to pay to have someone else take care of their people, at the same time they are sacrificing their opportunities to earn an income, to earn benefits normally associated with employment like health insurance and retirement savings plans, as well as access to a lot of other financial services associated with employment.\u201d<\/p>\n
With caregivers less likely to have income as a result of their responsibilities, \u201cthat\u2019s going to put a lot of households in a precarious financial position,\u201d Scanlon said.<\/p>\n
Caregivers have complex financial planning needs, and they need help in making sure their caregiving efforts don\u2019t put their families at risk.<\/p>\n
Life insurance is one area in which caregivers are falling short, the LIMRA report said. Only 42 percent of caregivers own life insurance. Among \u201cabundant caregivers\u201d \u2013 those who provide care for more than 30 hours a week \u2013 only about 15 percent own disability insurance.<\/p>\n
But with all the demands on their time and resources, caregivers are a tough market for financial professionals to reach, Scanlon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point of the study is that the financial service industry can use this information as a bridge, as a way to connect with that community to bring them out,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to go and find these people. You\u2019re not going to find them the way you normally do through an employer or an income they\u2019re earning. You need to draw them out with communications that speak to their needs and demonstrate an understanding of their challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
One message that can resonate with caregivers, Scanlon said, is the possible \u201cdomino effect\u201d that the lack of insurance or planning can have on a caregiver\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the importance of the caregiver\u2019s own security because that is directly related to the security of their care recipients,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIf the family member is depending on the caregiver for their sustenance and something happens to that caregiver, now you don\u2019t have just one problem – you have two problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s an important message that caregivers need to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
One finding from the LIMRA research that Scanlon said surprised him was that unpaid caregiving takes place in families of all income levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not happening only in families where they can\u2019t afford to pay for care. It\u2019s also happening in high-income families,\u201d he said. \u201cSo a lot of people are providing care voluntarily, not just because they can\u2019t afford to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, having the right financial planning in place will give families options to have care provided in the way they choose, Scanlon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to put yourself in a position where you have options and you can choose which path you want to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents’ association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at <\/em>Susan.Rupe@innfeedback.com<\/em><\/a><\/span>. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a9 Entire contents copyright 2018 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The post Family Caregivers Need Financial Care, Too<\/a> appeared first on InsuranceNewsNet<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A LIMRA study shows unpaid family caregivers are falling short in their insurance needs. But how does the industry reach this time-stressed and resource-stressed group?<\/p>\n The post Family Caregivers Need Financial Care, Too<\/a> appeared first on InsuranceNewsNet<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13520,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13518\/revisions\/13520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}