The Sandwich Generation Saves for Retirement While Supporting Others

Many adults today find themselves caught in a financial balancing act, supporting aging parents while still raising children or helping young adult children who are not yet financially independent. This group, often referred to as the “Sandwich Generation,” faces unique challenges, especially when it comes to saving for retirement.

According to a 2023 report from Pew Research Center, about 23 percent of adults in their 40s and 50s are financially supporting both a parent aged 65 or older and at least one child. These responsibilities can strain household budgets and delay or reduce contributions to retirement savings, putting long-term financial security at risk.

The Financial Pressures of the Sandwich Generation

Being part of the Sandwich Generation can involve a wide range of expenses. You may be paying for your child’s college tuition while also helping your parents with medical bills, housing, or caregiving costs. At the same time, you still have your own financial needs, including mortgage payments, insurance premiums, and saving for your future retirement.

The emotional and physical toll of caregiving can also affect earning potential. Some people reduce their work hours or leave their jobs altogether to care for family members, which may result in lower lifetime earnings and retirement contributions.

Strategies to Stay on Track

Although the challenges are real, there are steps you can take to stay on course with your financial goals:

Create a clear budget that reflects your current obligations and retirement savings targets
Prioritize your retirement plan even if it means saying no to some financial support requests
Explore benefits and financial aid for aging parents, such as Medicare, Medicaid, or veterans’ programs
Involve other family members in the conversation about caregiving and financial contributions
Work with a financial advisor to develop a strategy that balances short-term needs with long-term goals

Supporting your family is deeply rewarding, but your financial future is just as important. If you fail to plan for your retirement, you may eventually rely on the very people you are helping today.

If you’re part of the Sandwich Generation and feeling the pressure, we can help. Schedule a consultation with us, and together we’ll build a financial plan that supports your family today while protecting your future tomorrow.

About the Author: Mark Roberts

In addition to managing clients’ money and giving investment and diversification advice, Mark offers something that “the other guys” don’t - a unique approach to Retirement Tax Strategies and distribution. Time and time again, Mark meets with new clients who tell him they have a great relationship with their financial advisor but have never been offered information on this kind of approach to securing their financial futures. Mark has taken this feedback to heart and works tirelessly to ensure that his strategies focus on taxes and distribution. Mark started selling insurance for a major insurance company right out of high school to help put himself through college. After graduating with a degree in finance, he dove into estate planning on the financial side to set himself apart from other financial advisors. However, as changes were made to estate tax laws over time, Mark shifted his focus to income tax strategies. Mark’s philosophy is “the blue prints are more important than the wall paper or carpet.” The wall paper and carpet represent products like investments and insurance policies, whereas the blue prints represent the strategies. Once strategies that truly fit the client’s needs are put in place, our focus can shift to providing you with the right products. According to Mark, “It doesn’t matter what carpet we use if the walls are not in the right place.” Our approach to money management is designed to generate the largest alpha (quality) with the lowest standard deviation and beta (risk). By doing this, we help provide clients with the highest return on the lowest risk. Generating income for our retirees is also very important. Because withdrawing money from your portfolio hurts the account rather than helping it, our goal is to design income strategies to harm the portfolio the least making the money last longer.

The Sandwich Generation Saves for Retirement While Supporting Others