Help boomer mom that's close to retirement

Hello and welcome to Caring's groups!  I'm glad you posted and thank you for the compliment! 

I would recommend that you do two things. 

1.  Get your mom really familiar with any retirement benefits she may be entitled too.  Pension, 401(k), retirement health insurance benefits, Social Security income, etc. 

2.  After she's collected that information, get her set up with a financial planner.  Many banks offer this as a free service.  I don't know where you're located, but I know Bank of America does.  Anyway, have her bring all of that information to a financial planner and they can put together a plan of investing and saving that will give her pretty good information as to where she'll stand when she's 55, 60, 65, etc.  He or she may also be able to educate her on insurance products out there that may appeal to her, such as long-term care insurance.

You're SO smart in that you're beginning to think about this now!  Good luck to you in starting your family and good luck to your mom in getting set up for a comfortable retirement!

Ah, welcome to life in the sandwich generation -- worrying about how to provide for your kids AND your parents!

The good news, as Missy said: you are getting a jump on planning by thinking about these issues now, before a crisis hits.

Before you can really evaluate what your mother -- and, possibly, you -- may need to do to plan for her retirement, the two of you should sit down and frankly discuss her plans for the next ten, twenty, or thirty years. Think about questions like:

*How long does she want to keep working?

*Does she hope to travel after retirement?

*Does she own her own home, and will it be suitable for her to live in as she ages and her health declines?

*Does she have any chronic health conditions that may necessitate early retirement or additional saving for health-related expenses or nursing home care?

A good financial advisor who is well versed in elder issues can help you sort through these issues and get a financial plan in place that will help your mother work to meet her goals for retirement.

Be sure to ask your mother's financial advisor about:

* Long term care insurance: if your mother ends up needing long term care, the costs can easily wipe out her own savings and you may end up with the bill. It's not too late to sign her up for a policy that can help defray the costs of any long-term care.

* Ways to tap her home equity if she owns her own home: your mother may be a candidate at some point for a reverse mortgage if she has built up significant equity in her home. This can be a way to fund retirement travel, pay for medical expenses, or otherwise pay for for monthly living expenses

* Any benefits she may be entitled to from her marriage to your father: even after divorce, she may still be entitled to some pension and Social Security income

You can find a Certified Financial Planner in your area at: http://www.cfp.net/search/ [cfp.net]

Also, it's probably time for you to make your own appointment with a financial advisor of your own. If your mom hasn't seriously started planning for her own retirement -- and if her own savings were wiped out by divorce -- there is a good chance she won't be able to save enough in the next ten years to fully fund her own retirement, and you may feel the need to step in and help. You need to start planning now for the possibility that you may end up supporting your mother financially.

Good luck!

Stephanie Miles

Caring.com senior editor, finance

This is such great advice, Missy and Stephanie. I like the idea of seeing if there is a financial planner at her bank that can help. I know she is relying on SS and her retirement pension, but I fear it won't be enough. It would be great to have a planner tell her something each month is better than nothing.

Thanks for the great advice!

You're welcome! 

On a personal note, when my husband and I visited a financial planner, it was great to hear, "If you want to retire at X-age with Y-amount of dollars, you need to be saving Z-amount of money each year towards that."  It was eye opening!

Good luck!