WSJ: Baby Boomers Facing Financial “Double Whammy”

For baby boomers, the financial forecast is only looking more gloomy as the “sandwich generation” says goodbye to inheritance and hello to mounting costs of care for aging parents, which could include pricy entrance fees to continuing care retirement communities. 

For those thinking their financial situations will improve once their parents sell their homes and bequeath the proceeds, writes the Wall Street Journal this week, they might want to think again. 

The WSJ writes: 

Advertisement

Baby boomers: Get ready for a double whammy.

For years now, there’s been a lot of talk about boomers getting tremendous windfalls as their parents pass on. Many boomers, in fact, have been lagging behind in their savings, betting on—hoping for—big bequests, especially since many of them suffered big losses in 2008.

But for a growing number of boomers, things aren’t going according to plan. The postwar generation is living longer—and many are spending their savings along the way. And, of course, many of them also took a hit in 2008.

Advertisement

The result is that, as a group, boomers likely won’t be getting as much of an inheritance as they hoped. Even worse, far from receiving a bequest, a growing number are tapping some of their own savings to help their cash-strapped parents make ends meet.

For families, the result is often a lot of scrambling, dashed dreams, and conflict and angst as parents and children try to come to grips with the lean new reality—and divide up a smaller pie….

Read the original article

Written by Elizabeth Ecker