Sandwich generation & the link to financial wellbeing

Around 1.3 million people in the UK* have the double responsibility of looking after children under the age of 18 and caring for elderly parents, write David Vallance and David Smith, Heads of the UK universities team for Tilney Financial Planning Ltd. This number mostly includes people between 40 and 50 years old.

Due to the increase in life expectancy and for some, the delay in starting a family as they have chosen to focus first on establishing their career, the numbers in this ‘sandwich generation’ can only get higher.

The costs involved

Caring for parents comes with unplanned additional costs and a pressure on time to help shop, cook, clean and provide transport for appointments. For many people, this leads to requests for flexible working hours, a permanent reduction in hours or even leaving work altogether. The latter two options would of course lead to a reduced income or their income from employment stopping completely.

Looking after your staff

Just as you’re told to put on your own oxygen mask first in an airline safety demonstration, the same goes for being a part of the sandwich generation – they need to look after themselves before they can look after their loved ones.

It might be tempting to reduce or stop any pension contributions, but where possible, if they can continue, it makes sound financial sense. They could end up caring for their parents for many years and if they are not paying into their pension during this time, it could have a massive impact on their own retirement plans.

Thinking about your mental health

In the midst of looking after other people, it is essential that they look after their mental health as well as their physical health. The pressures of being a part of the sandwich generation cannot be understated. Many life insurance providers have helplines available to their policy holders where they can talk about how they feel and get the support they need. When taking out an insurance plan, they should look to see if this is one of the benefits to their policy.

Financial Wellbeing & the cost-saving agenda

Last year a significant number of the Universities Tilney are involved with asked their staff to consider flexible, part-time and / or early retirement.

What are the barriers to this?

• State pension age has been pushed back. Staff feel they need to work on until state pension age to potentially significant detriment to their mental and physical health.
• Pension scheme changes. The shift from final salary to CARE and/or money purchase schemes means people don’t feel they can retire early.
• Actuarial reduction. Going early many don’t feel they can take the hit.

Our work tells us those in higher education often think they need to work on longer than they actually need to. Staff need to shine a light on their pension provision and find ways of changing working patterns or planning early retirement. They also need to work with the whole family and steer a productive discussion to establish a way forward that is agreeable with everyone.

* Source: Veritas Care, 2019

** Source: Royal London, 2019

Join the Tilney Financial Planning team at UHR21: Refreshing HR

Wednesday 12 May, 10.20am

“Pensions Reform and Financial Wellbeing – are your staff financially literate enough to deal with further change?” with David Vallance and David Smith