PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT
AARP Georgia will host free financial workshops during Money Smart Week, April 18-25. Also, the organization will work with groups interested in sponsoring life-skills workshops in their community during 2015. For more information, contact Charima Young at ccyoung@aarp.org.
Retirement calculations: AARP has a free online tool that anyone of any age can use to project what they will need for retirement and also for long-term care. The long-term care calculations are based on geographic area.
You can find the links here: www.aarp.org/tools/?intcmp=FTR-LINKS-top-TOOLS.
Source: AARP Georgia
Advocating for retirees is not the only mission of AARP. For the Georgia chapter, reaching out to younger adults with information and advice long before they cash in their 401(k) is vital.
Of particular interest are those caught in the “sandwich generation” — a large pool of adults who are still shouldering the burden of supporting children while also having an aging parent to look after.
Statistics vary, but most research shows more than 40 percent of middle-aged adults now fall into this category. In addition, one in seven also provides financial support to both the children and the elderly parent, according to Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends from 2012.
Data indicates that the sandwich generation will increase with Generation X, of which the first wave will turn 50 this year, according to AARP.
With this in mind, the Georgia chapter has put together a free workshop to help adults in their 50s and younger navigate changing household dynamics and make smart financial decisions before retirement.
Charima Young, Georgia AARP associate state director of community outreach, said these issues are universal because the demographic is so large.
“We are seeing more people with multigenerational tasks, where women are sometimes raising their grandchildren, and they are helping their adult children and also elderly parents. There’s this changing household dynamic, and we want to help them prepare for retirement in the midst of all this,” Young said.
For its life-skills workshop, AARP Georgia uses staff from the Atlanta-based office, as well as volunteers and financial planners, to talk about the challenge of competing financial demands of paying for college for young adult children, taking care of aging parents and saving for retirement.
The sessions are designed to foster discussions about savings and debt. Participants can receive cost-of-living calculations for retirement as well as long-term care.
“We won’t be giving any type of financial advice, but we want to get people to look at what they’re going to need,” Young said.
The discussions are geared toward helping adults make decisions now that will benefit them later in retirement.
Earlier this month, AARP partnered with the Decatur-DeKalb Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women for a “My Sister’s Keeper” workshop on this subject. It was open to adults of all ages, and geared toward those in nontraditional households.
“The population of DeKalb County is very diverse. Some are at the point of having to decide how to get their kids to college. Others are caring for older adults. There are also grandparents who are having to care for grandchildren. We want to know what they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis,” said Nicole Lee, the chapter’s public relations chair.
AARP Georgia also turns the conversation toward the adult child, because “children are staying in the nest longer and longer and this impacts their parents’ financial future,” Young said. Earlier this year, the organization held a workshop for Clark Atlanta University students and their parents with discussions on college loans and debt responsibilities.
Other workshop topics cover the expense of caring for elderly parents, and how preparing a home for aging in place could save thousands in long-term care costs. AARP also provides resources and support groups for caregivers, Young said.
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