How You Can Help Your Parents Financially Without Getting into Debt

How You Can Help Your Parents Financially Without Getting into Debt

Your parents have looked after you throughout your childhood and likely well into your twenties or thirties and there will come a point when it’s time to return the favor. Unfortunately, parents do get older and it sometimes means they are not independent enough to do things for themselves – and handling financial affairs is usually one of them. Some parents do not plan for their lives when they get old and require care to live, so it could end up being your responsibility to care for them financially. It’s certainly not easy and there are many points to consider beforehand to ensure you don’t fall into debt yourself. Here are a few tips to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Talk to Your Parents about the Possible Care They Need

It could end up costing more than $3,000 per month to pay for home care services to help your parents so it’s always wise to talk to your parents to see if they have any insurance or savings that they can contribute to the costs. If your parents suffer from illnesses such as dementia you will need to do your own research and oversee their financial affairs. Before working out the costs, it’s important to understand what care your parents may need, as sometimes it’s possible to offer the care yourself around work or at least share the responsibility with siblings.

Plan Your Own Finances with Your Spouse

Before you even look at your parents’ finances, it’s important you are in complete control of your own. Discuss with your partner and sit down and plan to see what you can afford to spare every month without getting into debt yourself. There could be times when you have no choice but to go into a negative balance to help fund your parents care, but it’s always important you try and avoid it at all costs.

Take on Full-Time Care

It’s not always a viable option, but if your spouse earns enough to cover your own bills and you live comfortably it could be more viable to quit your job and care for your parents on a full-time basis. You will save thousands every month and you know your parents are going to get the care they deserve. If you have the finances available it could even be an option to study for an online nursing degree to obtain your master of science in nursing, which could benefit you further.

We all hate the thought of our parents getting so old that they are unable to care for themselves properly. Unfortunately, it’s a reality and most of us will have to go through it with them. We can only do so much for our older parents when it comes to finances, but we also need to make sure we don’t suffer with them and we try and get as much help as possible when it comes to friends and family, rather than relying on professional homecare services.