Caregiving: Plan today for emotional and practical impacts tomorrow

Work/life balance can be an acrobatic exercise at the best of times. But how do you achieve the right balance when you find yourself caregiving for an aging parent or other relative or friend? And as you age yourself, how will caregiving impact your life when you retire?

As more of the boomer generation enter their retirement years, we'll be seeing more seniors caring for seniors—not something many people picture when they think of what their retirement will look like. In fact, RBC research indicates that only 21 per cent of Canadian adults are taking caregiving into account as part of their retirement planning.

“Many of us are going to find ourselves in an informal caregiving situation—whether that's for our parents or other aging relatives or friends—because Canada has an aging population,” explains Bill Hill, national retirement planning consultant for RBC Financial Planning. “This is something you do want to plan for in retirement, because when people require your help, this can really change what your retirement will look like.”

RBC has just introduced a free online caregiving assessment tool—the RBC Your CareGiving Planner—to help those giving and receiving care to better understand the potential lifestyle, emotional and financial impacts.

Chances are that caregiving will touch your life as you get older, or perhaps you're already providing care for parents or other aging relatives or friends. By going through the series of questions contained in the online planner, you can better determine how much of that care you can realistically provide.

Your personalized assessment will only take you a few minutes to complete – what you discover during the process could help you and the people you care for, for years to come. To model your own caregiving scenario, simply click on the RBC Your CareGiving Planner link at www.rbcroycalbank.com/retirementresearchcentre.

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