Institute For The Future

The Senior Sandwich and the Filial Fraction

I recently attended a friend's 70th birthday party.  Also in attending the party was my friend's 93-year old mother.  Though she is now in her 8th decade, the main focus of my friend's life these days is looking after her mother -- who still is living alone.

In 1900, just 7 percent of 60-year old Americans had a living parent.  By 1990, that number had risen to 44 percent -- and is almost certainly higher today.  And because many baby boomers postponed marriage and having children, they are remaining responsible for young children later in life. These aging Boomers are part of what Neal Cutler calls the "senior sandwich generation."

Whole families age, just as individuals do.  And greater longevity is creating new challenges for caregivers and caregiving.  Cutler, who founded the field of Financial Gerontology, has created a calculation that he calls the "filial fraction" - the percentage of an adults life in which he or she is responsible for children or an aging parent.  In an increasing number of cases, this fraction is now considerably more than 50%. 

If more of us are going to be involved in caregiving for more of our lives, then we need to find creative ways to provide this care for each other.  Perhaps Ruby's Bequest can be a start in finding some of these ways.