Caregiving - Hot Topic, Hot Boomer Business Trend

"There are only four kinds of people in the world - those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers." Rosalynn Carter, 1997

Caregiving is one of the hottest topics of conversation at Boomer social gatherings these days, often surpassing chat about financing college tuitions and downsizing to a condo. According to Mary Furlong, founder of the Boomer Business Summit which met in Washington, D.C. this week, caregiving is a hot business opportunity as well.

Furlong says Boomers face a new kind of juggling act now that grown children are more independent or on their own. Today a growing number of midlifers are caring for aging parents or for spouses who are ill or infirm. And yet caregivers still need to keep a day job, save for retirment and run a home.

Caregivers need help! Demand is high - and growing - for products and services catering to caregivers' needs, including advice from trusted advisors, in-home support services, stress management skills and long term care financing.

According to the MetLife Mature Market Institute, 44% of Americans over 60 have at least one living parent, up from just 13% in 1940. There are 44.3 million family caregivers in the U.S. who, at an average age of 46, are spending about 34 million hours on the caregiving "job." They are giving more than their time.

Caregiving takes a big toll - in lost days of paid work, in out-of-pocket costs to cover things like medical co-pays and travel expenses (an average of more than $5,500 a year) and in caregivers' own health risks due to stress related illness.

Business needs to pay attention. Sandra Timmerman of MetLife says that the cost of caregiving to U.S. employers has been estimated at between $ 17 and 33 billion per year. As the Boomers age and have more of their own health issues, this number is sure to increase.

We have an acute caregiver shortage today but it's nothing to what we might be facing in 15 or 20 years. By 2030, MetLife says we'll need almost 6 million caregivers in this country. We'll have to begin to look at this as a community issue, not a personal family crisis. We need more workplace eldercare programs, more geriatric care managers, more technology that supports caregivers and more concierge services that allow caregivers to balance work, life and caregiving.

One of the most moving caregiver stories at the Aging in America Conference this week was told by author Gail Sheehy. Her upcoming book, The Caring Passage, examines the crisis in family caregiving. Gail has been on her own journey, becoming a care partner for her husband as he has battled serious cancer over the past several years. We'll share more of her story here tomorrow.