Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
It is hard enough to be a caregiver for elderly parents when there are multiple siblings to help.
Sometimes, there is only you.
Just ask Michael Hausknost. The financial planner from Long Beach, Calif., is helping his 90-year-old mom, Eva, as she moves from an assisted living facility into one that specializes in memory care.
Hausknost's dad passed away many years ago. His mom's other relatives are thousands of miles away in Europe. Eva has no money at this point apart from Social Security checks.
That means that everything to do with Eva's care, from emotional to financial, falls squarely on her son.
“There is no one else,” says Hausknost, 60. “It’s literally just me.”
It is a situation more and more face, as only children cope with the challenge of caring for aging parents.
That is because family size is shrinking, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. In fact, the latest numbers from 2022 reveal that 19% of American women ages 40-44 have only one child – the highest percentage ever recorded in that category. By contrast, it was 9.6% in 1976.
“Only children are showing up left and right asking me about these issues,” says Joy Loverde, an eldercare consultant and author of “The Complete Eldercare Planner.” “Everything is on the line for them, especially their own careers and financial stability.”
Here are four ways only children can prepare.
If it is only you to care for elderly parents, without any sibling help, then you need to start thinking about how you will handle it as soon as possible.
“I started planning for (this) 20 years ago,” Hausknost says. “I knew that there was longevity in my family, that my mom wouldn’t go anywhere soon, and had no means herself, so I saved accordingly.”
Good thing, too: His mom’s current arrangements are running around $6,000 a month for the “bare minimum” of room and board, with other tasks (like administering medications) driving the price up from there.
If your parent has nothing and you have no choice, as with Hausknost, that is one thing. But impacting your own family’s financial future is the last thing you want to do.
“If you start dipping into your own pockets, you might be disqualifying them from state and federal programs by stepping up and paying for everything,” Loverde says.
Instead, be thoughtful and creative about using your parents’ own resources first – whether that be their own savings, insurance like long-term care policies or the family home.
There are a lot of options including selling a house and downsizing, taking out a home equity loan or line of credit and entering into a reverse mortgage.
If you are your parent’s safety net as an only child, it may be tempting to give up your career to become a full-time caregiver.
But removing yourself from the workplace, even if just for a few years, can have very damaging long-term consequences – and once you leave the office in midlife, it can be tough to go back.
Plus, staying at your job means you can possibly use benefit programs – which could include eldercare assistance, family leave, counselling, flexible schedules and other useful perks.
“Find out from your employer what is available if and when you have to take on that role and talk to them even before there is evidence that help is needed,” Loverde says.
Being an only child does not mean you have to handle all these complex issues alone.
First, consider if friends or other relatives – cousins, aunts, uncles – who also care deeply about your parents are able to help with time, money or both.
Second, assemble a professional team to help navigate the challenges ahead, including a financial planner to chart the money path and an estate lawyer for important documents like power of attorney or healthcare proxies.
Third, get involved in support groups, so you don't have to figure out caregiving entirely alone. A great starting point for resources of all kinds: The “Eldercare Locator,” a public service from the Administration for Community Living.
Says Hausknost: “Even if you are an only child, it’s foolish to think you can do it all yourself.”
(Editing by Lauren Young; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and five other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday at a North Carolina home, police said.
A Calgary elementary school principal has been charged with possession of child pornography, authorities announced Monday.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is downplaying what staff describe as a cockroach infestation in a medical unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Toronto police say 12 people are facing a combined 102 charges in connection with an investigation into a major credit fraud scheme.
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears will avoid what could have been a long, ugly and revealing trial with a settlement of the lingering issues in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.
The clock is ticking ahead of the deadline to file a 2023 income tax return. A personal finance expert explains why you should get them done -- even if you owe more than you can pay.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.