Check out the great new series in the New York Times focusing on the Sandwich Generation - the 20 million plus population of Americans simultaneously caring for aging parents and their own children. Ron Lieber, author of the Paper's Your Money column, highlights a variety of fiscal challenges faced by this growing segment:
Aging parents run short on money just at the time that they need specialized care. Adult children fail to launch and move back home with their parents. And people in their 40s, 50s and 60s are stuck in the middle, supporting the older and younger generations amid their own uncertainty about continued employment.
For the big picture on this Sandwich Generation phenomenon, read Baby Boomers and Their Parents by Georgia Sate's own George Moschis.