“Generation Squeezed covers a wide range of of topics focusing on helping your parents as they get older with emphasis on making important life and financial decisions. The highest praise I can give Smith’s book is I wish I had access to the tips 10 years ago. The narrative style moves the book along smartly. And since I literally bought the book I can say it was money well spent.” Ron Axelson - San Diego CA
Are you Generation Squeezed™? If you’re an adult with aging parents, a significant other, kids, work and everything else in your busy life then this book is for you. You are or will soon be squeezed between the pressures of your life and the added dynamic of helping your aging parents. Whether it’s happening now or soon to come, you will feel the squeeze.
This book is primarily for adults with aging parents who want to be informed or help their aging parents. The goal is to help you and your parents not make the mistakes that others have made that have led to the destruction of relationships and families. You’ll need to be prepared when events with your parents begin to happen (and when a decline begins, events can develop very quickly”
There are many things you’ll need to know when you start helping your parents. How do you prepare yourself emotionally? Do they need a private fiduciary? What is hospice? How do you deal with siblings? What is the best financial plan for your parents? How do you approach your parents? Do you need a durable power of attorney? How do you settle the estate? All of these questions and further insights will be answered by someone who has lived it.
You can find information on just about any of these issues on their own, but without integrating them into a holistic approach, you are bound to have numerous unwanted surprises that could prove detrimental to your family's financial, physical, and emotional health.
People falsely think decisions are typically made from having the right information. That perspective is missing the all-important aspect of how greatly emotions affect our decision-making process. If you just try to consume data to find a solution to make decisions, you are fully discarding the emotional influence on your decision-making. So this book is not intended to answer all of the details of every legal, financial, or emotional issue that comes up but instead shines a light on a path forward to give you perspective, insight, and real knowledge for the journey ahead.
As busy adults, we usually deal with issues that arise with our parents reactively. Often, it’s because we are truly busy with our family, work, and friends, and we assume everything is fine unless we hear otherwise. We also know parents often don’t like to trouble their kids about problems; you may not hear about things until you find out one of them is in the hospital.
If your parents are important to you, their loss will be deeply meaningful. If your parents’ loss would be deeply meaningful to you, they must be important to you. And someone who is deeply meaningful to you really deserves your best efforts.