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A Solution for the Sandwich Generation: Helping Our Parents Homeshare

Do you have an aging parent who is living alone? Is it hard to spend the kind of quality time with them you would like? Are you worried about their well-being while being a parent to your own children? A skyrocketing number of people find themselves sandwiched between the demands of providing care and financial support to their parents and children—hence the spot-on designation of "The Sandwich Generation."

 

What can we do to help our parents thrive without taking an impossible burden on ourselves?

 

Living Solo After 65 is on the Rise, Big-Time

One Silvernest customer in her 30s reported, “My father died last year and now my mother is so lonely living by herself that everyone is taking turns staying at the house to keep her company! We can’t do that forever, and would love to find a roommate she can talk to.”

 

This woman is not alone. Over 40% of women over 65 will lose their husbands in the next five years, and over a quarter of couples divorce after age 50. Whether single by choice, divorce or widowhood, a majority end up living by themselves. Their two greatest concerns? Finding additional sources of income and managing social isolation.

 

Homesharing: Why Didn't We Think of That?

Silvernest is here to help. Homesharing is not an idea that immediately comes to mind for many older adults. While most boomers grew up having a house full of multiple generations and Sunday dinners with aunts, uncles and cousins around, the idea of having a roommate at an older age just doesn’t register as an option. Sometimes, it is the adult children who can best recommend the idea, and help to create the profile and get the ball rolling.

 

Today there are more than 10,000 people turning 65 every day, and at least a third are living alone. Research from Brigham Young University finds living alone and feeling lonely makes you more likely to die faster than having diabetes, obesity or smoking. That is a scary statistic.

 

Rising costs of living are pushing many retirees on fixed incomes below the poverty line. Many are forced to sell beloved homes, downsize or rent. Older adults don’t often want their adult children to know they are financially struggling—but nearly 90% of people over 65 today have less than $60,000 saved in the bank.

 

One of the quickest and easiest ways to earn significant extra monthly income is to rent a room to a compatible roommate. It depends on your location, but the average room rents for approximately $600-$800 per month. To receive that amount from a retirement annuity, you would have had to save over $360,000.

 

Silvernest is focused on the needs of the 50+ homeowner who is exploring homesharing. We offer compatibility-based matching, background checks, a lease generator, rent direct deposit and more. 

 

Learn more:

 

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