Carroll Golden, Executive Director of NAIFA's Centers of Excellence and the Limited & Extended Care Planning Center (LECP), was recently interviewed by Bill Hortz to shed light on the often-overlooked realm of informal caregiving. With millions of Americans engaged in the care of loved ones, Golden reveals the economic and emotional challenges that persist in what she refers to as the "shadow" caregiving economy.
Golden, a best-selling author who recently released How Not to Pull Your Life Apart: Caregiving, highlights the staggering figures reported by AARP in their 2021 report, "Valuing the Invaluable," which estimates the economic value of informal caregiving at around $600 billion annually, contributed by some 38 million family caregivers. Despite such significant contributions, the financial and emotional tolls on caregivers are largely unrecognized in traditional financial planning. Golden stresses the urgent need for tools and resources to aid financial professionals in supporting caregivers to manage both the immediate and long-term challenges of caregiving.