Dracut, Massachusetts — Dinnertime at the Gomez residence in the Boston suburb of Dracut means feeding three generations.
“It’s crazy,” Alicia Gomez told CBS News about the seven family members living together under one roof. “We are raising my niece and nephew. My mother lives with us and my sister lives with us.”
Alicia, 56, is the Chief Operating Officer of a nonprofit organization, and her 58-year-old husband Chu Gomez works in logistics. They are part of the so-called “sandwich generationof employees who support both young family members and aging parents.
“I liken it to a turkey club sandwich, because a club sandwich has a lot of layers, and we have a lot of layers,” Alicia said.
According to the US Census Bureau, these types of intergenerational arrangements account for approximately five million American households. They can easily cause major damage pension plans.
“We thought we’d be 62, we could retire at 62 and still stay young,” Chu said. “And recently she said: ‘You’re going to work until you’re seventy, right?’ I’m like, ‘I guess so.'”
According to labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci of the New School for Social Research in New York, people over 50 should save as much of their earnings as possible.
“When you’re 50, you can be pressured to help your adult children,” Ghilarducci said. “You may be pressured to even help your elderly parents. But don’t sacrifice your own retirement savings.’
The Gomezes are saving, but they also have more than $500,000 in debt, including home, car and student loans for their two daughters.
Chu doesn’t expect his student loans to be paid off until he’s 71.
“Yes, we will have them for a long time,” Chu said.
Although the Gomezes have their nest egg, it is not a big egg. For those over 50, there are several variables to consider. This includes having honest conversations about how long any help for family members, such as older children, will last. Other options to consider: Temporarily reducing retirement contributions to pay off high-interest debt such as credit cards. And then, most importantly, boosting savings.
Alicia says the couple makes enough money to pay their bills.
“We have enough, but it’s not where we should be,” Alicia said. “God forbid, if one of us gets sick or gets laid off, what will that do to us financially?”
In fact, both Alicia and Chu were fired in their 50s.
“Well, people in their 50s have a very high chance of losing their jobs,” Ghilarducci said. “So take care, keep working.”
Alicia picked up consulting work and was subsequently rehired, but it took six months during the pandemic for Chu to find a new job.
“If you get laid off, you can’t do the 401k,” Chu said. “So that was six months of 401k not being put into there.”
During that period, Chu lost out on $13,000 401k contributionswhich would have been worth about $40,000 by the time he retires, according to calculations by John Kelley and the CBS News data team. That could have helped cover some retirement costs, such as health insurance. On average, a retired 65-year-old would have to spend a total of about $165,000 on health care during retirement, according to a Fidelity survey.
The retirement pressures for the Gomezes remain.
“We didn’t know we had so many family members to take care of,” Alicia said. “So the unexpected… was a wake-up call… for us.”
