This New Orleans woman says her aging parents expect her to ‘take care of them’ at some point — Dad still works in his 80s but has no retirement savings. Dave Ramsey responds

Silver squatters

Kamel described Megan’s parents as part of a wave of so-called “silver squatters” — seniors who have failed to create a nest egg and depend on their adult children for support.

Data confirmed his concerns. According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), roughly 20% of Americans over the age of 50 have no retirement savings. Like Megan’s father, many continue working long past retirement age because they can’t afford it. Pew Research Center estimated there are roughly 11 million Americans over the age of 65 still working.

However, since they’re at greater risk of medical issues, older Americans might not be able to work until they die. Some might turn to their adult children to financially support them and a recent Pew Research study found that 88% of Americans believe adult children have at least some or a fair amount of responsibility to financially assist their elderly parents.

Adults in these situations must balance their parents' financial needs on one end and their children on the other. Kamel said he believes this balancing act could have long-term consequences for everyone involved.

“I feel like that would just create a cycle where they become the next silver squatters because they had to take care of the people on all sides and they therefore couldn't invest in retirement because they were trying to fund Mom and Dad's retirement yeah,” he said. “That's scary.”

Instead of trying to strike the perfect balance, Ramsey had another solution.

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Just say, ‘No’

Instead of getting squeezed by expenses related to elderly parents and young children, Ramsey suggested the best solution is to just say no.

“You have to bring out the secret weapon, the ancient word, the word that no one is allowed to speak anymore: No!” he said, with a laugh.

He advised Megan to have an open and honest discussion with her parents to set boundaries. Instead of offering assistance, he said he believed they would be better served with an investment plan to preserve some of her dad’s income.

Her parents could also consider downsizing their house to fund their retirement.

“‘We're going to sell your house and we're going to buy you a condo that's 1/10th the size of this house you're going to pay cash for it and live on Social Security, Mom,’” he said, with a roleplay flourish.