Taking Care of the Old Folks

by Gary White

My grandparents’ 401Ks were their children. As subsistence farmers there was no “retirement plan” in place and, as they aged and became infirm, their children gradually took over more and more of the farm operations.

In the case of my paternal grandparents their eldest daughter, my aunt Fern, stayed at home and assisted them for their entire life. In the final years of my grandfather White’s life, I can remember the Sundays when my father, my uncles Vernon and Charlie Smith, and I went into the woods to cut firewood for the grandparents. Charlie Smith had all the necessary tools and we each took turns with the axes and saws and brought in enough wood to heat the grandparents’ home for the entire winter. We also got together when it was butchering time so that the grandparents would have meat for the winter. Aunt Fern raised a huge garden and canned fruit and vegetables for their winter needs. When my Grandfather White died in 1954, the children bought a house in Sedan, and Grandmother and Fern moved in town together. The sale of the farm provided their living, along with what Aunt Fern could bring in by cleaning houses in Sedan. When Grandmother White died in 1964 Fern lived out the last of her years in that house. Her “retirement” was provided by the savings she had accumulated in her earlier years as a cook and house keeper along with the house that was free and clear.

My maternal grandparents lived on their farm until Grandfather Call passed away in 1952. In his declining years he was helped out more and more by my uncle Harold, who had a home for his family on a portion of the farm. After his death, all the children got together and built Grandmother a little house in Sedan on the back of my uncle Lee’s place. Her “retirement” was provided by the sale of the farm and periodic contributions of food and money by all her children. When my uncle Lee died, in 1960, the remaining children bought a small trailer home for grandmother and she lived out her final years until her death in 1973 in that trailer which was always parked near to one of her childrens’ homes.

In my parent’s generation, regular retirement programs were in place and both of my parents retired from their employment with pensions. My father drew a regular pension from the Standard Oil Company (AMOCO, and now British Petroleum) and my mother drew a pension from the telephone company, ATT (now broken up into regional divisions). In addition, they had engaged in regular savings during their employment years through employee stock plans with Standard Oil and ATT. I was freed for the most part, from regular work to support them. My role was as financial manager of their assets after my father’s death in 1991. My mother moved to Ames, Iowa where I was teaching and we set her up in a retirement complex in north Ames. This gave her independence and professional support when her health declined in the last two years of her life. Mother died in 1998, two months before the death of Elyn’s mother.

Elyn’s parents were in a similar situation to my parents. They had both retired with pensions from Iowa State University and moved to a retirement community in San Diego, California. They had also engaged in regular savings during their employment years and they had assets that could be used to supplement their pensions. The retirement community provided day to day support as needed and our role as their children was as financial manager of their assets after Elyn’s mother died in 1998. Elyn’s father lived on in the retirement community until his death in 2006. In his declining years, Elyn took on the role of care manager, watching out for his medical needs from wherever we happened to be living by regular phone conversations and periodic visits. The health care system in southern California was not as reliable as the system in central Iowa and regular oversight was needed to ensure that he had the care he needed.

Elyn and I are now engaged in our own financial planning so that we can live comfortably without needing financial support from our children in our declining years. I had a regular retirement program in my employment at Iowa State University and, in addition, engaged in regular saving. Assets inherited from our parents supplement our income along with royalties from the sale of our books. How we will deal with the increasing need for care in our declining years remains to be seen. At least we have long-term care insurance to take over some of the financial burden of those years.

As I look at the next generation, I see quite a different pattern emerging. Fewer and fewer companies have regular retirement programs and young people seem to move from job to job and are much more often self employed. The entire burden of saving for retirement is increasingly placed in their laps. Are they saving? The statistics are not promising. Will their “retirement programs” again be the responsibility of their children? Will "extended family" again be a living pattern for them? Only time will tell how the next generation of “old folks” will be cared for in their declining years. The Social Security system doesn’t look like a good bet as a source of significant income.

The wheels of time turn and there will always be a generation of “old folks” to be cared for. I’m sure they will work it out in some way. People always have. At least, it won’t be my responsibility to figure it all out.