The Family Financial Squeeze Are Americans Sacrificing Retirement to Support Their Loved Ones?
How Americans Are Balancing Family Support and Retirement
As every aspect of American life becomes more expensive, many adults are providing ongoing financial support to children, aging parents, partners, and close friends. What may start as occasional assistance often grows into a long-term commitment—one that can significantly impact savings goals, retirement readiness, and overall financial well-being.
To better understand how these responsibilities are shaping Americans’ finances, My Guide to Retirement surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults and found that 80% had provided financial support to at least one family member or loved one within the past year. Among those supporters, the survey explored who they are helping, how much they are contributing, the impact on retirement readiness and financial health, and the emotional realities of balancing their own futures with the needs of others. The findings reveal a growing financial pressure that spans generations, income levels, and family structures.
Key Takeaways
- 4 in 5 Americans (80%) provided financial support to a loved one in the past year. Among those who did, groceries (69%), housing costs (41%), and utilities (39%) were the most commonly covered expenses.
- 38% of Americans are financially supporting both a child and a parent simultaneously, and nearly 30% of those said it has had a major or moderate negative effect on their stress levels.
- More than 4 in 10 supporters said helping loved ones has negatively impacted their ability to save for retirement, including 1 in 10 who said the effect has been major.
- Nearly 1 in 4 supporting a loved one has reduced or stopped retirement contributions because of family financial responsibilities, and another 13% have delayed starting them altogether.
- Only 15% of Americans report feeling very prepared for retirement, while 39% said they are already behind where they expected to be.
- 74% of supporters feel stressed about their finances because of family obligations, and 8 in 10 have felt guilty setting financial limits with a loved one at least once in the past year.
- 58% of Americans wish they had started planning earlier for the possibility of financially supporting loved ones.
- Nearly half (48%) of Americans supporting an aging parent said the costs have been higher than expected.
Who Americans Are Supporting and What They Are Covering
For many, helping their loved ones comes naturally. Rather than watch their family members go without groceries or struggle to make rent payments, Americans pitch in—sometimes to the tune of thousands of dollars. However, this doesn’t mean people are being cavalier with their money. They’re choosing to support those who matter most to them.
The vast majority of people (80%) provided financial support to at least one person in the past year. Of these, over one-third (36%) were actively raising a child under 18, and another 25% were caring for a child 18 or older. The same amount (25%) supported a romantic partner. Outside of the immediate household, 14% of American adults supported a parent or parent-in-law, and 14% gave money to someone outside of their family altogether, such as friends or coworkers. During uncertain times, people are making sure their loved ones don’t go without.
Here’s what Americans are helping their families and friends afford:
- Groceries and household essentials (69%);
- Housing costs (41%) and utilities (39%);
- Phone, Internet, or streaming services (36%);
- Transportation or car expenses (35%);
- Medical bills or prescriptions (29%);
- Credit card or loan payments (18%).
So how much are they contributing to their loved ones’ bank accounts? Nearly a quarter were helping on a budget: 22% gave their loved ones less than $500 over the last year. But budgets were different for everybody, and the largest share (54%) contributed $1,000 or more in the past year. This includes the 15% who gave over $10,000 and 7% who gave $25,000 or more. Gen X and millennials were the generations spending the most: 19% of millennials had given $10,000 or more, as had 15% of Gen X. This is likely because millennials and Gen Xers are in a unique stage of life, one where they must care for aging parents and growing children at the same time.
Is The Sandwich Generation Being Held Back Financially?
The “sandwich generation” is a nickname for people who are simultaneously caring for young children and aging relatives. Whether it’s by having their mother move into the extra bedroom or helping to cover medical bills for retired in-laws, these Americans are rearranging their lives to provide for those they love. But this care comes at a cost.
Over a third (38%) of Americans are supporting a child and a parent (or parent-in-law) at the same time, rising to 44% among men. Younger generations are feeling this pressure most heavily: 46% of millennials and 39% of Gen Z are supporting both a child and a parent at the same time. Gen X was slightly behind at 35%, but only 20% of baby boomers were members of the sandwich generation–less than half of the number of Zoomers and millennials caring at both ends. This could be reflective of the fact that Zoomers and millennials are more likely to have younger children who need more hands-on care, whereas Gen X and boomers largely have teenagers or adult children. It may also indicate that baby boomer parents are the ones on the receiving end of this monetary care.
Among those caring for an aging parent, 48% said the costs were higher than expected. This included 20% who said they were much higher than expected, meaning one in five members of those supporting an aging parent are making financial decisions on the fly. Here’s what adult children are paying for on their parents’ behalf:
- Groceries or other essentials (61%);
- Rent or housing (39%);
- Medical bills or prescriptions (33%);
- Health insurance (28%);
- In-home care (15%);
- Assisted living (9%).
Providing this support often comes at the expense of not only their bank accounts but also their well-being. Nearly one in three (30%) said that caring for an older family member has negatively impacted their stress levels. Medicare and other senior-care programs are losing their funding at unprecedented rates, forcing adult children to shoulder the burden themselves. Many of these people grew up assuming that public aid would provide adequate care for their parents, but are shocked to learn how unaffordable it can be. When this happens, they have to find new ways to make ends meet.
When Income Isn’t Enough: How People Fund Their Families
For some, this support comes at the cost of their own financial futures. Caring for family members can push some Americans into debt or lead them to delay financial goals like retirement. The true cost of this care impacts people long after the transaction is over.
When regular income isn’t enough to cover both their own expenses and those of family members, Americans are finding other ways to make the math work. Nearly half (47%) said they rely on their regular work income to fund their families, while 34% use money from their checking accounts and 33% tap into general savings. But for many households, regular cash flow doesn’t cover everything. Over one in four (27%) have put family-related expenses on a credit card, 15% have drained emergency savings, and 11% have taken out a personal loan to continue supporting loved ones. This reflects a portion of Americans who have to decide between their financial future and their loved one’s present needs.
Despite their income, high earners (those who make >$100k/year) were the most likely demographic to use credit cards to fund their families, at 40%. This may be because they have the most confidence in their ability to pay the credit card off in the future. Similarly, high earners were most likely to tap into their emergency savings, at 23% vs. the 13% of middle and low earners who had done the same. Similarly, high earners may have more confidence in their ability to refill the emergency fund later on, or that they’d be able to weather a financial storm on their income alone. But not all Americans have the same financial cushion–and many are losing what cushion they do have.
When Family Obligations Delay Retirement
Every dollar given to a family member is a dollar that stops compounding for retirement. While pulling from retirement or pausing contributions to a savings account can help in the short term, the financial ramifications can be worse than anticipated. Supporting loved ones often comes at the expense of retirement plans. Here’s how.
Among Americans providing financial support to loved ones, 45% said it has negatively affected their emergency savings. Another 40% said it has hurt their overall financial confidence, while 40% report that helping family has made it harder to pay down their own personal debt. Retirement planning is also taking a hit, with 44% saying family support has negatively impacted their ability to save for retirement. For many households, helping loved ones today means putting their own financial security on hold for tomorrow.
These financial consequences are disproportionately affecting younger Americans. Nearly a third of Gen Z adults (30%) said they have already withdrawn money from a retirement account because of family responsibilities. That is more than millennials (22%), twice the rate of Gen X (11%), and over three times the number of baby boomers (6%) who have done the same. Zoomers might feel that early withdrawals are no big deal, as they have many working years ahead of them. This leads them to assume they’ll be able to replenish the accounts later on without consequence. But early withdrawals can create some of the most severe long-term damage because they prevent decades of potential compound growth.
Millennials, meanwhile, are questioning if they’ll ever get to retire. A quarter (24%) said they have delayed or may delay retirement due to their financial obligations, compared to 17% of Gen Z, 17% of Gen X, and just 7% of baby boomers. This leaves younger generations scrambling to catch up as they age.
Americans, on the whole, are unconfident about their retirement prospects. Only 15% said they feel very prepared financially for retirement, while 39% admitted they are behind where they believe they should be. Many are also postponing other financial milestones in an effort to stay afloat: 23% have delayed building emergency savings, and 22% have postponed a major purchase. As costs continue to rise, the tension between supporting loved ones today and securing stability tomorrow is becoming harder for households to ignore.
The Human Side of Financial Responsibility
The financial strain of supporting loved ones is easy to measure in dollars and cents. The emotional toll is harder to calculate, but Americans are feeling it all the same. Supporting family members can increase the stress a person feels, but cutting them off can lead to guilt. There’s no easy solution for Americans with loved ones in need.
Three-quarters of those supporting a loved one (74%) often feel stressed about their finances because of financial obligations to their families. Even when these people try to end the money-lending dynamic, 80% said they have felt guilty when setting boundaries with a loved one. But when people don’t set boundaries, they feel the emotional consequences later on.
Nearly a third (32%) said they frequently feel burned out trying to balance their own finances while supporting others. Another 29% said they often feel pressured into providing financial help simply because of family ties, while the same percentage said they feel emotionally responsible for helping a loved one financially.
Millennials and Gen Zers report the highest levels of financial stress, with 76% saying they often feel stressed about their finances because of these responsibilities. Younger Americans are also significantly more likely to feel guilty about setting financial limits: 38% of Gen Z and 37% of millennials said they struggle with guilt around financial boundaries, compared to just 14% of boomers.
Gen Z, in particular, carries an unusually heavy emotional burden for their age. Three quarters (75%) said they feel emotionally responsible for helping a loved one, the highest rate of any generation. Another 39% are already supporting both a child and a parent, placing many Zoomers into sandwich-generation pressures before their financial foundations have fully developed.
Gen X offers a glimpse into where years of unresolved financial strain may lead. More than one-third of Gen X adults (35%) say they feel very unprepared for retirement, the highest rate of any generation. After years spent balancing debt, rising costs, and caregiving responsibilities, many are living without the financial security they thought they’d have by now.
What Americans Wish They Had Done Differently
Many Americans have had to give a loved one money at a moment’s notice, but others have ended up in long-term monetary care positions. Caring for a loved one gets expensive, fast, and when the financial damage is done, some people find themselves wishing they’d done things differently. If they could do it all over again, here’s what Americans would change.
The majority (58%) of Americans wish they’d started planning earlier, either by saving more or spending less. This was consistent among income levels, though slightly higher among high earners: 71% of high-income, 62% of middle-income, and 53% of low-income earners wish they’d started planning earlier. This undercuts the idea that low earners are the least prepared for retirement; instead, it may show that high earners may assume their income alone will always be enough, and not save as a result.
Similarly, 50% of Americans believe that their retirement plan should account for the possibility of supporting family members. This rose to 70% among high earners, but dropped to 50% for middle-income and 44% for low-income earners. For many people who come from low-income families, supporting parents or siblings is often a given — they automatically figure it into their retirement plans. Multigenerational living can be common in low-income families, enabling multiple adults to pool their resources for stability. But for those who come from a higher socioeconomic status and don’t live in the same household, providing for loved ones may come as a surprise. Once they’ve reached adulthood, they may assume their parents will always be able to provide for themselves, and are unprepared when that is no longer true.
It may seem like the solution is to refuse to give money. But as we discussed earlier, 80% have felt guilty for trying to draw a financial boundary with someone they’re supporting. For many, this leads to avoidant behaviors: 33% of people often avoided money conversations with loved ones in the past year. Others do what they see as their duty, sometimes to their own detriment: 25% felt pressured to provide support due to family ties.
Americans are caught between two competing priorities: helping loved ones today and protecting their own future tomorrow. Neither income nor good intentions are enough to avoid that tension. Instead, the households best positioned for retirement may be the ones that plan for family support before it becomes a financial emergency.
Planning for Retirement Means Planning for Others
Supporting loved ones has become a normal part of life for many Americans. Whether it’s helping an adult child with rent, pitching in for a grandchild’s expenses, or covering healthcare costs for an aging parent, families are often juggling responsibilities that go well beyond their own financial needs. The survey findings show that this support frequently forces people to put less toward emergency savings, debt repayment, retirement accounts, and other long-term goals.
What’s especially notable is that these challenges aren’t limited to one income group. People across the financial spectrum reported feeling stretched, second-guessing past financial decisions, and worrying about whether they’ll have enough saved for retirement. Younger generations are facing these pressures earlier in life, while older adults offer a look at how years of supporting family members can affect retirement security down the road.
The results point to a broader shift in how many Americans manage their finances. Helping family is no longer just an occasional expense for some households—it’s an ongoing commitment. As caregiving demands grow and economic uncertainty continues, retirement planning may need to account for the possibility of supporting loved ones along the way. Families that have open conversations about expectations, set realistic boundaries, and factor these responsibilities into their financial plans may be in a stronger position to help others without sacrificing their own future security.
Methodology
My Guide to Retirement surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults through an online poll in May 2026. Of those, 797 (79.7%) reported providing financial support to at least one family member or loved one in the past 12 months, and except where noted, the findings below reflect this group. The survey examined who Americans are financially supporting, what expenses they are covering, how much they are contributing, how family obligations are affecting retirement savings and overall financial health, the emotional toll of those obligations, and attitudes toward financial planning.
Results were analyzed across demographic segments, including generation (Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers), income level, and gender. Income groups were defined as low income (households earning less than $50,000 annually), middle income ($50,000 to $99,999 annually), and high income ($100,000 or more annually). Responses were weighted using post-stratification. Percentages reflect self-reported responses and may exceed 100% where respondents could select multiple answers.
About My Guide to Retirement
My Guide to Retirement helps individuals and families navigate the financial realities of retirement with educational resources, planning insights, and guidance on topics ranging from retirement income and insurance to long-term financial security. As retirement planning becomes increasingly intertwined with caregiving and family financial support, My Guide to Retirement provides information designed to help Americans make informed decisions about both their own futures and the people who depend on them.
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