Financial Finesse data shows a 10-point rise since 2024, while AARP puts caregivers' out-of-pocket costs at $11,508 a year
The share of employees caring for elderly parents or other family members who report high or overwhelming financial stress rose from 32.8 percent in 2024 to 42.8 percent in 2026, according to Financial Finesse, a provider of workplace financial wellness programs. The company has a commercial interest in employer investment in those programs, and its data comes from employees who use them.
Financial Finesse compares four groups: employees caring for elderly relatives, the sandwich generation caring for both children and parents, employees caring for children, and employees with no dependents. Stress is self-reported at first contact with the company's coaches and measured before any program engagement, according to the company.
READ MORE: Benefits fall short in addressing the invisible crisis of the sandwich generation
The cost behind the stress
The AARP 2026 Caregiving Out-of-Pocket Costs Study found that family caregivers spend an average of $11,508 a year, up from $7,242 in 2021, according to the AARP study of caregiving out-of-pocket costs. That equals about 31 percent of household income on average. The study drew on one-week expense diaries from 2,538 caregivers in June and July 2026.
Working caregivers spend more. AARP put their average at $12,606 a year, and it found that 65 percent of working caregivers reported at least one employment-related disruption tied to caregiving. Costs weigh most on lower-income households. Caregivers with household incomes below $40,000 spend an average of 76 percent of income on care, according to Parade's coverage of the study.
How it shows up at work
Caregiving rarely announces itself. Scott Stark, a certified financial planner and think tank director at El Segundo, California-based Financial Finesse, said "The call rarely starts with 'I'm a caregiver.'" The conversation typically begins with an employee who stopped contributing to a 401(k), he said.
Employers may see the pattern first in their own records, in a leave request or a mid-year change to a retirement contribution rate. Stark said timing is the part employers control, such as offering help when an employee first adds a parent to their benefits. Waiting a year gives the strain a year to compound, he said.
READ MORE: Sandwich caregivers are eyeing work exits amid growing care roles
The recovery finding
The same data contains a more hopeful result. Among employees caring for elderly relatives who started with high or overwhelming financial stress and then worked with their employer's financial wellness program between 2021 and 2025, 65 percent moved to some or no stress, according to Financial Finesse. That was the highest recovery rate of any group tracked, ahead of the 61 percent recorded for employees with no dependents, Insurance Business reported.
The result describes people who sought out a program, so it does not show that every caregiver would respond the same way. It does suggest that outreach at the right moment can change the outcome.
