THIS IS 50
Planning for Retirement When You Don’t Have Kids
Childless adults need to think clearly about their future housing and health care costs
NO ONE WANTS to be a burden when they retire, but those who are parents may at least have that option. For a growing number of older Americans, on the other hand, there’s no such safety net. Twenty-three percent of adults in their 50s have never had children, a 2024 Pew Research Center analysis of federal data found. If you’re in that situation, financial experts say, you shouldn’t leave your future to chance. Here are the steps they recommend to people without children.
• Assemble your team. “The big challenge for child-free people is who makes the decisions for us when we can’t,” says Jay Zigmont, a certified financial planner in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and author of The Childfree Guide to Life and Money. Think about who among your extended family or close friends might be able to serve as your power of attorney or health care proxy if both you and your partner, if any, are incapacitated.
“Child-free people tend to have really strong bonds with their nieces and nephews, and in many cases, it’s the nieces and nephews who step up as caregivers,” says Joy Loverde, author of Who Will Take Care of Me When I’m Old? Another option is lining up an aging life care professional, Loverde adds. These providers, sometimes called geriatric care managers, can help clients access caregiving and other services. Whomever you land on, approach them to decide, together, whether they are suitable and willing to serve as your proxies. “If you don’t appoint somebody, the state or health care organizations are making decisions for you,” Zigmont warns.
• Prepare for long-term care. About 70 percent of people who reach age 65 will need long-term care at some point in their lives, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. With less of a family safety net, childless couples may be wise to consider long-term care insurance.
• Earmark funds for housing. You could set aside savings for future home renovations, such as a ramp or walk-in shower, so you can safely age in place, or to cover future costs if you need to relocate. Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), also called life-plan communities, can “be a great place to age if you’re child-free,” Loverde says, because they offer different levels of care, from independent living to assisted living to nursing care, in one place. They typically require a large up-front payment, but Loverde says she is seeing younger people “starting to make deposits [at CCRCs] to secure their place.”
• Save up for social needs. Think about how you might stay connected with others when you’re not seeing work colleagues every day. That could mean socking away funds for taking local classes or upgrading your technology so you can attend virtual gatherings.
• Supersize retirement savings. Every penny will help. For the 2025 tax year, people over 50 can put up to $8,000 into an individual retirement account (IRA), and most workers in that group can contribute up to $31,000 to a workplace plan such as a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 account.
• Think about your legacy. Estate planning looks different for people without children, who may feel less urgency to write a will when there are no obvious heirs. Still, being proactive in estate planning “is especially important for couples who do not have children,” says Emily Irwin, head of the advice center at Wells Fargo. That’s because absent a will, state intestacy laws will determine who inherits your assets.
Zigmont has an exercise for clients who have assets to leave but aren’t sure what to do with them. When a parent dies, he notes, the second line of their death notice often lists the people they leave behind. “We ask our clients, ‘What do you want that second line of your obituary to say?’ ” Zigmont says. Once they have an answer, he advises, “Shift your money toward that.”
—Tamara E. Holmes