TIAA-CREF Institute
Research & Publications
Series on Financial Security

Financial Gerontology, Family Aging and Middle-Aged Boomers: Using the ‘Senior Sandwich Generation’ Concept in Retirement Planning

Neal E. Cutler, Executive Director of the Center on Aging, Motion Picture & Television Fund and TIAA-CREF Institute Fellow
January 2008 | Issue # January, 2008

Email This Page Email This Page    Download PDF  download pdf

Financial Gerontology is a relatively new subfield of gerontology and financial studies. Financial identifies the audience to whom the applied gerontological education and training are directed. Gerontology is the study of the multiple processes of aging, including middle aging. We view these multiple processes through four lenses: Population Aging, Individual Aging, Generational Aging, and Family Aging. While each of these different “kinds” or view of aging has a direct link to the work of wealth advisors, this article focuses on Family Aging, and especially the interactions between “sixty-year-old” children and their aging parents.