Page 32 - Money - November 2018

THE
ULTIMATE
RETIREMENT
GUIDE
2018
SOLO
SENIORS

Carol Marak helped her aging parents for a
total of six years, frequently driving the 125
miles between her home in Dallas and theirs in
the city of West, Texas, to shop, clean, cook, and
do other tasks for them.
“I realized there are so many demands in

giving care to an older person,” says Marak,
now 67. “I don’t have family to do that for me.”
So in February 2016 she started the Elder
Orphans Facebook group, which has since
grown to 8,400 members. “I just wanted to
know who else is out there like me,” says Marak,
who works as an editor for SeniorCare.com.

Turns out there are many Americans like She spends about 30 minutes a day moderat-
Marak, preparing to age without a spouse or ing the site, down from two hours daily when
adult children who can help. Some prefer the she first started.
term “solo senior” to refer to this demo- Marak requires that prospective mem-
graphic, whose ranks are growing: 22% of bers be age 55 or over, unmarried, and
people 65 and over are either an elder without nearby children. Baby boomers like
orphan or at risk of becoming one, according her face more challenges in older age than
to research by Dr. Maria Torroella Carney, their parents did. “We’re not a generation
chief of geriatric and palliative medicine at with pensions, and we’ve already spent our
Northwell Health in Great Neck, N.Y. Only inheritance,” says Sheila Zubrod, 71, a former
12% of the women who were 80 to 84 years advertising executive in Washington, D.C.,
old in 2010 were childless, but that will and the founder of Agingsolo.com, a website
increase to 16% for that same age range in in development that aims to connect child-
2030, according to a report by AARP. less baby boomers.
As big as it is, the Elder Orphans Face- Planning for older age is key, no matter
book group remains an exclusive club. what your family circumstance. But if you
Marak estimates she’s turned down some don’t have kin in a position to help, advance
10,000 requests for entry so far, based on planning becomes even more critical, experts
applicants’ responses to three basic screen- say. “Most of the caregiving research
ing questions and her perusal of their pages. assumes that you’ll have a family to take care
“I’m tough and vet that closely,” she says. of you. Not everyone does,” says Anne P.

MONE Y. C O M NO VEMBER 2 018