Caregiving Risk: A Midlife Wake-Up Call in Singapore

When caregiving starts to affect work and finances

I have seen clients stop working because they needed to care for their sick and ageing parents. One client of mine, who was at the peak of a successful career and earning a good income, had to stop work for a prolonged period to look after ageing parents. The loss was not only in income. There were added costs too: transport, medical-related expenses, caregiving training and at times even therapy or counselling for the caregiver.

In many families, one person eventually becomes the one adjusting schedules, reducing work commitments or stepping away from work altogether. When that happens, the impact is not just emotional. It affects income, savings, retirement plans and sometimes the financial balance of the whole household.

This is what I call caregiving risk.

What is caregiving risk?

Caregiving risk is when you unexpectedly have to become a caregiver and suffer a financial loss through a combination of reduced income and increased expenses, without having made any prior financial provision for it. Personally, I prefer to see caregiving as a responsibility. But professionally, as a financial adviser, I also have to see it for what it is: a potential risk to a financial plan.

Why this matters in Singapore

In Singapore, we are generally quite disciplined about planning for education, housing, insurance and retirement. But many families still do not plan for the possibility that one family member may one day need to take on caregiving responsibilities. We assume we will manage when the time comes. We assume the family will somehow work it out. But unplanned caregiving is very much harder than planned caregiving.

Having been a caregiver myself, this is a topic close to my heart.

When I knew that I had to step into that role, I got involved early in my parents’ financial matters and practical arrangements. It helped to face the facts early. It did not make the journey easy, but it made it less chaotic. It also helped that I had a sibling with whom I could share the financial burden. That experience shaped how I think about caregiving today, both personally and professionally.

This is also why I believe people who can foresee this possibility should build more flexibility into their retirement plans. A financial plan should not only work in ideal conditions. It should also be able to withstand disruption. It should have room for caregiving, grief, recovery and the unexpected detours that life sometimes brings.

Some time ago, I was invited to give financial advice on an episode of Spotlight aired on Channel 5 and CNA Singapore, where the challenges faced by caregivers were featured. Looking back, I realise I was only able to lend my voice to that conversation because of my own experience as a caregiver, and because I had already begun healing from the grief of losing my late father.

As an adviser, I believe we need to handle this subject with care.

Caregiving should not be treated as a fear-based sales trigger. It is a human experience before it is a planning issue. The right conversation begins with empathy. What is happening in the family? What changes have already taken place? How has caregiving affected work, energy, cash flow and peace of mind?

When clients are already caring for ageing parents, long-term care is no longer an abstract concept. It is no longer something to think about “one day”. It is already happening in real time, in hospital corridors, at medical appointments, over family WhatsApp messages and in the daily decisions that quietly reshape a person’s life.

Why this is a midlife planning issue

That is why I believe this is not just a retirement issue. It is a midlife planning issue.

I believe we need to make space for this conversation earlier. We need to help clients think about whether their plans have enough flexibility if work has to pause, whether there is enough liquidity if expenses rise unexpectedly, whether responsibilities among siblings have been discussed honestly and whether important family conversations have taken place early enough.

In my planning conversations with clients, this is usually the point where we slow down and look at the practical side of caregiving. We talk about how care may be funded, what protection is already in place, whether there is enough flexibility in the financial plan if work has to pause and whether the family has had the important conversations early enough. These are not always easy topics but they are often the ones that bring the most clarity and peace of mind when life takes an unexpected turn.

What caregiving changes

Caregiving changes more than schedules and priorities. It changes perspective.

It forces us to confront the reality that ageing, illness and dependency are not distant possibilities that happen only to other people. They happen in our own families, often while we are still building our careers, raising children and trying to secure our own future.

For me, the lesson is simple: caregiving is an act of love but from a planning perspective, it is also a real financial risk. When we plan early, we do not remove the emotional weight of caregiving. But we can reduce the chaos. We can protect dignity. And we can give families more room to care with clarity rather than panic.

Start before it becomes urgent

That is why this midlife caregiving wake-up call matters so much. Not just in the US article that inspired me to write this but here in Singapore too.

If caregiving is a possibility in your life, the best time to start planning is before it becomes urgent. Even a simple first step can make a meaningful difference.

To help you get started, I have put together a Guide to Insurance Plans for Caregiving Financing in Singapore. It includes a list of insurance plans relevant to medical and long-term care financing, with notes on the focus area of coverage and the last entry age so that it can serve as a practical starting point for managing caregiving risk. You can download it here: