Financial survival for older parents

WHEN Barrow Barre quit her job as a pathologist in New Orleans to raise her newborn twins, the 37-year-old told her husband Gregg he'd have to start saving more for their retirement. His response: "Retirement? I'm going to have to work till I'm dead!"

Barrow is part of a wave of parents having children into their mid-40s. In 2005, the year she gave birth, the mean age of mothers at first birth was about 25. In 2012, as birth rates fell to a new low among women in their early 20s, the birth rate for women between the ages of 35 and 39 rose 2 per cent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The birth rate for women aged 40 to 44 has risen by 2 per cent annually since 2000.

The joy of having children is often accompanied by financial anxiety. The life insurance and estate planning challenges, not to mention competing savings needs, are particularly intense for older parents. Should saving for retirement remain the priority? How much of any wiggle room in the budget should be put towards future college costs, or go to increase life insurance coverage? There are no easy answers. But there are guidelines.