disability posts

As the population ages and Generation Y struggles to achieve a lucrative work-life balance, it is the so-called "sandwich generation" that is left to pick up both the emotional and financial tab.

According to the Pew Research Centre, nearly half (47%) of all adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent over the age of 64 and are simultaneously raising either a young child or adult child while caring for their aging parents.

Additionally, Statistics Canada's findings strengthen the case for creating a resolution to the growing financial burdens of the sandwich generation. Recently, they tabulated that 2.7 million Canadians provided unpaid care to people aged 65 and over. And, among these individuals, many of them had some sort of long-term illness.

If this scenario seems all too familiar you may feel comforted by the fact that the government feels your pain. This year the Canada Revenue Agency has introduced a new tax credit -- the family caregiver tax credit -- to help ease the financial burden.

Here's what you need to know so that you can maximize your tax savings this year.

There are a few things in this country that I'm grateful for: Universal healthcare is one; labour laws are another.

When it comes to being sick, however, these make it easy for people to think they're more protected than they are. It's true, a hospital bill won't drive the average Canadian family into bankruptcy, but getting sick can mean real financial hardship if the possibility isn't given some consideration, either beforehand or at the time of diagnosis.

Planning for the future of a disabled family member can be a stressful endeavor for parents and relatives. While there's an overwhelming abundance of information out there, it's not necessarily obvious what each individual qualifies for. Parents or caregivers often feel taxed enough by the emotional and physical demands that can come with caring for a mentally or physically disabled person.

I recently spoke with Chris Das, a Sun Life Financial Advisor, and asked him to break down and simplify some key strategies that can help Canadian parents provide for a disabled child.

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New Website Has All You Need to Know About Dividends
If you're a newcomer to dividend stocks, The Dividend Guy has launched a new website called What Is a Dividend? He says that if you're already familiar with dividend stocks there won't be much What Is a Dividend can teach you, but he's being overly modest. It's not only an amazingly comprehensive primer but provides information useful even for seasoned dividend investors.

How Old Does Your Resume Make You Look?
I was shocked recently to hear someone who'd just turned 40 talk about how anyone over the age of 30 now worries about being discriminated against in the workforce because of age. That's shocking. And it also makes the resume advice our friends over at Financial Highway has provided doubly useful. If you're worried that your resume makes you look too old to even get called in for an interview, this post provides useful tips on how to organize your resume to stress your skills and recent experience rather than employment history.