The Boomer economy: Caring has its costs

A lot has been written about Baby Boomers, who are doing a lot more to boost the economy than they are given credit for - a lot more - says author Lori Bitter.

Bitter, author of "The Grandparent Economy: How Baby Boomers are Bridging the Generation Gap," says Boomers are not only taking in their parents, but sometimes several generations of family members who have not recovered from the Great Recession.

The problem, she says, is that they are doing it all at great peril to their own retirement.

"The real story is they may have two or three generations of people living in their homes that they were working their butts off to support," she says. "This generation just gets bashed. When you see what is really happening. It is more interesting that the headlines and misunderstood labels.

"They are literally holding up the economy by taking care of families who haven't made it through the recession too well, taking care of their elders and grandchildren," she says. "Even if they aren't totally supporting them, they are contributing to all those households."

Not only are they endangering their own retirement by supporting family members, but they are also doing it at the expense of their own health, she says.

"Fifty is typically is where you have your personal health concerns," she says. You look at your health in a different way. Middle-age people are managing a number of chronic conditions of their own. While caring for people at the older end of the spectrum or younger end, they're managing doctor appointments of others, and push their own health care needs to the bottom of the list. They can see the decline of person they are they are taking care and simultaneously ignore their own health. We urge this population to take care of their own health. If their health problems get worse, the whole system breaks down."