Typical primary family caregivers for adults in the United States maythink somewhat harder about their finances, on average, than non-primaryfamily caregivers, but they're less likely to say they havepersonal financial advisors.

That's one of the findings analysts at the TransamericaInstitute have included in an in-depth new report on the well-beingof family caregivers in the United States.

A team at the Los Angeles-based research center based the reporton a survey of 3,183 non-professional family caregivers conductedearlier this year. The caregiver sample included people whowere providing care for relatives who had difficulty caring forthemselves, and parents or other non-professional family caregiversfor children who had special needs.

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The analysts' report covers many topics of interest tolong-term care planners, special needs planners and other financialprofessionals, including the employment situation of thecaregivers, the impact of caregiving on the caregivers' help, andthe kinds of information, respite services and other support theywould like.

For a section on the caregivers' own finances, the analystscreated a natural experiment by asking the caregivers to classifythemselves as primary caregivers or non-primary caregivers.

For many variables, the analysts have provided three sets ofnumbers: the numbers for the primary caregivers, the numbers forthe non-primary caregivers, and the numbers for all caregivers.

The analysts have not presented comparable figures for thegeneral population. Of course, the primary caregivers are morelikely to be the spouse of the individual needing care.

About 27% of the caregivers in the sample were the spouse orpartner of the care recipient.

Just 2% of the non-primary caregivers were the spouse or partnerof the care recipient.

But the primary caregivers appear to be similar, in terms ofmany demographic variables, to the non-primary caregivers, theside-by-side comparisons may show being a primary caregiver, in andof itself, affects a family caregiver's finances.

For a look at five insights about primary caregivers' finances,drawn from the Transamerica Center survey data, read on.

(Image: iStock)

1. Primary caregivers may start out with betterfinances.

The common stereotype about family caregiving is that theprimary caregiver is probably a stay-at-home spouse or astay-at-home eldest daughter.

When Transamerica Center analysts looked at their survey data,they found that 41% of the primary caregivers were workingfull-time, compared with just 33% of the non-primarycaregivers.

Only 39% of the primary caregivers were not employed at alloutside the home, compared with 43% of the non-primarycaregivers.

The primary caregivers also had a higher median than thenon-primary caregivers: The median was about $58,000 for theprimary caregivers, versus $56,000 for the non-primarycaregivers.

About 29% of the primary caregivers, and just 25% of thenon-primary caregivers, reported having total household income of$100,000 or more.

(Photo: Thinkstock)

2. Primary caregivers are more likely to admit that theythought hard about their finances before they becamecaregivers.

About 34% of the primary caregivers said they consideredtheir own financial situation "a lot" or "some" when they decidedto become a caregiver.

Only 24% of the non-primary caregivers said they thought a lotor some about finances before making the decision aboutcaregiving.

(Image: Thinkstock)

3. Primary caregivers are more likely to raid theirretirement accounts.

Median monthly caregiving spending is $250 for the primarycaregivers, compared with just $50 for the non-primarycaregivers.

The percentage of caregivers who said they have taken cash fromretirement savings as a result of caregiving costs was 21% for theprimary caregivers, compared with 12% for the non-primarycaregivers.

(Image: Thinkstock)

4. Primary caregivers are about as likely to be savingfor retirement.

Although primary caregivers are more likely to say they haveused retirement savings to cover caregiving costs, they're just aslikely to say they're currently saving for retirement.

The share of survey participants who said they were currentlysaving for retirement was 39% for both primary caregivers andnon-primary caregivers.

The median amount of retirement savings was $71,000 for primarycaregivers and $62,000 for non-primary caregivers.

The primary caregivers could have more retirement savingsbecause spouse primary caregivers are older than non-spousenon-primary caregivers.

The analysts did not give the median ages of the caregivers andnon-caregivers, but, in the real world, the typical primarycaregivers in the Transamerica Center sample were about the sameage as the non-primary caregivers.

About 56% of the caregivers in both the primary andnon-primary groups were ages 52 or younger.

The percentage of participants ages 71 or older was 8% for theprimary caregiver group and 5% for the non-primary group.

(Photo: Thinkstock)

5. Primary caregivers are somewhat less likely to havefinancial advisors.

Although the primary caregivers said they earned more thanthe non-primary caregivers, had built up more retirement savings,and were more likely to have gone through the complicated processof withdrawing cash from retirement accounts, they were less likelyto say they had financial advisors.

Just 63% of the primary caregivers said they had financialadvisors, compared with 68% of the non-primary financialadvisors.