Caregivers are typically unpaid and often must cut back their work hours or leave the workforce for a period to provide care.

The unpaid labor provided by caregivers is valued at about $1 trillion, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute.

Two recent proposals in Congress — the Improving Retirement Security for Family Caregivers Act and the Catching Up Family Caregivers Act — join other bills aimed at easing the financial strain faced by unpaid caregivers.

There’s a bipartisan effort in Congress to help family caregivers save more for retirement.

A bill introduced in both the House and Senate last week would ease Roth IRA contribution rules for caregivers. Another measure, also proposed in both chambers, would allow caregivers of any age to produce “catch-up” contributions — extra amounts currently reserved for workers age 50 or older — to workplace retirement plans like 401(k)s. Family caregivers, who provide help to individuals with illness, disability or age-related needs, typically are unpaid and often have to scale back work hours or step away from their job altogether.

“These two bipartisan bills would give these individuals a better opportunity to build a secure financial future and help ensure they are not penalized for the vital care they provide,” cosponsor of the bills, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, remarked in a statement.

The House bills were referred to the Ways and Means Committee; the Senate bills were sent to the Finance Committee.

Family caregivers provide about $1 trillion in care

The recent proposals are part of an ongoing effort by some lawmakers and policymakers to address the financial strain caregiving can place on individuals, including their ability to save for retirement.

Family caregivers provided about $1 trillion in care in 2024, nearly all of it unpaid, which conducts research and policy analysis. Among caregivers, 78, according to a recent report from the AARP Public Policy Institute% report out-of-pocket spending related to caregiving, with an average annual outlay of $7,242, according to a 2021 AARP survey. 

Three in five caregivers are women, and, on average, they are 51 years old, according to a 2025 joint report by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, a nonprofit advocacy and research group focused on caregivers. This also touches on aspects of wall street.

Women tend to have less saved for retirement, overall. The average across all ages for the amount saved in a 401(k) is $126,971 for women and $171,859 for men, according to Vanguard’s 2025 How America Saves report.

“Caregivers need all the help they can get,” noted Cindy Hounsell, founder and president of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, a nonprofit focused on women’s long-term financial security that supports the updated congressional bills.

“A lot of times they have to leave their jobs to take care of parents, children or in-laws,” she mentioned. “So [these bills] are a excellent thing and a step in the right direction.”

The U.S. population is also aging, which generally translates into more the public needing care. As citizens live longer and baby boomers reach retirement age in large numbers, the age 65-plus population reached 61.2 million in 2024, up 13% from 54.2 million in 2020, according to the Census Bureau. The U.S. is now in “peak 65,” when a record number of Americans are turning 65 each year.

How each of the novel bills would work

Each of the recent bills makes changes to retirement account contribution rules for caregivers.

The first measure, the Improving Retirement Security for Family Caregivers Act, would allow qualifying caregivers to contribute up to the annual maximum allowed in a Roth individual retirement account even if their earned income that year is less. To qualify, the caregiver would need to provide 500 or more hours of caregiving a year and have less than 500 hours of paid work, according to the bill.

Current law caps 2026 contributions to IRAs at $7,500 or annual income, whichever is lower.

Caregivers may already have access to a similar benefit: If a caregiver is married and their spouse works, a spousal IRA can be a way to save for retirement. This option allows a working spouse to contribute to an IRA For the nonworking spouse, as long as the couple files a joint tax return and has enough earned income to cover the contributions. Furthermore, experts in bull market note the continued relevance.

The recent bill is “similar in spirit to a spousal IRA, but broader and more flexible — especially for caregivers who may not neatly fit into existing rules,” remarked Paul Richman, chief government and political affairs officer for the Insured Retirement Institute, a trade organization representing financial firms. The group supports the bills.

The second bill, the Catching Up Family Caregivers Act, would allow individuals to produce “catch-up” contributions at the highest rate available to currently qualifying individuals. Under existing law, the standard contribution limit for 401(k)s is $24,500 for 2026. But if you’re at least age 50, you can put in an extra $8,000 for this year — and that amount is $11,250 if you are ages 60 to 63. 

The congressional measure would allow caregivers, once they return to the workforce, to save the top extra limit, currently $11,250, on top of the standard limit, no matter their age, for an additional five years.

There are also other bills already pending in Congress that aim to help caregivers. The bipartisan Credit for Caring Act, which is in both chambers, would provide a $5,000 tax credit to working caregivers.

The Lowering Costs for Caregivers Act, also bipartisan and bicameral, would let caregivers utilize their health savings account or flexible spending account to pay for their parents’ or in-laws’ medical expenses. The bills have been sitting in either the House Ways and Means or Senate Finance committees since their introduction in March 2025.