How advisers can help Gen X manage financial pressure

Your Gen X clients may be earning more than ever yet still wonder where the money goes.

For many Gen X Australians, their 40s and 50s are expensive years. They may be paying a mortgage, supporting children through school or university, helping adult kids with a home deposit and supporting ageing parents. Many are also at the busiest point of their careers.

Retirement suddenly feels much closer, but they still want time and money to enjoy life now.

Our 2026 Value of an Adviser research found Gen X was the least confident generation about achieving their long-term financial goals. Only 15% said they were extremely confident, compared with 24% of Baby Boomers, 28% of Millennials and 43% of Gen Z. 

Among Gen X Australians with a financial adviser, feeling less overwhelmed when planning for the future was the least strongly endorsed emotional benefit of advice, with 16% strongly agreeing, compared with 31% of advised Australians overall.

Many Gen X Australians are also doing well on paper. Almost 40% of Gen X respondents earn more than $200,000 a year. But a good income can still feel stretched when several generations draw on it at once.

As one adviser told us: “A lot of our clients are in that sandwich generation. They’re trying to get themselves to retirement, helping kids into property and at the same time dealing with ageing parents. The conversation becomes: ‘How do we look after everyone?’”

Advisers cannot remove every competing demand, but they can help clients make the choices clearer. 

For many Gen X households, peak earning years are also peak spending years. That makes prioritising essential.

Start by helping clients put the big things competing for their money in one place: the mortgage, retirement, children, parents, savings and the things they want to enjoy themselves. Then help them put those priorities in order.

Clients may want to help both their children and their parents, but they also need to protect their own future. Work with them to decide what they definitely want to fund, where they have flexibility and what could wait.

Mapping those priorities can show clients how much capacity they really have to support both sides of the “sandwich” and what that support looks like in tangible terms. 

A lot of family financial stress comes from things nobody has quite talked about and the assumptions those gaps can create.

Parents may assume their children will help. Adult children may assume Mum and Dad will contribute to a home deposit. Siblings may assume someone else will step in. Those assumptions can quickly become financial commitments clients have not planned for.

Advisers can help clients start those conversations earlier.

Encourage clients to ask their parents whether their wills and powers of attorney are up to date, where they keep important financial information and what they would want if they needed more care. Clients can also talk to siblings about who could help with what and what role each person can realistically play. 

The same applies to children. If clients plan to contribute to university costs, a wedding or a home deposit, help them decide what they can realistically afford and when.

These conversations become much harder when illness, a care decision or a property deadline forces everyone to act quickly. Raising them early can give clients and their families more time to make considered decisions.

Helping a child with a deposit may be affordable. So might cutting back work to help a parent. The problem comes when several reasonable decisions land on the same financial plan in quick succession.

This is where advisers can make the choices and trade-offs visible.

Scenario modelling can show clients how one decision affects the rest of their financial position before they commit. Helping a child now might change retirement plans later. Reducing work could affect superannuation. Taking on more debt could reduce flexibility elsewhere.

As one adviser put it: “Most of our clients are paying for peace of mind and clarity.” 

Good advice can give clients that clarity by helping them understand the choices in front of them and the consequences of each one.

Gen X clients may still be the people everyone turns to. Advisers can help them work out what they can afford to give, what they need to protect and where their limits are.

For a generation managing competing demands from both sides of the family, that can be an important part of regaining financial control.