During our parents’ last years, my sister and I wound up becoming their “financial coordinators,” handling everything from getting their bills paid to balancing their checkbooks to managing their investments to dealing with their health insurers. A new, groundbreaking Merrill Lynch/Age Wave study, The Journey of Caregiving, documents just how common this responsibility is for family caregivers — and how difficult it can be.

This is the side of caregiving you don’t hear much about.