Is it common for kids to subsidize their retired parents financially $ in retirement? (move, social security)
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Here in Peru it is unheard of not too take care of your parents. I have been supporting my MIL for the past 15 years (3 years older than me). Now that my YW's sisters are older we each contribute 1/3 as her son refuses to help.
I come from a culture with similar beliefs. However, my beliefs are a combination of my heritage and American culture. If my parents were foolishly spending all their lives and not saving for retirement; they would be on their own come financial troubles. However, my parents were very frugal and responsible with their finances. So I have already told my father that he can move in anytime he wants if he has financial problems and he wont have to pay me a dime. Fortunately for him, he hasn't had to take me up on that offer yet.
When my uncle left my aunt with two kids and only a part time income with no money or child support, it left an impression on everyone. She struggled to survive for years and only made a modest middle-class income for years afterward. She is now retired and living on a small social security payment of about $2,000 a month. She has basically no savings or investments. (She kept working until she was 70 and then started collecting.)
Her two kids turned out OK and make good money. Both of her kids send Mom $750 a month so she can survive financially in retirement.
Do you think this type of situation is common? (Kids help support their parents financially in retirement.)
This is an extreme case and not the norm.
I must say that the mother must have done a great job working and raising those two and they are grateful.
Too often, I witness the opposite.
Retired people struggling because they just can't learn to say no whenever their adult kids ask for money.
I would always help my parents and inlaws as much as I can.
However....I read something a long time ago that I agree with 100%. The best two things a parent can do for their children is 1. take care of their health and 2. take care of their retirement.
Kids don't need to be on every single sports team, and trips to Disney every year. What your kids will need are parents who can take care of themselves when the kids are middle aged and trying to save for their OWN retirement.
To expect someone to pay for your retirement while they are trying to pay their current bills and save for their own retirement is unrealistic and frankly selfish.
To help someone who needs help is one thing. To help someone who just worked minimally in their working years and now wants to be a free loader is something else.
And I realize it's common in places for kids to take care of their parents. Have you ever noticed that these are places that are often 3rd world countries or close to it? Maybe one generation taking care of 3 (parents caring for themselves, their children, and their parents) isn't such a good idea. Especially today with ever rising costs of housing and healthcare and wages staying stagnant.
Just my thoughts as someone who'd rather work 3 jobs in my working years than depend on my children to take care of me in retirement.
I think if the parents have done their best for their kids, the kids should do their best for their parents.
True but if the best one can do is depend on someone else to take care of them 100%, not money here and there, then they did something very wrong in their working years.
One big factor that could influence this is the cost of College.
Most parents had income growth that greatly trailed the rise in the cost of college by a huge amount. That put a dent in the amount of savings available for retirement.
I know the old saw that "you cannot borrow for retirement but you can borrow for college..."
However, many parents did as much as possible to avoid having their children take on college debt. I hope their children appreciated that.
Since the Boomer generation is just now retiring (the really big bulge of them) it likely isn't too common yet.
I have seen a lot of us in the Boomer generation sending our Greatest Generation parents money, paying their property taxes, buying them groceries, etc. (and did so myself). It was a fallacy that they all had "great" pensions. In fact, less than 1/4 of them even had pensions past Social Security.
Since the Boomer generation is just now retiring (the really big bulge of them) it likely isn't too common yet.
I have seen a lot of us in the Boomer generation sending our Greatest Generation parents money, paying their property taxes, buying them groceries, etc. (and did so myself). It was a fallacy that they all had "great" pensions. In fact, less than 1/4 of them even had pensions past Social Security.
I imagine generous pensions (combined with a growing prosperous economy) were more a character of the Silent Generation.
Even after being retired for more then a decade, I still have relatives that want money from us.
I have never heard any retired people getting money from their relatives to supplement their retirement. This could be because no responsible person would want to admit they needed help. Parents that take money from their kids are jeopardizing their kids life's and retirement futures to do so.
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