The other day while speaking to an old friend of mine, we realized that most of us (especially in the 65 plus age group) senior citizens ( married with children) have spent life assuming our sons will take care of us post retirement. I am speaking here from a very middle class perspective where we have earned enough to be comfortable, sometimes stretching the rupee but never in luxury. Our various financial responsibilities (taking care of families, probably getting sisters married etc) were taken as granted.
Somewhere we also took it as granted that our sons will look after us in old age. Here i say "sons" because though the world has changed now & gender equality is a given now (open to debate), in our times it was a given that sons, especially the oldest son took on family responsibility. Daughters were not included as it was assumed that post marriage, daughters moved on to "their" homes.
One factor was common – PF was used to get daughters married or in dire emergencies. Whatever money could be saved was saved in post office schemes, recurring deposits or insurance policies. Somewhere the comfort was that the son/s would take on the family responsibility.
However reality is very difficult from “belief”. Most of our children are not with us today. Some of our children offer to take care of us while others talk of their own mounting expenses and avoid shouldering responsibilities. For individuals like us who want to live with their self respect intact, it is a daily challenge to tackle rising costs. I also see some of my friends and hear of other’s experiences where their children talk of family assets but not of duties. In this scenario where does a senior citizen go?
Our generation made the mistake of not thinking of financial planning. I am speaking generically here. We took on duties and responsibilities because it was a given. But today we can’t expect the same from our children. In my next post I will be writing some of my observations so that young readers are aware of the potential financial mistakes early in life and can plan for their future correctly.
Somewhere we also took it as granted that our sons will look after us in old age. Here i say "sons" because though the world has changed now & gender equality is a given now (open to debate), in our times it was a given that sons, especially the oldest son took on family responsibility. Daughters were not included as it was assumed that post marriage, daughters moved on to "their" homes.
One factor was common – PF was used to get daughters married or in dire emergencies. Whatever money could be saved was saved in post office schemes, recurring deposits or insurance policies. Somewhere the comfort was that the son/s would take on the family responsibility.
However reality is very difficult from “belief”. Most of our children are not with us today. Some of our children offer to take care of us while others talk of their own mounting expenses and avoid shouldering responsibilities. For individuals like us who want to live with their self respect intact, it is a daily challenge to tackle rising costs. I also see some of my friends and hear of other’s experiences where their children talk of family assets but not of duties. In this scenario where does a senior citizen go?
Our generation made the mistake of not thinking of financial planning. I am speaking generically here. We took on duties and responsibilities because it was a given. But today we can’t expect the same from our children. In my next post I will be writing some of my observations so that young readers are aware of the potential financial mistakes early in life and can plan for their future correctly.
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