Can You Have a Better Retirement Than Your Parents?

Some of the online content about achieving better financial circumstances is manipulative, and some of it is downright mean-spirited. It might play on your wishes to buy your mother a house that she can decorate to her own tastes after she spent your entire childhood living in rented accommodations, spending all her time off work tidying them so that friends could visit her, or it might tell you that your parents are poor because they are fools and weaklings, but you are clever enough to become rich by seeing through the lies they believed. Even if you believe firmly in being there for your family under all circumstances, it is hard not to feel crestfallen and resentful when, after you have achieved a measure of hard-won financial stability, your parents suffer a financial emergency and expect you to pay for it. If you have retirement savings, would you take money out of your 401(k) to help your parents cover an emergency expense, such as medical bills or home repairs? If you have a higher income than your parents ever had but are old enough to be aware of the limitations of your financial resources, contact a Bronx estate planning lawyer.

Is Bailing Out Your Parents Financially Even Possible?

The decision of how much of your financial resources to devote to helping your parents has more to do with your values than it does with your money. You probably don’t have to think very hard about whether your parents should live with you in the house that you pay for with your employment income. Either it has always been part of the plan, or it has always been unthinkable.

If you have always been financially independent of your parents, and they have never asked you for financial help until now, then figure out how much money you can afford to give your parents without risking your ability not to rely on your own children. Be honest with your parents about this. It might mean that your parents need to apply for Medicaid to get nursing home care, and you can only help them with incidental expenses. Conversely, if you have this conversation early enough, you might be able to help them buy long-term care insurance or hybrid life insurance to help them cover these expenses.

Lessons That Your Children Will Learn From Witnessing Your Dilemma

If your children are grown up, you have everything to gain by talking to them openly about the situation with their grandparents. What do you want your relationship with your children to be like in the distant future? What are you doing to save for retirement so that you will not have to ask them for money? What kind of retirement lifestyle do you think you can reasonably afford?

Schedule a Confidential Consultation With a Bronx Estate Planning Attorney

An estate planning lawyer can help you face reality about your parents’ financial situation and your own.  Contact Cavallo & Cavallo in the Bronx, New York to set up a consultation.

Source:

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