Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I’m still too young to be thinking of retiring, getting old and becoming a senior citizen, but not too young to be preparing for such things.

Being the eldest child, I have the responsibility of providing for some of my parents’ needs (foods, medicines, etc.). I don’t earn that much, but I manage somehow. We can’t really be prepared for emergencies, however. If any of my parents gets sick and needs to be hospitalized, for example, I don’t really have an emergency fund available for that.

This was exactly what happened when my mom suffered a mild stroke in 2007. I had to borrow money from my best friend. That was the first time in the 14 years we’ve known each other that I asked her for monetary help. I was too embarrassed (or maybe too proud) to ask! It’s a good thing that my younger sister and brother helped me pay off that debt.

This leaves me thinking of what the future holds for me and my husband when we reach my parents’ age and what will become of our son when that time comes. Of course, we wouldn’t want to burden him with anything. We only want him to love and respect us, his parents.

It’s a good thing that my husband thinks of our future this early. He’s recently purchased a life insurance, which he says, will help us if anything happens to him (knock on wood!). He also has a retirement plan in his office. What we don’t have right now is savings. What’s left of both our salaries is spent entirely on our bills and things we need in the house.

I hope we can start saving this year. Little amounts we save today will surely come in handy when we’re old and gray. That’s not a guarantee that we won’t be asking our son for help, but at least that will lessen the load somehow.

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