I disagree with the billboard on Interstate 270
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As I was driving back to my in-laws home I saw a billboard that said, “Your in-laws are not a retirement plan.”
Why can’t family be part of a retirement plan? The way we treat the aging and the old in Western society is a little shameful. Our ultra-individualistic culture often views parents as a burden and inconvenient when they become old and need extra assistance. And rather than sacrifice for them like they did for us in giving us life and raising us, we put them in care homes and pay other people to come in and care for them.
I am not suggesting there are not instances where care homes and care providers aren’t appropriate. But how many people do you know who have their aged parents living with them and help provide for them in their retirement and final years of life? I don’t know any personally. It does happen of course, but it’s not common.
Also, we would build wealth much more rapidly if we worked and lived in multi-generational households. We don’t need to undo our entire culture but we could do more to care for our family, especially those who are older. We effectively say that families are forever… until you become a pain in the butt and then you have to go to a care home.
Living with family always causes some tension as multiple expectations need to be balanced, but I do fundamentally disagree with the billboard. I think family can and should be part of a retirement plan.
This shouldn’t absolve us from planning and saving for the future, expecting someone else to take care of us, but we ought to be able to rely on and count on our children and extended family to help us in our retirement and later years of life.
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Whenever I take my kids to any sporting events or practice, I’m always thinking about how I’m investing in my retirement plan.