Halloween often involves telling scary stories, kids dressed up in home-made outfits running up and down the street trick or treating and of course the unusual tradition of carving up pumpkins.

I was reminded recently of a scary story a client (John) told me about his Mum and Dad who divorced when he was about 27 years old.  Mum used her share of the settlement and brought a little three bedroom house around the corner, in an area that was familiar to her.  His Dad sold the family home and didn’t do much with the money so it whittled away over time.

Last Year Was a Sad Year for John

Both John’s parents had made the decision to retire and ended up on the pension.

His Mum had worked as a nurse in aged care since his little sister was very young and had been experiencing quite significant pain in her hip for some time.  Her role had her walking many miles up and down the ward on her shift and she found it a struggle to continue doing the work she so loved, due to her health concerns.

His Dad had always worked 6 or 7 days per week, his whole entire life and John had heard in the last few years that Dad could be spotted having an afternoon nap under a tree during smoko.  The long hours doing labour intensive work was catching up to him and eventually he simply had to admit that his age was impacting his dedication to doing things right.

John told me that it was hard to see both of his parents retire in this way as his parents had always worked hard, his Dad spending a lot of time away from the family working while Mum would take them for days out.  Dad often wasn’t able to join in and it was only on the rare camping trip away or a special day here or there that John and his sibling were able to enjoy time with their Dad.

John recalls that he and his sister quite often were in charge of making dinner and tidying up the kitchen as Mum worked the evening shift and a lot of the household responsibility came down to them.

So it saddened him to see after so many years of working hard, they were left with very limited choices upon their retirement.  Very similar to the story of my parents and I was reminded of a time when a Commonwealth banker visited our home in the early 90’s when I was a child. There was a conversation and talk about the benefits of negative gearing and investing in property but the decision was made not to invest.

Why Didn’t They Do Anything?

Perhaps it was too scary, the numbers weren’t understood or my parents just couldn’t see the difference it could have made to their lives, in retirement.

John and his sister discuss the financial future of their parents and often joke about who will end up with Mum at the bottom of the garden, or will it be Dad?!  On a serious note, I can feel his stress around the situation as he is part of the generation where it will be common to not only need to support the next generation but also the last generation, financially.  It’s a big strain and I know his parents would be mortified knowing the stress John and his sister are experiencing because of the situation.

Unfortunately it is far too common these days – parents needing to rely on their children for financial support (and on the other hand, children needing to rely on parents for financial support).

What we do here at Wealthology can change how life looks in retirement for you or those you care about.  Get in touch today to learn how.