Tell us what's happened to you recently (that's interesting)

Word. My newest upgrade, a spanking new plastic bicuspid, made me able to really bite into stuff for the first time… in my life, it feels like.

Your dad wants his kids to pay for his retirement?

Yes, apparently one hundred dollars a month for the rest of his life, from me starting in September, assuming no other problems ever arise which of course I know will not happen. He’s not in great health today. His girlfriend is younger, by a handful of years, she wants to retire at the same time because she’s tired.

It sounds to me like they both need to pick up part-time jobs in their new chosen locations, for a few years, that should cover it. I’ve been advised by my sister to wait a little bit before I tell him I’ve heard about his plan from her.

I was going to ask that same question, I was sure I had misread something. Is this something people do, like kind of a reverse inheritance? Still though I agree that if this is all the money they feel they need then a part time job might be just what the doctor ordered, so to speak.

To push it further, in some countries (cough), where life is so expensive that savings can’t be properly done and retirement cannot make up for it, using children as a retirement plan can be part of the very pragmatic motivation to fund a family. The custom is also for one of them to be tasked to work as an aide for the father. It is either that, or the elderly have to work untill their death.
Looking at the trends of the modern world through my deforming lens, it wouldn’t surprise me if children having to help their parents financially during their later days is spreading.

That’s what I thought. It seems healthier working 10-15 hours a week. Gives you something to do, gets you out of the house, helps shape your week, gives you some people to socialize with, etc.

I just had a four-day weekend where I was completely alone. I did some reading, some gaming, watched some TV, went out to eat a few times, etc. It was sort of boring. I really need something to do, even if it’s blogging or I don’t know what. It will be a challenge of retirement. I may try to work part-time.

Grandparents can provide a service if there is room for them in the home. They can watch the grandkids, etc. I doubt most of us want our parents living with us, though.

Yeah, the thought of my wife’s parents living with us…

Either one of us would end up dead, or divorced. Hells to the no.

Dumb interlude about a grocery store experience I had today.

During my visit to Trader Joe’s, I rounded the final corner before hitting the register. That would be the frozen section. Always my last aisle. I needed pie crust, and a couple other things.

I picked up a box of pie crust and noticed it felt…uh…limp. Then I looked over at the box of bon bons sitting near the crust…standing water on top. Then I noticed the smell. It wasn’t a bad smell. Just a humid smell. Not the normal smell of the frozen section.

Their freezer was going.

Busy Sunday night. Nobody noticing. So I went to the front desk. I’ve done this a couple of times before. Usually they scramble. I told the manager, “Hey. Your far freezer is going. You should check it.”

“Yes sir. I’ll go check right away.”

Five minutes later he walked over.

“Uh…you said it was leaking?”

“No. There’s standing water on your product. Look here.” I pointed out the sagging cardboard with pools of water on it.

“Oh. Uh. That’s because of the defrost cycles. Sometimes they go longer.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Sometimes they go longer.”

“No. This food isn’t freezing now.”

“No sir. It’s just the defrost cycle. It’s a longer one.”

I looked at a quart of ice cream next to me with water on top. I picked it up. It felt like a loaf of soggy bread. I handed it to him.

“What do you think this is going to be like after a ten minute drive home? This is something else.”

“It’s the defrost cycle.”

“Yeah,” I said, and walked away.

I hate to be the jerk customer, but that dude was an idiot.

-xtien

My parents are going to need help. They have no retirement. My dad spoke for years about retiring, and I bit my tongue from asking him on what. He had a small pension with Boeing that he says they cashed out, not him, but they which I… doubt.

He truly believes having his daughters pay 200 a month now is going to save us in the long-run because it’s cheaper than a retirement home which he assumes we’d have to pay for otherwise. He’s not even 65. He’s retiring early, with his still able to work girlfriend, just assuming he’s entitled to what he’s asked for, more like demanded.

My mother is a raging alcoholic who makes less than minimum wage, often can’t make her bills but somehow managed to fill my little sister’s first apartment with brand new furniture. My father spent years talking about retirement that he doesn’t contribute to, and spent part of the pre-Christmas meal I spent with him and his gf’s family talking about how deep they thought my pockets were because of the resort I went to to get away from said family this holiday season.

Neither one of my parents consider monthly debt or payments real money. It’s a thing. So while I haven’t paid for cable in around 10 years now they might pay 600 dollars a month for 2 quads, an new truck, camper, and a boat.

Since they’re divorced now, I have informed both my sisters there is no way in hell I can actually take both of them… they’re divorced. This is, the first time though, my dad revealed his plan to having his daughters pay for him to retire early though. I was thinking more along the lines of having a room when one of them finally can’t handle being on their own again… which I assumed might be my dad when his gf drop kicks him after he has nothing left. I’ll eat glass before I let my mother live with me. I will however pay for the plane ticket to send her to my sister.

Neither one of them took care of their parents, as far as I know.

Defrost cycle? What?

I hope you called corporate. It’s not just the quality of the food, but if they’re letting food dethaw like that, it can be dangerous.

Yep, that’s a health department issue.

Wow. Just wow. Reminds me of a story:
I drive a paratransit bus. One day I picked up a Walmart employee after work to take him home. By coincidence, I had also given him the ride home the day before, when after work he had also done grocery shopping.

He got on my bus and asked, “Hey, did you happen to find a pound of hamburger on your bus yesterday? It must have fallen out of the bag.”

“No, I didn’t.” But I dutifully went back to where he had been sitting the day before, and checked the usual spot I always check when people lose things; between the seat frame and the wall.

And there it still was. A pound of hamburger. “Here it is!” I held it up as I carried it right past him and toward a garbage can.

“Where are you going with that?” he yelled. “It’s mine!”

“It’s been in this bus overnight,” I replied. “It’s spoiled. You can’t eat it.”

He grabbed it from me. “Yeah I know. But I’m going to take it home, throw it in the freezer, and return it tomorrow and get my money back.”

I was aghast at the thought of him doing that, and hoped Walmart wouldn’t just return it to the freezer. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t do that once it left the store, but the very idea scared the hell out of me.

That’s a rough situation, @Nesrie. I never really thought before about how fortunate I am that my parents are reasonably well off. They still spend a lot in…unorthodox…ways, like living in Japan for the last five years or so. But they have the resources to spend. Best of luck in finding a solution to your situation!

Is he serious about this? And if so, why? I mean, from what you are writing here, I gather that you have in no way given him the idea that you were going to pay for his retirement, so why on earth does he think he’s entitled to that? I honestly don’t get that at all, but I do get that it is a shitty situation to be in. If you agree, you are stuck paying lots of money, if you refuse, that will probably not go down well with your dad. Best of luck dealing with it, in some way…

Thanks for giving me and my wife an idea. :)

I just turned 62 and figure on working for another 4 years hopefully. Of course my daughters live with me still so there is no way they would go along with this. Heck, I would give them each $200 a month to get them out of the house. :)

You and your sister should just agree to tell your dad what to do with his request for money.

I think in your case it would be justified to call any money you ask from your daughters “rent.”

Yea. Actually I was just kidding. My daughters are welcome to stay with me as long as they want, as long as they follow the rules.

My grandmother spent a few years living with my parents and thinks were not always rosy. My in laws have, at separate times spent time with my sister in law.

But telling your kids to give you money because you are retiring is crazy. Especially at 62.

Oh he’s totally serious. Remember a few months ago he wanted me to buy a second house so he could rent it. This is how my dad approaches all financial issues, just does things, and since he’s been self-employed since the early 90s, God forbid he work for someone else, he has put nothing away and will rely completely on Social Security and Medicare. I assume this also means he intends to collect early.

@RichVR nice chompers, dude! And hair, to boot. Hells to the yeah.

I, like @ineffablebob above, am lucky enough to have fairly well-off parents with very sound financial planning strategies. Mind, they’re both insanely healthy, so even if they retire at the normal age it might still run out before they actually pass, but given the path I’m on, I probably won’t even make it as long as they do :-/

I have looked into it since I am getting close and for me the difference in SS benefits between retiring at 62 and 67 was enough to make me want to work those extra years. Plus the real money saver is Medicare. Medicare and a Blue Cross (or some other) supplement was damn cheap for my dad compared to paying full on health insurance, and you can’t get medicare until you are 65.

You can still work and collect SS but in one of those quirks of the system the older you are to start SS the more you are allowed to work.