Saturday, October 23, 2010

Life Is Not Short

Suzie was p.o'd today because her tweet followers said that "life is short." Suze says that life is not short and she goes on to explain that her mother is 96 years old and life is not short. We need to spend the money we have now, not the money we won't have in later years.

My honest first reaction was "What has happened to Suze to make her so fearful of living past her money?" Then I thought of my 99 year old grandmother. Yiyi lives with my aunt who graciously took her aging mother in and cares for her.

Parents in the US and in other countries instinctively wish the best for their children. Many hope that their children will do better financially than they did for themselves. In order to help them beat the odds, parents take money from their own retirement funds to pay for their children's college.

According to Suze, and Clark Howard for that matter. Taking money from your retirement is huge no-no. They can tell you all of the financial reasons, but lets consider the social reasons a parent might do this. If a parent is relying on their children to care for them as they age, it might make sense to that parent to help their children get through college and gain the ability to earn a higher wage.

Suze isn't telling anyone to care any less for their children; she's saying don't count on anyone but yourself to fund your future. What better gift to our children, then to be able to fund our own care in our aging years.

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