Ran across this. Not HD content or indeed probably the average HDer being discussed but interesting on the general problems faced by over 60s
https://sherwood.news/personal-finance/boomers-money-secrets-millennial-gen-z-troubles/
I’ve always thought inheritance would eventually be the only way many of their grandkids would achieve real financial security but it seems some may be passing on a millstone in legacy.
 

This afternoon I was listening to the economic plan of a presidential candidate. It included $6,000 for a new baby, more money for child care, money toward buying a home and more. Absent was any reference to deficits or debt.
In any case, I thought back to our life raising four children on one income and in the early years on a glorified clerks salary.  I do recall sky high inflation in the 80s and no gas in the 70s
I don’t recall any subsidies or tax credits or rebates.

BASIC ECONOMICS teaches us that scarce commodities are more precious. This holds true for metals, rocks, food—and time. Which brings me to today’s topic: Time spent with my daughter and only child has reached the rare and precious stage.
In summer 2023, scarcity was far from my mind. My daughter and I traveled to visit Grandmama—my mother—five hours’ drive south of our home. The visit itself was short and mundane, with just the usual catching up with my mother and tending to her business.

I’m on the cusp of turning 67. Since I’ll be spending my birthday in Slovenia, we went to NYC yesterday to have a picnic celebration with our older son and family on the Hudson in lower Manhattan. It was wonderful, with food, wine, and a delicious lemon meringue pie. We tossed the football and enjoyed the beautiful weather and setting.  Later that evening we had dinner with our younger son and family at a marina-side restaurant,

Ever have one of those moments?  You you’ve been reading HumbleDollar for a couple years and your 26 year old son calls and says “Dad, work is going to start kicking in %5 for a 403(b), what should I do?” “Well, son, let me tell you about low cost index funds…”
Anybody else had softballs teed up like this ?  🙂

One of my pet issues is survivor income. Assuring a survivor, generally a spouse, is financially okay no matter what is very important IMO, but I rarely see it discussed on retirement planning sites.
I have many stories from my work experience where a spouse – typically the wife – was left floundering upon the husbands death because, except for Social Security, income ceased – these were people with the ability to select pension survivor annuities.

I’M DUMB MONEY, as are all so-called recreational gamblers. That’s why, during the recent basketball playoffs, we sports spectators were bombarded with wildly seductive commercials glamorizing sports betting.
Fortunately, I learned my limits early on. My last notable gamble ended badly more than four decades ago, when some IBM options I bought expired worthless.
But I’ve also come to appreciate that not all individual gamblers are dumb money. I’ve lately been serving as the sounding board for my 36-year-old son Ryan,

My grandmother immigrated to America from Kilkee, county Clare, Ireland.  I always wanted to learn more about her life there, but she spoke very little of it. It seems she decided to just let go of hungry Ireland and cast her lot in her new country.
Because of family struggles she had to return to Ireland, but was able to return to the land she now loved and fully embraced.  My grandmother loved patriotic poems. I offer an excerpt from her favorite;

Last week, my family hosted my wife’s niece and family from California. The parents in this family are both in their 40s.
Prior to their visit, we resolved to ask them what plans they had made for their retirement. On their first evening with us, we were encouraged to learn they each had a pension, and were also saving additional money for retirement through their employer-sponsored plans. That was as far as the financial conversation got,

You faced no financial disasters through life, you were not disabled, you simply went through life with no specific financial plans for the future and now you are old, retired with minimal income or resources.
How would you feel accepting money or substantial gifts (car) from adult children?
Glad, embarrassed, ashamed, entitled, grateful?

We are in this time of life. One of our elderly parents who lives alone has memory issues. How did you know when it was not safe for your parents to be in their home anymore?  Chris

THE ONLY DREAM I HAD for my son was that he’d get a job. To most parents, this probably seems like small thinking. Why wasn’t I dreaming of him walking across the stage after earning his medical degree, or walking down the aisle with his new bride, or the joy of him holding his first child? Because that would not be his reality.
It took me a while to accept this. Based on my life,

I ALWAYS THOUGHT my father was a brave man. It wasn’t just because he served in World War II. It had to do with a few incidents that I witnessed.
I’ll never forget when my dad and I went to McDonald’s for a late evening meal. I was probably in the eighth grade. I believe my mother was working late that night. It must have been a Friday because a lot of teenagers were hanging out in the parking lot.

OUR COURTSHIP WAS both ripe with joy and fraught with tumult. One scene is emblazoned in my memory. Alberta and I had just finished lunch on the grass in front of the campus cafeteria. I was slumped over, exhausted by the frantic academic scramble to get published and disillusioned by the political intrigues.
Alberta read my mood and rested my head in her lap, as she ran her hand softly through my hair. Schooled by my parents to keep an eye out for retirement and advancing age,

DAD WAS AN ACCOUNTANT. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, taking classes at night while working full-time. He also studied engineering at another Philadelphia college, again taking classes at night. Dad would have enjoyed being an engineer, but he could only take on so much while working a day job. He never completed that degree.
Being sharp at math and having an organized mind, accounting was a good fit. Dad eventually became president of J.S.