Being Old is Not Fun – Being Old and Poor is Unthinkable
A mate of mine, Stu, has an 82-year-old mother with dementia. She was recently ‘asked to leave’ her retirement village because her needs for care were greater than what they could offer.
Fortunately, a saint living nearby in need of extra money agreed to take his mother in and she now cares, cooks and looks after her every need. But at a cost. $200 a day may not seem a lot for what she does, but multiply that by seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, and the sums become enormous. Stu’s a wealthy man so it’s not a great burden for him but what if he wasn’t? What then? What options would he, her only child, be able to offer his mother?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but one day, in the not too distant future for many of us, we’ll be old too, possibly with high dependent needs like Stu’s mother. The reality is (and the government backs me on this) we need to take responsibility for our own retirement – and not just retirement but for our ‘golden years’ as well.
As you may have realized, life does not get easier as we get older but harder. Much harder. And being poor does not help. How are you going to finance not just your retirement, but your golden years? If you’re not old enough to worry about that yet, maybe you have a parent who’s fast approaching the age when they need more care than you can offer. If they can’t pay for that care, who will? You?
The government absolutely recognize this dilemma which is why they now offer everyone the chance to buy property within their own self-managed super funds. They’ve acknowledged that the way super is going and the massive exposure it faces from forces outside their control mean that what was once considered a ’safe haven’ is now not necessarily the case. They are encouraging everyone to use their super funds as a deposit to buy property so that they can use this form of wealth creation to beef up their retirement levels when the time comes.
Let’s face it. Can there be anything more terrifying than reaching retirement only to discover you don’t have enough money to support you for the rest of your life? Being old is no fun. Being old and poor (let alone sick) is downright petrifying. This doesn’t have to happen to you. Take action now. Get some facts. Talk to an expert in property and they’ll show you how your retirement (and the golden years) can become something to look forward to, not dread.
