People are cashing out their retirement accounts to pay for "emergencies"

[ProspectiveBum]

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny

Sure. Just because someone doesnt treat you the way you'd like them too doesnt mean you have to reciprocate.

I know a lot of people whose parents werent very good to their kids, but their kids still took care of them when they aged. Perhaps by some perspectives they've become better people than their parents were.

It probably depends on what "weren't very good to their kids" really means, but they sound like saints. You think if I ask nicely that these nice folks will take care of me in my dotage, too?

We're pretty content with the idea that treating our own kids the way we would have preferred to be treated qualifies as being "better people than our parents were".

[2B]

I personally like the idea of putting aged, non-productive relatives on an iceberg and floating them off to "Al Gore Heaven." My parents did a poor job of retirement planning but did pretty well when the time came. They would have rather starved than ask their kids for help. We told my father repeatedly to stop worrying about how much he was going to leave us. The retired mailman left his 5 kids about $250K. He would have done better but he kept supporting the "baby" of the family who went through serious withdrawl when Daddy no longer was covering his lifestyle. The rest of us would have rather starved than take a penny from Mom and Dad.

I would also rather starve than have my kids support me. I'd rather be drowned in a toilet than have them pay for nursing care for me.

[rs0460a]

Originally Posted by ProspectiveBum

We're pretty content with the idea that treating our own kids the way we would have preferred to be treated qualifies as being "better people than our parents were".

Exactly ...

- Ron