You won’t retire as your parents did

My Dad sits comfortably in his rocking chair and thinks I’m running too fast for my age. Yes, the times have changed, but the thing which hasn’t changed is our Old Age. Everyone or should I say everything around us will grow old one day including us. But there is a difference in the manner our parents retired and the way in which we are going to retire. Let’s discuss some of those differences for us to plan our old age better. 

1.     Way of Life

Our parents had a very systematic way of living and far less distractions around. They were able to manage their income and expenses in a very beautiful manner. Plus, we as kids were far less demanding than our kids. But now, the scenario has changed, we want everything ranging from fancy gadgets to lavish international holidays. And to achieve all this we spend lots of money which results in lesser savings for old age.

2.     Longevity

With advanced lifesaving technologies, the average life span has increased today and will increase further. Medical treatments which never existed 20-30 years back are very well available for us. And, not to forget the cost of medical treatments which has seen huge upsurge. We need to add all of these in our retirement planning otherwise we will be left with much less than what is actually required.

3.     Dependence on Joint Family

We as kids used to live together in joint families with our uncles and aunts. In times of trouble there was always a helping hand. But now that we have grown up, we live tugged up in an apartment with our kids seldom meeting their cousins. We don’t have any relative helping us in times of our needs, we have to pay to external vendors for any of the services be it medical care, or our child’s day care. These are the costs which never existed during our parent’s time and we need to account for that if we have to save appropriately.

4.     Expectation from Children

Though most of us have parents who are living their retirement life with their savings, but still there are some of us who take care of our parents financially. Can we expect the same from our children? Times are changing very fast, and not saving for one’s retirement thinking of our kids as our retirement plan might backfire. Hence, it makes sense to save for your retirement rather than living in some gloomy old age home.

5.     Inflation

Though our Inflation data has been showing very low figures from the past couple of years but the inflation numbers for facilities like hospitalization, education, vacation, etc. is hovering at almost double digit. This definitely is a much different scenario than what our parents faced and again calls for prudent planning from our end.

As they say, “The Bad news is: Time flies, and the good news is, you are the PILOT”. Yes, times are changing, and so are our ways of spending or rather saving. If we don’t put planning in place, then we might not even get a chance. And, we won’t have anyone else to blame but ourselves. So, It is better to take these factors in account while planning for your retirement because Time actually flies.  

Charu Hastir, CFPCM is founder of http://www.theriteplan.com/. Rite plan is an online financial planning portal created to achieve a single objective of providing easy and Do It Yourself Financial Planning to netizens. Rite Plan is wholly owned by Tikkun Olam Financial Planning Services LLP. Please visit: https://theriteplan.com/index.php?route=common/home/