A 26-year-old woman earning Rs 20,000 a month has asked Reddit for advice after learning her parents have almost no retirement savings despite owning a house.
A 26-year-old woman has asked for financial advice after learning that her parents have very little money saved for retirement. Although they own a house and have gold worth around Rs 30 lakh, she is worried about how they will manage medical bills and other expenses as they grow older. She earns Rs 20,000 a month at her first job and fears she may not be able to support them if something goes wrong.
The woman shared her concerns on Reddit, saying she had only recently learned about her parents’ financial situation and did not know how to help them. Posting on the subreddit r/IndianPersonalFinance, she wrote, “Parents in early 60s with no retirement fund. How to help them?” She explained that she was an only child and grew up in a lower-middle-class family.
Her father had bought land and built a two-storey house with four bedrooms in a tier-3 city, where her parents now live. She believed they were doing reasonably well financially until her wedding made her realise how little money they had left.
She said her father had lent Rs 10 lakh to her uncle, who was facing a financial crisis, and spent most of his remaining savings on her wedding, which cost around Rs 17 lakh. The woman said her father had never discussed his finances with her or her mother, leaving her unaware of their situation.
Her father is 63 and reportedly earns between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 a month, though she is unsure of the exact amount. She has also bought health insurance worth Rs 10 lakh for her parents.
“I’m in my second month at my job so I can’t switch so early for better pay. I’m really really worried about my parents,” she wrote. She asked for practical advice and said she had not shared these worries with her husband because she felt uncomfortable discussing the matter.
Several Reddit users suggested ways to build savings and make use of the family’s existing assets. One user advised, “Do one thing: save whatever you can for them in a debt mutual fund SIP; don’t give it to them directly; they might spend it on stupid things. When you see that they are facing issues, you help them out with that money.”