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Common situations and mistakes that some retirees make in financial matters.
Many citizens of our country, having reached retirement age, have not learned how to manage money properly. Well, there were no financial literacy lessons before, and now no one will teach anyone how to spend and save properly. Young people sometimes do not know how to catch up on their salary or refuse to lend, what can we say about our grandparents, and even elderly parents, informs Ukr.Media.
I don't want to offend pensioners in any way - I respect old age, I treat older people with respect. But I can't help but notice that the elderly have a strange attitude towards money - they either save it up, putting it under their mattress or wrapping it in a rag, or they give it all to their children and grandchildren, or even hand it over to scammers with their own hands.
Not everyone is very financially literate - even 70-80-year-old grandmothers who have worked in accounting or banking all their lives are very financially literate, and young people should learn from them too.
Today I want to talk about 3 gross mistakes that pensioners often (not all, but many) make with their pension. Because it was accepted before, either out of habit, or with an eye on neighbors and acquaintances. Check yourself or your relatives - is this not what they do (and explain that you need to change your financial habits).
Mistake #1 – Saving hundreds of thousands for a funeral
Due to memories of the past and various economic shocks, pensioners do not believe in state assistance. And many have no hope for their children and grandchildren - often the elderly with regularly received pensions, saving on food and clothing, live better than young mortgage holders with children.
So grandmothers save up funeral money, carefully buying everything for themselves during their lifetime, starting from trousers, tights, nightgowns, ending with money to buy a coffin, pay for the memorial service, a fence, a monument, and a funeral in a church.
The amount of savings for all pensioners is different, depending on age, health, well-being, and ideas about funerals. For some, a green or red comfortable coffin is enough to have their children come to the cemetery, while others are ready to spend 100-200 thousand on a memorable farewell.
And under the conventional "mattresses" of grandmothers lie tens, or even hundreds of thousands, depreciating over the years, in the account these amounts would at least be indexed. Small percentages, but still. Over these 10-20, or even more years, a decent amount would accumulate on the deposit, and not under the pillow. And what's the point of spending 100-200 thousand? Why?
It's better to live comfortably and eat well in the last years. As my mother says, no one has been left lying above the ground yet, so why worry before the time? And I agree with her. Even if I spend a million on this sad cause, gathering an orchestra with brass pipes from the village in a restaurant, what will change? Will the grief become less?
I don't argue that you need to prepare everything you need - clothes, belongings, candles, even discuss the color of the coffin with your family and what will be placed on the grave, but saving hundreds of thousands is wrong from a financial point of view.
Mistake #2 — saving hard on everything, especially food and health
Yes, the elderly in our country receive meager pensions. Yes, this money is only enough to pay for utilities, inexpensive products and medicines, and even then - not the most effective ones, but those that are within your budget. That's why pensioners save. And not out of love for the process.
But you shouldn't cross the line and make saving an obsession either. It's not uncommon for grandmothers to pick up rotten vegetables at the market, cheaper, instead of taking 1 good cucumber or tomato, and then cut off the stem and peel, resulting in 2 pieces. Where is the savings here?
Or they eat instant porridge by filling the bags with water, instead of buying a kilogram of oatmeal and cooking milk porridge, which is healthier.
But you can put half your pension under your mattress for a rainy day, to your detriment. And live like that for another 20 years, cutting all expenses, but having 150-200 thousand under your pillow.
And then, after the funeral, the children sort through the chests of drawers and find rags with their grandmother's wealth, wondering why she only ate soups on water and always whined that there wasn't enough money.
It doesn't have to be like that. You need to save wisely, calculating expenses, looking for promotions, and buying even inexpensive but useful products.
Mistake #3 — Continuing to work in retirement to help children
Moreover, these adult children may already be 35 or 45 years old, and they already have granddaughters growing up, whom their grandparents must also help, working not until retirement, but until they reach the age of 90. Better yet, 100, so they can help longer.
Moreover, many senior citizens have small salaries in retirement, and no one here wants to pay janitors, guards, and even postal workers a lot of money.
Let the grandchildren and children do their own thing, and a person who has earned a pension should think about themselves, and not about how the rest of their family is doing without their help and support. Then, if the tap is turned off, there will be money left for themselves, and there will be enough for everything. And you won't have to work at 80.
