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UPDATE:
Force your children to become your financial assets!
Force them to give you a monthly allowance when they start working if they don't do it!
Listen to the Chinese aunty:
"钱是最重要的!"
This is a big difference from what the aunty at the end of the video said about emotional support being more important and that "money isn't everything".
I so stunned like vegetable.
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Being single, I get asked "When are you getting married?" quite a bit.
Of course, for couples who are married, the next question which gets asked is usually "When are you going to have a baby?"
Now, I have blogged about weddings and marriage before. Twice, in fact.
In both instances, they received an overwhelming number of comments.
So, I know it is a very sensitive topic and, maybe, I should avoid blogging about it in future.
I have also blogged about how it is important to involve children in financial issues and how achieving financial freedom should be a family affair.
Now, this topic was very well received.
Not as explosive and it is something I should consider blogging more of in future, perhaps.
However, I have never blogged about how some people think that children are assets which they can depend on in their old age or have I?
Well, I don't remember.
When a reader told me on FB that one of his friends, who is given to admonishing him for being single and for giving in too easily to his wanderlust, told him that kids will, in future, be a source of monthly allowance, paid holidays and free medical care, for examples, my jaw dropped (and for readers who follow me on FB, you know which emoticon I would use).
I always say that kids are very expensive to bring up in Singapore.
An estimate which I did almost 20 years ago showed me that it would cost some $250,000 per child from birth to graduation day at a local university.
I am sure that this figure is much higher today.
Now, I have said before that a wedding is a consumption item.
Expensive photo shoots, bridal gown, diamond ring, honeymoon, apartment, furniture, electronics and renovation are all consumption items.
Expensive wedding banquet is a consumption item. So, if we cannot afford all these, then, scale back or, indeed, delay gratification. Have the wedding at a later date.
In fact, ask whether a wedding is necessary at all.
Of course, some might say that we could make money from the red packets at the wedding banquet.
Now, that is bringing a speculative element into a wedding and I don't think we should even go there.
I mean if we have to even think about how we have to depend on money we get in red packets to pay for wedding expenses, we must be really scraping the bottom of the bin.
Anyway, before my head gets chopped off, I should move on to talk about children.
I always say that marriage is to give children legitimacy. Our modern day society requires this. It cannot be avoided.
If two adults love each other but do not wish to have children, they don't need to get married.
That marriage certificate is just a piece of paper.
Love each other forever and stay together.
OK, in Singapore, we have this consideration called a HDB flat.
So, if a couple want to buy a BTO HDB flat, they must be married.
Well, there is always the option of buying a resale HDB flat if both are 35 years or older, right?
Yikes! Who threw a shoe at me?
OK, ok, I get the hint.
Coming back to the topic of children.
Now that we agree that a wedding is a consumption item, what about children?
They spend so much money!
They must be consumption items!
Talk to parents and you will hear them telling you how much money they spend on their children.
Scary stuff, children.
Of course, if we think that children will take care of us in our old age, will give us pocket money, will bring us on paid holidays and will pay for our hospital visits, for examples, then, children could be an investment for our golden years.
Yes, children could be investments too!
Now, we are in a fix.
Consumption or investment?
Well, I think that this falls in the realm of speculation.
Children might grow up to be very accomplished and filial or they might not.
There is no guarantee that the "investment" would turn out the way we want it.
So, I feel that it is only prudent that people who want to have children treat them as consumption items.
Think of spending money on children like we would spend money on a hobby or a household pet.
They will provide enjoyment, I hope, anyway, but unlike a hobby, we cannot give up on them and unlike a household pet, children have far longer lifespans, I assume.
As with all consumption items, we do not expect any financial rewards.
Well, some readers told me that I should think of my CPF savings as a bonus if I should see the money in my old age because the government could change the rules again. I feel that couples who think of children as "investments" should adopt this mind-set towards their CPF savings and their children. Don't you think so?
Frankly, to think that children are assets we can rely upon financially in our old age, we could be setting ourselves up for disappointment.
If I had a choice, my bet is on my CPF savings.
Related posts:
1. Financially prepared to be married?
2. Not enough money to be married.
3. Financial Freedom is a family affair.
4. Warren Buffett Illustrated.
5. Little Book that Beats the Market.
"It is written for the non-financial professional, but all could learn from this simple, but powerful concept."
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