The Conversation

I talked to my mom yesterday, mostly about random stuff; how the family was doing, making sure everyone was healthy, and saving money because of the economy. The last one, saving money; is a conversation that never really comes up. Which is strange for me, since I think about finance constantly.

We got into a conversation about investing in bitcoin (she watched something on TV about it). She asked me why I never pushed the issue of her buying BTC. I told her she was too close to retirement to bet on a speculative asset like bitcoin. Good thing too, 2018 and 19' were brutal for crypto HODL’ers.

She said that she understood and that she never got back into the stock market after the 2008 Financial Crisis. My eyes suddenly widened, “What?!?” I said. “Yeah, I just sold my stocks and didn't buy them back because I didn’t trust the stock market.” she told me. I then asked her how much she had in retirement. She didn't really have an answer. In a focused voice, I said, “Mom, let's go by the numbers, and figure this out.”

The 200 kilo gorilla

About an hour later, we had an answer. All in all she has a little less than $30,000 in retirement, and she's in her late sixties. She will have a small pension from her work and a little bit of Social Security benefits. She has a few medical issues, but nothing severe, thank God. But she's going to scrape by. She said, “don't worry about your mother, I'll be just fine, I'll just have to work until my late 70s.” I put my face in my hand wondering how the fork this happened, and then thought, “duh, because you never talk to her about this stupid!” And, to add insult to injury, she lives in one of the most expensive states in the Union, California.

Unfortunately, I’m much too aware of the lack of retirement savings for the median American, but this made it much too personal. She didn't seem that worried about it though. Maybe she's reserved herself to this reality and it's no longer shocking. As opposed to me, I just became aware of this 200 kilo gorilla in the room (yes, I’m an American and I used metric).

Morally Responsible?

I'm just scared for her. Shit, I'm sort of scared for my wife and I. Are we morally responsible for this if her situation goes bad? Can I ask that of my wife? Should I? We are working hard to build our Nest Egg. We have sacrificed quite a bit. We're disciplined and do our homework. But unfortunately my mom has not done any of those things. One thing I did know, she is a spender, and she doesn’t make that much to begin with. So maybe this wasn't a complete surprise. But again, I don't talk about finance with my parents. The whole thing sucks. I’m not sure if or what I can do about it. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Credit for Image:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6870886851
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla