Helping My Mum Manage A Part Of Her Savings

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This is going to be a relatively short post, to share how I help my mum to manage a part of her cash savings.  My mum is a typical saver, and not interested in any form of investments as she feels insecure with the possibility of losing a part of the capital.  Thus, her cash is usually stashed away in the various fixed deposits, especially those offering promotional rates by the different banks.

For regular readers of this blog, you will know that I am a Malaysian, Singapore Permanent Residence.  Thus my mum stays in Malaysia and she manages her Malaysia accounts herself and also with my brother.  For part of her Singapore savings, I help her to manage.  My mum has Singapore savings because she prefers that I give her the allowance in Singapore Dollars, which she believes retain value much better than the Malaysian Ringgit.

For now, I have helped her to save a portion of her monies in Maybank fixed deposits and Singapore Savings Bonds, all yielding above 3%.  

Although it may seem that investing the sum into equities will yield higher returns, but I think it is much more important to respect my mum's wishes in this aspect on how the sum should be saved, as it is her money and it's her call how it should be stashed away.  If stashing all into fixed deposit gives her the peace of mind, I think that is all that matters.  I think it is sometimes important to put yourself into your elderly parents' shoes and consider their perspectives.  Following their instructions on how to allocate their personal belongings will show them that they are still being respected and not over-rided on every decision-making process.  I believe this is something important for elderly parents' mental health in their golden years.

Nonetheless, my brother and I will continue to give her a monthly allowance and subsidize part of her holiday trips whenever we can.  I suppose the best way that I can help to complement her lifestyle, is I am self-sufficient and have the means and excess to set aside for rainy days.  Barista FIRE, here I come...!

Comments

  1. Anonymous9 November 2023 at 15:18

    Hi there,

    What you are doing for your mum is the right thing to do. At that age they want safety and peace of mind.

    Besides, why would she need to take on additional risk as her assets are pretty diversified already. She has:

    a. Her home
    b. Her savings
    c. Her grown children providing her regular allowance!

    On the other hand, for ourselves, we should strive to be the last sanwiched generation, ie not to be financially dependent on our children.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BFIRE9 November 2023 at 16:49

      Hi Anonymous,
      Thank you for your feedback. Indeed, the last thing I want my mum to be concerned about is whether her retirement capital is safe. Basically, following her wishes is the best thing I can do for her currently in my personal opinion.

      Delete

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