AndrewChia.com

Source:  The Star, Malaysia

Highlights

1.  “Those who abandon their parents are being extremely cruel,” Malaysia’s Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizah Abdul Jalil said.

2.  Old people are simply abandoned at hospitals or on the streets.  Some are left unattended at old folks homes.

3.  In Singapore, the Maintenance of Parents Act 1996 compels children to care for their aged parents.  It comes with a jail term of up to six months for offenders.

4.  Chinese make up a huge number of old folk abandoned at welfare homes.

5.  Financial difficulties, lack of filial piety and responsibility, and the need to create a distance are among excuses used by children to abandon their parents.

6.  This trend has been increasing in recent years.  Some feel that their parents are a burden, especially parents who are bedridden or with an illness.

7.  Some children say they could not afford to pick up their parents from the hospital as they could not afford to do so, and asked the authorities to look after their parents.

8.  Even charity homes cost between RM600 to RM1,000 a month.

Comments

1.  It is hard to imagine that children would abandon parents who gave birth to us, fed and clothed us, educated and cared for us.  Such people should do some soul-searching.

2.  The fact is that a lot of people are struggling to survive themselves, let alone carry the financial burden of taking care of their parents.

3.  There is a popular saying nowadays, “In the olden days the head of the family is able to take care of many children, but today the total income from many children is not enough to feed the head of the family who is now unable to work.”  What has gone wrong?

Insurance agents use another saying to convince prospects, “Mong chi seng lung, lung pin chung.”  In Cantonese, it means parents hope their children will be dragons, it turns out that the dragon is actually a worm.  Prospects should just take out a policy to protect their old age, instead of relying on their children.  That is actually wise advice.

4.  Old people are not the only ones to suffer.  Children, too, often had to bear the brunt of work and financial pressure of young parents.  They may be shouted at or even beaten up if things did not go well at the office for the day.  Their stress prove to be too much and had to be released on their kids or even their pets.

5.  Start planning for a passive source of income today.  It will not only protect you; it will take the pressure off your family as well.

6.  While you may take time to learn about property or stock investing, you may want to consider saving in fixed deposits or insurance policies.  Insurance policies today are getting very innovative.  They allow you to save and accumulate your money at attractive rates.

Also, never look down on fixed deposits, even though the rates may be ridiculously low.  Why do I say this?  Simply because investors who are desperate to make money fast (now hurry, I’m getting old, there is not enough time), take their FDs and place them in properties and shares.  Due to their lack of expertise, the money quickly disappeared into some black hole, never to be seen again.  Such investors are left to regret for the rest of their miserable lives.

Learning message:  The lack of financial education has dire consequences.