Happiness In Life

Nice thread AMMA. Let me share my views here!!!

I fully agree with you about the level of adjustments needed in married life.
I always believe that whatever the compromises or adjustment that we make to build our relationship will remain as a strong investment, and that will yield its interest down the line.
My H and I have a lot of differences such as religion, upbringing: hence food, traditions etc.etc.. but it was me who decided to accommodate him and his interest first though it means compromising mine to a certain degree. I never regretted it as I felt it is an investment that I make
10 years down the line, my man is seeing the level of sacrifices that I made/make for him and how his life has benefited from it. Knowingly or unknowingly he wants to reward it with love, and that is the reason behind our happy home.

As for elder's living expenses and all.... I strongly believe it is their children's responsibility to pitch in, and make sure their parents lead a comfortable life. Gender of the children doesn't matter here, as long as they are earning and they have the heart to empathize and help their parents.

In our part of the world the pain and struggle of the parents in ensuring better life for their children is normalized. No one appreciate a father who invests 1/2 of his income on his retirement while his adult daughter is awaiting marriage.
It is considered as parents' responsibility to educate their children and arrange for their marriage regardless of their age and gender.
Unlike in the west, where children leave their next pretty early; and fend for themselves, here it is their parents who take care of their children's every need until they stand on their feet as matured adults with an income.

This process could suck almost 3/4 of the parents' life, and by the time they wash their hands off from all their responsibilities, they would have turned 60s or 70s already. Hence their capacity to earn or invest afterwards would be very small.

And as you said, parents can chose to lead simple life, and compromise most of their needs to fit in to their chosen life style (based on how much they could get from their pension or FD interest). But their bodies won't help.
At this old age, they may need a lot of physical help (like a care taker, nurse, driver etc...) and financial needs in terms of medical facilities which they can't plan or chose.

They shouldn't worry about fitting all their financial needs within their pension or FD interest when they have adult children who could earn well.

Life is a cycle where parents help for their dependent children when they needed, and when their roles get reversed children should repay the help to their parents.

 

Instead of looking at cup half empty, look at it as half full. Sometimes focusing on the negatives, lets the positives slip or not value/acknowledge it.