News

If the Pioneer Generation and the generation before that had been as educated as people in society today about parenthood and their own retirement planning, is it possible that our nation would be a very different one today? In previous generations, having children was simply part of the cycle of life for most people. Many of them were poor and could not afford a house or car, and children were their only asset. The idea of parents seeing their children as a means of support in their old age – whether for physical or financial help – has increasingly become frowned upon or criticised. The younger generation strongly advocate self-reliance or self-dependence in one’s old age ( Feb 19). If it is wrong to think of depending on one’s children in old age, or for sons to carry on the family name, or that children are a blessing to have even if money is tight, and this kind of thinking becomes entrenched in society, the result is fewer children in the population. Retirement planning is necessary, but it shouldn’t be just another box to tick before one thinks about having children. We have to be careful that the idea that parents should not bake in their children’s future earnings into their retirement plan does not evolve to become one where people see having children as the pursuit of the rich or very rich.