Your parents raised you to who you are today. Treasure your parents by giving them them with love and generosity. The original version of this article was written by Vino K from CompareHero.my. 

Finally, the end of the month is nearing and your pay day is coming up! But before you splurge on yourself for everything, have you set aside money to give your parents? In our Asian culture, it is the norm for working children to give money to our parents. The fact is that our parents have spent so much money, time and hard work to raise you. Giving is reciprocity at its best!

 

1. Contributing to Happiness

Increasingly in today’s world, parents are self-sufficient for their retirement years having set aside a retirement egg. Many parents do not need their children to give them money, but small gestures like this show your care and love for them. Regardless if they have a pension, or lots of money from EPF or retirement savings, the act of giving is an act of love.

Your act of giving also helps ease your parents’ burden with expenses post-retirement. Inflation continues to creep up and things are not getting cheaper. Some people think that post-retirement living is inexpensive but in turns out that for most retirees they are still spending 70%-80% of what they were spending while working.

Our parents have worked hard to raise us from young and the least we can do is to show our love with giving.

 

2. Learning to Give

Providing money to your parents will help you to learn selflessness and give you a sense of accomplishment. As the saying goes “the hand that gives is better than the hand that receives”. You are making your parents proud as you are now a financially secure adult who is willing to put aside money for your parents without having them ask for it.

Everything needs to be learnt including giving. Philanthropists like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet weren’t born that way. It is actually more difficult to give money meaningfully than most people think. A good way to start learning great men and philanthropists is to start with giving from home.

 

3. How Much to Give?

The question then is how much should you give your parents?

A good rule of thumb is to give 5%-10% of your monthly income as a love gift to your parents.

This can be given in cash or through paying for various expenses such as utility bills, insurance, and groceries. These comes with added benefits too as you don’t have to feel guilty using the electricity or having meals at your parents place when you’re helping to pay the bills. Paying for your parents medical insurance also helps to make sure your parents medical bills are covered in case of illnesses or medical conditions, without having to worry about the service/queues at free public government hospitals.

However, if you really are short of money (and not because you’re stingy), you can always give in other ways to your parents.

  • Visit more often and be interested in their lives.
  • Help with household chores especially anything heavy, high or dangerous for their age.
  • Be their driver and companion to appointments.
  • Cook lunch or dinner or bring food you baked/bought.
  • Take them out for meals (which doesn’t have to be expensive).

 

Give More Today!

Let’s remind ourselves with what our parents have done for us and the least that we an do now is to give. You can always look for money, but you can never find anyone else to replace your parents.

 

What creative ways can you show care to your parents?