Anyone caring for their parent(s) financially?
Hi. I’m a 30M getting married in a few months and trying to figure out what it’s like to support a parent financially after moving out.
My mom is an asian immigrant/single mom who worked service jobs to keep us afloat and put me through college; she used most of her savings during that time. We live in a very high cost-of-living area, and even after I started working, money has been tight--we’re still building assets from scratch and even share a car. Since I began earning a meaningful salary (100k), I’ve been covering most of the rent and expect to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. My mom has worked sporadically and earned about $25k/year on average over the past two years, so it’s not nothing, but not very significant.
She speaks limited English (better at reading and understanding than speaking) and has hearing and other health issues that make steady work difficult. I feel responsible for keeping a roof over her head, but we haven’t discussed long-term plans. These kind of conversations really don’t seem to happen in Asian immigrant households like mine.
Has anyone else navigated supporting a parent while starting their own family? How did you balance finances, expectations, and difficult conversations? Any practical advice or resources would be really appreciated.