Sab. Gen 18th, 2025 6:44:56 AM

On the Money is a monthly advice column. If you want advice on spending, saving, or investing — or any of the complicated emotions that may come up as you prepare to make big financial decisions — you can submit your question on this form. Here, we answer a question asked by a Vox reader, which has been edited and condensed.This falls into the category of “complicated emotions that may come up as you prepare to make big financial decisions:” I am 65 and thinking of retiring. I am working with an investment adviser. We have tentatively set the end of 2025 as my retirement date, and I can see on paper that this would be workable, but my two kids (in their mid-20s) will still need a lot of help financially beyond that — more help than I can give them once I’m no longer working. Knowing my own emotional tendencies, I would feel guilty and selfish to make my retirement a higher priority than continuing to help them as I am now doing, but I also think I’d feel increasingly resentful the longer I worked past 2025. Can personal finance even provide an answer to this dilemma, assuming that we’d all survive either way?Dear Thinking of Retiring,It’s good that you wrote me when you did because we’ve just turned the page on a new year — which means you can make a New Year’s resolution to solve this problem in a way that does not leave you feeling guilty and resentful. Start by talking to your investment adviser. When this person tells you that you can retire at the end of 2025, what do they specifically mean? You told me that you can give your children financial help while you’re working but that you do not anticipate being able to provide help after you retire. Does this mean you’ll be starting your retirement on a minimal budget with very little wiggle room? This could be a problem in the long term, and not just for your children. Look carefully at how much income you might have as a retiree, and then ask yourself what you hope to do in your retirement. A life in which you do not have extra money to help your children may also be a life in which you do not have extra money to take a vacation or move into a new home or cover a significant unexpected expense. On that note, you should think carefully about the types of expenses you can reasonably expect over the next few decades. Your children may get married, for example. You may have grandchildren whom you want to visit regularly. Even if you aren’t the type of parent who decides to help your children with educational expenses or down payments — and you don’t have to be — it’s reasonable to expect that you’ll put at least some money toward your continued relationship. Although you didn’t mention any responsibilities toward the generation above you, it’s also reasonable for a retiree to anticipate putting both money and time toward the care of parents or in-laws. Should you combine finances with your partner?How to cope with inflation and lifestyle creepHow are you