I know a few people have brought up their Asian upbringing and I think the European upbringing might be the same, but of course, that's a very general statement... For me, my parents always taught my bros and I to NEVER, EVER pay rent. It's throwing away your money. So, my parents worked hard for my 2 brothers and I to have a better life. Luckily for me, my brothers are a bit older than me (45, 42 and then me at 32). So, they were starting their lives earlier than me and so it's really just been a trickle effect - they bought a condo/townhome to start off, few years later, sold it, bought something else, few years later, paid my parents back, few years later, bought another property, rented out the last property, and so on... Now, they've paid back almost everything they borrowed from my parents and now it's all come down to me. My parents played this exact strategy when they moved to Canada, so it's paid off for them - paid off their house that they built years and years ago and their pension is great, so they are living very comfortable right now.choclover wrote: ↑ People seem to make smarter decisions with hard-earned money than when it is gifted to them. I think people who make smart decisions usually expose themselves to less risk and are happier in the long run. JMHO.
As an aside, I always wonder how many parents can afford to give their children vast sums of money to buy a home AND what if they have more than one child, do they give each the same amount of money? I would never think of asking or taking money from my parents for such a large purchase. I would adjust my housing plan by either moving elsewhere, scaling down or renting to match what I could afford.
So, it's not really about us "asking" our parents for money and screwing them out of their retirement, it stems from them for working so hard to better our lives and they take pride in their name - again, a very european and also asian thing. The last thing they want to tell other family members is, "yeah, so and so is renting". It almost comes across as they failed their children. Trust me, it means so much more to be able to do it on your own and as much as I want to, it's extremely hard to say no to my parents.
To give you another example, my parents aren't too happy about these Vancouver Specials I'm looking at that they are looking for newer-ish homes and saying they will help us with the mortgage by using their pension money to help out! That's absurd, but that's my family for you.