Toronto, Canada

I saved enough to stop borrowing from my children

Dear Delyara, After retirement, I repeatedly underestimated expenses and borrowed small amounts from my adult children near the end of the month. Fifty dollars. A hundred. I always repaid them after my pension came in, but I hated the pattern. A financial counsellor helped me review spending without treating me like an incompetent old woman. We cancelled services I barely used, changed insurance, created separate weekly spending money, and built a small emergency buffer over eighteen months. This month, the car needed an unexpected repair. I paid it from savings. I did not call either child. The amount left afterward was small, but still mine. Financial success at seventy has not meant becoming wealthy. It has meant my children can call and ask how I am without part of me wondering whether the conversation will end with me requesting money.