Are your relatives spending too much on their necessities?
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You want your mum and dad to keep their independence and live their own lives. However, maybe you can’t help but notice they’re forking out a little more than they need to when it comes to buying the necessities of life. Ranging from their average food shop to how much they’re spending on their car, perhaps you just want to jump in and sort out their financial problems for them!
However, it’s wise to have a much more gentle approach here. You need to do some research, and be able to present this to your parents – so let’s go through a few of your burning questions below, and see if your loved ones are getting ripped off.
How Much are the Weekly Shops?
If groceries are still a big expense for your parents – in fact, the biggest on their monthly bill – it’s time to consider if they can happily cut back a little.
In some cases it might be a good idea to gently suggest to them that their expenditure might not be sustainable. There’s a good chance they’re overspending, overstocking, and a lot of wasted money and wasted produce will be pouring out of their household. If they reduce overall spend on items they don’t need, they can continue buying the top brands of items they love from the supermarket.
How Much Does the Car Cost?
The car alone can cost upwards of £160 per month, thanks to all of its running costs, as well as the cost of financing payments. And for people who don’t have a renewable income source, or only have their savings and/or retirement fund to live off of, that’s a lot of money.
Don’t worry, there’s something you can do here. If your parents are paying out a lot for their car, think about getting them onto something like a Peugeot Motability scheme, if that’s the type of car they favour. This ensures they get the car they need, that’s both age and disability friendly, at a discounted price that works out on their reduced budget.
How Much are Their Bills?
And finally, look at their bills overall. Does it seem like they’re being over-charged anywhere? For example, there’s a good chance your parents aren’t up to date on tech, and an internet and phone bill shouldn’t be something that’s putting them out of pocket, or include features they never use and didn’t even realise they had until you pointed them out.
Get on the phone to the bill company and haggle for them. Get the price down, get the features removed, and help your parents save a little more money every month. Don’t worry, it’s much easier to master something like this than you realise!
Your relatives may be spending a little too much, and it’s important to let them know about this before they blow their life savings away! There’s a lot of help out there for determining the price of retirement, so be sure to use them to good effect.
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