Hello PersonalFinance and Reddit,
I lurked this site for many years, I now finally decide to reach out to the community. English isn’t my native so please bear with me. I’m a recent Master’s grad from a UK university, I come from south east Asia. I have a sister (6 years older) who’s the breadwinner now working as a consultant. Both my parents are retired in their 60s. Now that I graduated, I am looking for a job back home. Very recently, I learned from family meeting that my parents loaned close to half a million from close friends to support the family. My sister and I were able to attend American universities because of their commitment to our higher education. While my sister and I fully appreciate our parents’ effort, I cannot digest even the thought of this gigantous sum of debt just few months after graduation.
Never was I told about the debt, maybe it’s was a “welcome to the real world” moment for me. I don’t know how to feel right now. Can I call myself a middle class if my parents loaned their way to retirement? How is it ever possible for my retired parents to pay off the sum. For me, why even consider raising a family when the cost is innumerable debt?
Looking back now, my parents never once told me we don’t have enough. I always had food on the plate and received great care from them. I do not spend my money lavishly, and I’m thankful I didn’t. My Master’s was paid for 100% by scholarship, but I now have a 70k debt with 1k monthly payment because my parents used the 70k to settle some necessary expenses.
So PersonalFinance, I come from an Asian family, but I’m sure family debt is a universal concern. How will you advise me to approach this? What mind set should I carry moving forward? What is your story? I would love to have a conversation with you all.
Best.
Submitted December 05, 2017 at 09:24AM by Asianchildindebt http://ift.tt/2Ay9Cd4
