Dad is 60 and mom is 56 and still married. They are both very frugal and live comfortably. They have 0 saved for retirement. Both have lived in Mexico all their lives. My dad doesn’t speak English but mom speaks it fluently. She is American and he has a green card.
Both received their education in Mexico. He has his master’s in accounting and she graduated from med school and was a surgeon. Due to my dad’s old school values, he asked my mom to stay home and raise us 3 daughters, hence she hasn’t practiced since age 30. They have never worked in the USA.
Dad owns a fabrication business in Mexico and owns 5 semi-trailers for transporting goods all over Mexico. He is also a jack of all trades, he does plumbing, electrical, mechanic work. They have 1 house all paid off and 3 vehicles - a rusted 1970 Ford, a 1990 Nissan vehicle with no seats that he hot-wires every day to drive (like in the movies), and a 1985 dodge. Combined these cars are over 1 million miles.
Breakdown of his assets in Mexico:
- Fab building (includes house): $3.5M pesos = $171,783 USD
- Tooling (Includes crane, forklift, lathes, presses, plasma cutter): $73,621 USD
- 5 Semi trailers: $156,077 USD
- Church building he wants to donate: $53,989 USD
- Yearly income: $8,000 - $10,000 USD a year.
His debt:
- CC: $25,000 USD
- Bank loan: $7,362 USD
Parents are strongly considering moving to the US to be closer to his daughters, one sister is in Alberta, one is in the Midwest, and one in PNW.
They are visiting me in the US right now and some guy at church wanted to have a friendly chat over coffee with my dad. This guy barely speaks Spanish so not sure how he got his message across, but he started talking to my dad about annuities and bonds. He gave him the spiel about having to prepare for death and to buy insurance so that my mom lives comfortably without him, etc. Here is the handout he gave them: Handout
When I used to go to church, I had people like this approach me trying to sell me shit. I had a talk with my dad because these people prey on the vulnerable and are just looking for a profit for themselves. I am thinking about opening a vanguard account, but not sure which asset allocation I should choose.
My sisters and I are planning to help them out with expenses in the future. My fiancé and I earn combined $130,000 USD, younger sister earns $60,000 USD and older sister earns $60,000 CAD. Each of us has some student loan debt
My feeling is that they are better off staying in Mexico due to healthcare costs. But other times I feel like he needs to drop everything and come to the US. he is so stressed in Mexico due to his clients disappearing without paying him, lawsuits, family stealing from him, gangs stole 2 semi-trailers, thieves coming in to the fab shop with guns and stealing from him etc. My fiancé and I will be relocating to Canada in 5 years so maybe they could join us there.
My dad is fearful to start his life all over in the US. He is thinking about becoming an assembler at a manufacturing plant where I work, but it is very hard manual labor, and his health isn’t the best (he passes 1 kidney stone a month). He always ran his own business, and not sure how he would adjust to it.
How can I help my parents plan their retirement? I do not think they qualify for social security.
Submitted June 21, 2018 at 08:51AM by Isletss https://ift.tt/2JV9MTU
