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Most asian cultures, there is no social security cause the children are supposed to take care of the parents. Generally speaking they usually live in same house

Most asian cultures, there is no social security cause the children are supposed to take care of the parents. Generally speaking they usually live in same house. Here in Thailand we get tax credits if our parents are old and don't have a pension. Its called the "good child" exemption

lars512 12y ago
Without a welfare state, sounds like good incentive to have lots of kids!
- guard-of-terra 12y ago
  Isn't it kind of hard to simultaneously care about elders and "a lot of" kids?
  - latch 12y ago
    Generally, the period where your kids and parents are a handful don't overlap: 0 - 30 - 60.
- yitchelle 12y ago
  Good incentive indeed. Both of my parents are from Chinese families and grew up in Malaysia. Dad is one of eleven siblings and Mum is one of eight siblings. Back then, it wasn't from the government welfare, it was for the kids to look after the elderly parents. Of course, several things need to be in place for this to play out. The kids needs to be working in a relatively well paid job, the kids needs to have quite a smallish family, the kids must also subscribe to the same mindset as well. Some work out, but the majority does not work out as the mindset of the younger generation starts to shift.
  - Theodores 12y ago
    "Dad is one of eleven siblings and Mum is one of eight siblings." Looks like your folks went for the "Human Pyramid Scheme" instead of expecting the government to pay for their old age. But yes, 'Human Pyramid Scheme', it is frightening!
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  It's worse than that. You are forced to save a lot for retirement and medical expenses, which leads to repressed consumer spending, which hurts the economy...in a vicious cycle. Insurance (public or private) to make these expenses predictable can help the economy substantially as consu ers have more confidence to spend (what they have left after paying premiums, of course). You can see this playing out in China right now.
  - murbard2 12y ago
    Why? Those savings are lent out to companies who produce the goods that will be consumed by these retirees when they start spending their savings. A lot of savings simply means an economy oriented towards the production of future goods.
    - akgerber 12y ago
      Social Security and Medicare are also essentially longevity insurance, which is extremely valuable. Since one can't predict with any confidence how long one will live beyond 'probably 50-110 years if I don't get hit by a car', retirement savings is much easier when there is a government-provided income floor in case of mistakes in retirement planning. Otherwise, how do you choose between saving enough that you're 80% or 90% or 95% or 99% or 99.9% sure that you'll have enough income for the rest of your life? And if you wish to buy such insurance (an annuity) in the private market, how do you spread risk so that you don't face risk that the company will fail? And how do you make sure that any financial adviser you have doesn't exploit you as you decline mentally? Or do you just save single penny possible and never consume anything? Buy an apartment building and hope like hell your neighborhood doesn't decline? Buy a portfolio of widespread rental houses and try to manage them when you're 85 and have cancer? Hope your children are loyal? Or spread risk by having 6 or more children? Historical experience suggests the outcome of attempts to leave such complexities to individuals is widespread poverty amongst the elderly. And that's not even getting into the question of whether we have a global savings glut. Safe investments are getting awfully expensive, with negative interest rates on some government and corporate bonds being sighted lately.

lars512 12y ago

Without a welfare state, sounds like good incentive to have lots of kids!

guard-of-terra 12y ago
Isn't it kind of hard to simultaneously care about elders and "a lot of" kids?
- latch 12y ago
  Generally, the period where your kids and parents are a handful don't overlap: 0 - 30 - 60.
yitchelle 12y ago
Good incentive indeed. Both of my parents are from Chinese families and grew up in Malaysia. Dad is one of eleven siblings and Mum is one of eight siblings. Back then, it wasn't from the government welfare, it was for the kids to look after the elderly parents. Of course, several things need to be in place for this to play out. The kids needs to be working in a relatively well paid job, the kids needs to have quite a smallish family, the kids must also subscribe to the same mindset as well. Some work out, but the majority does not work out as the mindset of the younger generation starts to shift.
- Theodores 12y ago
  "Dad is one of eleven siblings and Mum is one of eight siblings." Looks like your folks went for the "Human Pyramid Scheme" instead of expecting the government to pay for their old age. But yes, 'Human Pyramid Scheme', it is frightening!
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
It's worse than that. You are forced to save a lot for retirement and medical expenses, which leads to repressed consumer spending, which hurts the economy...in a vicious cycle. Insurance (public or private) to make these expenses predictable can help the economy substantially as consu ers have more confidence to spend (what they have left after paying premiums, of course). You can see this playing out in China right now.
- murbard2 12y ago
  Why? Those savings are lent out to companies who produce the goods that will be consumed by these retirees when they start spending their savings. A lot of savings simply means an economy oriented towards the production of future goods.
  - akgerber 12y ago
    Social Security and Medicare are also essentially longevity insurance, which is extremely valuable. Since one can't predict with any confidence how long one will live beyond 'probably 50-110 years if I don't get hit by a car', retirement savings is much easier when there is a government-provided income floor in case of mistakes in retirement planning. Otherwise, how do you choose between saving enough that you're 80% or 90% or 95% or 99% or 99.9% sure that you'll have enough income for the rest of your life? And if you wish to buy such insurance (an annuity) in the private market, how do you spread risk so that you don't face risk that the company will fail? And how do you make sure that any financial adviser you have doesn't exploit you as you decline mentally? Or do you just save single penny possible and never consume anything? Buy an apartment building and hope like hell your neighborhood doesn't decline? Buy a portfolio of widespread rental houses and try to manage them when you're 85 and have cancer? Hope your children are loyal? Or spread risk by having 6 or more children? Historical experience suggests the outcome of attempts to leave such complexities to individuals is widespread poverty amongst the elderly. And that's not even getting into the question of whether we have a global savings glut. Safe investments are getting awfully expensive, with negative interest rates on some government and corporate bonds being sighted lately.