Just had the money talk with my retired dad after 3 years of avoiding it

He finally agreed to let me help set a budget after I showed him he's spending $400 a month on unused streaming services. Has anyone else had success getting a parent to actually stick with a spending limit?

2 comments

2 Comments

jana_price6d ago

Oh man the "$400 a month on unused streaming services" hit me right in the feels. I literally had the same conversation with my mom last year and she was paying for like 8 different subscriptions she hadn't touched in months. It took me a whole afternoon to go through her bank statements with her and she kept saying "oh I forgot about that one" every five minutes. We finally canceled most of them and set up a simple spreadsheet that she actually checks now. The tricky part was getting her to admit she needed help in the first place, same as your dad. Once they see the actual numbers in black and white it's like a lightbulb goes off though. Just keep checking in every couple weeks at first to make sure they're not sneaking new subscriptions back in.

wendy_mason866d ago

Did you just unlock the secret to getting boomers to actually listen about money? The spreadsheet trick is genius, I'm stealing that for my mom.