No. That isn’t how people lived. You call it “alms,” but alms had a specific definition. Giving alms was giving to poor beggars in the street. Taking care of your elders was not alms. It was just something you were culturally and often legally expected to do. The Ten Commandments include “honor thy father and mother.” In modern times, this tends to be read as “respect your elders.” But in premodern times, this really meant, “take care of your parents when they’re old.” It was such a societal obligation that it was a literal commandment from God.

What really tended to happen was that children would take over family businesses, and then in turn support their parents when they could no longer work. Are you a farmer? You have kids. All of them help on the farm when they’re young, but most move out when they get married. One of your kids works on the farm into adulthood and keeps doing so on the understanding they’ll inherit the farm. You and they work on the farm until you’re too old to work. Then they take over, and you keep living on the farm in your elder years. In these final years, you help out with whatever chores or childcare for your grandkids that you can manage.

Family businesses were the main form of retirement savings. You passed your farm, your shop, your workshop, etc to your kids. Then you lived with them in your final years. Agreeing to take care of you was a prerequisite to taking over the business.