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Spending it all now? Or maintain an estate to go to your heirs?
I see that many people focus on the idea of spending all their portfolio while they are living. The idea of drawing 2%/year or 4%/year, timed to reach zero when you die.
I remember reading in The Millionaire Nextdoor that it is common among wealthy families that they provide inheritances to their daughters, but not to their sons.
In my experience, my wife was orphaned at 12, and spent the remainder of her childhood 'couch-surfing' with cousins. He uncles took up a collection for her and one of them put it in a safe deposit box, for later when she got married. They often used that 'hope chest' fund as a carrot over her head. After we got married, she confronted the uncle for her 'hope chest' money, after 6 months of delay, he gave it to her, $150.
Both sets of my grandparents passed away when I was in my thirties. There was a lot of talk about their estates, etc. For three of them there was none. One of them had an estate left over after all medical costs, each grandchild received about $5,000. At the time, that was about one and a half of my regular paychecks. It was nice to get, but yet, it was a disappointment after all the talk about inheritances.
My parents passed away when I was in my early 50s. It seemed like a big estate, but after all expenses and dividing it out among five siblings, it worked out to $16,000 a piece.
I am not saying that I am not grateful for these inheritances. But $150 at 21, $5,000 at 35, $16,000 at 52. None of these 'set us up'. Basically all that any of these did was to provide an extra principal payment on our mortgages.
Outside of mortgages we have never carried debts, so they were never the sudden ability to get out of debt. In a way the whole inheriting thing has been a bit of a disappointment. [Sounds like I am really spoiled]
I have read many times stories about trust fund children and how it ruins someone to receive a large inheritance at an early age.
I can also see where receiving a big portfolio at 60 or 70 s a bit too late in life to really make much difference in your life.
I have been on pension for 15 years, we own our home, we have no debt. My career included a lot of travel, we have no desire to return to any of the famous tourist locations. We have became settled in our lifestyle.
We just got a fresh inheritance from an in-law. We got a couple toys, but really our discussion has been about investing it and trying to shift it to our sons [before they reach their 60s].
It seems like the focus of so many threads here, is all about spending every penny to reach the grave dead broke, with no inheritance for the next generation. Is that really where our society has gone?
Is it true that nobody is trying to help the next generation?
They may spend down the portfolio but there are probably other things they will inherit. The house, cars, collectibles, insurance. That may or not be a lot of money.
Most people I know have the "they will get what's left" attitude. What's left can be substantial.
I don't know anyone putting money away for their children to inherit. College for grandchildren but not cash for the kids.
I am by nature a very frugal person. I buy very little, very seldom. My main concern is not to run out of money before I die.
If I were hit by a truck tomorrow, I'd be pleased that my estate would go to my two children. The only estate planning I've done is to make sure neither child gets access to their share of the estate until age 27. On the other hand, if I manage to survive into old age and spend down my savings, I'm not going to feel guilty about leaving little or no inheritance for my children. Both my father and mother left very modest estates to be divided six ways, so my siblings and I inherited relatively little. It made no difference to my life in any way.
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Is it true that nobody is trying to help the next generation?
I'm funding their college educations and all their living expenses whilst they're being educated. That's a lot more than I received from my parents. They were in no position to help anyone financially, so I made my own way completely from age 17. Same for my ex-husband. To me, getting a college education funded seems like a great luxury.
I guess I am sick, but these two stories always made me feel content about the way people handled their estates.
Leona Helmsley...the nephew thought he was going to get rich when she died. She left most of it to charity and the dog. IIRC the nephew got a token and an "I always hated you for being a leech" mention from Leona--who was not a nice person to begin with.
Elderly woman in the town where I grew up. Husband had a HUGE invention and she was loaded when he died. Kids and grand kids leached off grandma at every turn. Couldn't wait for granny to keel over so they could get it all.
Turns out granny had been using pledged stock to borrow money from the bank to fund the kids/grandkids lifestyle. When she died, the stock and her huge house paid for the loans. Net estate? Zero.
I don't worry much about the kids getting my estate. Turned around, if I was broke/destitute, I would fall over dead if one of the kids came to my rescue.
I know they have it all figured out exactly what they "think" they are going to get when I die.
SURPRISE! As of this writing, they are not mentioned in the will.
I did receive a rather large inheritance, but I am only acting as a "pass through". When I go, it will go into a "special needs trust" for my disabled granddaughter, so she will not end up living on the street and eating out of garbage cans. Oh well! I did use part of it to pay off my car and a couple of other minor bills. Nice to have a new, paid off car anyway!
When I was 17 and my dad died he left me $10. I gave it to my mom. I was on my own. I never got a dime from my family after that. I paid my own way through college.
When I fully paid for my 3 kids to go to and graduate from college, I told them they had just received their inheritance. Most of their friends had tons of college debt. They had none.
The rest is for me and my wife to spend. Hopefully, my final check will go to the undertaker. And it will bounce.
We are 69 and working on ten years of retirement. Our portfolio has grown and I will soon be getting SS on my benefits which will allow us to grow our portfolio even more. If our kids inherit a boatload that is great as it means we didn't have to spend it on medical costs. However as we can see from recent events anyone expecting the government to really care for them in their old age may be in for a rude awakening. Question will the resulting cuts in Medicaid limit Medicaid paying for LTC for seniors who can't afford it?
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