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Location: Moose Jaw, in between the Moose's butt and nose.
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I got about, maybe, 20k, last May. While I purchased a few things, like an Improved RV with it and a trip to California, well, thanks to a crappy employment year, I've had to use quite a bit of it just to live on. Instead of others, that usually are full time employed when they get an inheritance and can, if they want to, just save it, well, I haven't been able to do so (down to about 6k) and it's even made my Mom's death hurt that much more. I had no UI benefits coming in either (thanks GOP).
Relating this to your mom's death is a pretty fragile reason for posting in this forum.
I'd suggest asking a mod to move it to someplace like Personal Finance or, in your present circumstances, the Frugal Forum.
OP, sorry about your mother's death. I got about 10K when my dad died. I went through it in about 2 years. My husband was still alive then so I didn't think of saving any. Didn't even know he was sick back then. I spent a lot of it on gchildren and took a couple of trips. Sure wish now that I had saved it.
An inheritance is for your old age. You should never touch it.
Disagree. Unless there was a special provision attached to the inheritance, money left to an individual is for their personal use to spend, donate or save.
When my father died, we had 2 small kids who had NEVER been on a vacation...we lived paycheck to paycheck at that time. We decided to use the bit of money to take a vacation...we took the kids to Disneyworld, and we all had a blast. Something they will never forget, that we couldn't have done otherwise. Thanks, Dad!
Of course, in the years since, we have come into our own, and our finances are fine...but in those days, it's what we needed...and its what we did. I'm glad we did it....I bet my dad is glad, too!
I've always thought that unless otherwise specified in writing, inheritance money was meant to be used in any way the folks inheriting it saw fit, to save if they wanted to, to use for everyday expenses if needed, or spent on something maybe they wouldn't buy otherwise or couldn't afford to do , so.
I remember when my dad inherited I think it was about $5000 from his parents when they died in the late 50's. He decided to use the money to build a pool at the house we lived in. I remember his comment about this being his way of remembering his mother, who had left him the money.
When dad died many years later, he split what he had left among his four children, we each got $15,000. I was especially touched by this as he had been estranged from all but one of us for a number of years, although I contacted him and did my best to maintain that contact for the last two years of his life. We each spent that money the way we chose. One of my sisters used her share as part of a down payment on a house- which she had put solely in her husband's name, then later lost the house when he let the mortgage payments slip. My other sister used her share to build a deck behind her house, my brother used his share to buy an antique bedspread (??$15,000??) he wanted, and we used my share as seed money we added to to buy the property on which we planned to build our retirement house. We now live in that retirement house, and I always think of my dad when I look out at the land and surrounding water and nature.
I got about, maybe, 20k, last May. While I purchased a few things, like an Improved RV with it and a trip to California, well, thanks to a crappy employment year, I've had to use quite a bit of it just to live on. Instead of others, that usually are full time employed when they get an inheritance and can, if they want to, just save it, well, I haven't been able to do so (down to about 6k) and it's even made my Mom's death hurt that much more. I had no UI benefits coming in either (thanks GOP).
A lot of people wouldn't agree with me, but I think that is precisely what inheritance primarily ought to represent- that is, the support of family left behind if they need it. In the old days, it might make a difference between life and death- since there was no such thing as welfare or food stamps etc. so those left behind had to be supported , and have some means if the bottom fell out. I also do believe that older generations should pass on whatever prosperity they can to their following generations to build on. The more prosperity, the better EACH family member can be taken care of, with less insecurity. Without this, too many people are left to the social safety nets or worse. Compared to some cultures, and even our own historical past, so many Americans nowadays are truly improvident and careless about their following generations.
Last edited by 2bpurrfect; 01-24-2015 at 03:56 AM..
When my father died, we had 2 small kids who had NEVER been on a vacation...we lived paycheck to paycheck at that time. We decided to use the bit of money to take a vacation...we took the kids to Disneyworld, and we all had a blast. Something they will never forget, that we couldn't have done otherwise. Thanks, Dad!
Of course, in the years since, we have come into our own, and our finances are fine...but in those days, it's what we needed...and its what we did. I'm glad we did it....I bet my dad is glad, too!
My parents did something like this when my great-grandmother died. They replaced our old, often repaired sedan with a minivan and we drove from the midwest down to Florida and back along the coast. There were four of us kids, first (non fishing trip) family vacation for us ever.
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