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So I am Gen-X and was in a sandwich situation. I had my father do hospice in my home for 1 1/2 years while raising my 13 year old. (the last of 3 kids) Our first 2 were up and running right out of college which is a big plus.
I inherited about 800K between house, IRA and life insurance. My only sibling and my mother had predeceased my father, so it was just me. But we were almost fully retired anyway at ages 43 and 50. My husband did do some part time work between 50 and 56.
I think our generation knew the power of investing, and we got lucky with a long bull market when we really got in heavy in 2010. Mostly good timing on our part. But as a result the inherited money just padded our existing retirement funds.
So I am Gen-X and was in a sandwich situation. I had my father do hospice in my home for 1 1/2 years while raising my 13 year old. (the last of 3 kids) Our first 2 were up and running right out of college which is a big plus.
I inherited about 800K between house, IRA and life insurance. My only sibling and my mother had predeceased my father, so it was just me. But we were almost fully retired anyway at ages 43 and 50. My husband did do some part time work between 50 and 56.
I think our generation knew the power of investing, and we got lucky with a long bull market when we really got in heavy in 2010. Mostly good timing on our part. But as a result the inherited money just padded our existing retirement funds.
Your parents both died young from the sounds of it. And you were young when your dad died.
I've seen people in their 70's shuttling their 90 something year old parents around to doctors appointments. Sometimes the parent is a bit doddering but more spry and physically capable than their 70 year old "kid" is.
The US nursing home industry does a good job of minimizing inheritance for a huge swath of Americans.
Unless you own a nursing home yourself, or are nurse that charges a lot.
I wonder what kind of barriers though were put up by govt which may or may not have been placed at the behest of the already established big boys of the industry to protect their market share.
With Baby Boomers dying or retiring, the Gen Xers surely will be taking their place and should be getting higher salaries. And since there is less of them, their demand will be high.
Unless of course their boomer bosses, and shareholders decide to skip them over and hire their own Gen Y children to take the jobs.
I'm 57 and a Gen X. My Boomer husband is a couple of years older than me. I'd say that most of the people that we know are in the Sandwich Generation where they have kids still at home/in college and elderly parents that need some amount of care. I'm not really seeing too many getting big windfalls.
Millennials tend to have Boomer and Gen X parents who may seem very well off. But the reality is, old age is expensive. They shouldn't be counting their chickens just, yet.
The younger Boomers also got the shaft compared to older Boomers.
My parents are 65. When they came into the workforce, pensions were on the way out for the private sector. Many older Boomers ended up with private sector pensions.
A lot of Boomers ended up losing a lot in 2008 - by the time they "made it back," COVID hit, or it was time to retire.
Most of the ~65 year olds I know have at least one living parent, most of whom are to an age that at least some level of help is needed.
Baby Boomers are between the ages of 59-76. Many of them retired quite awhile ago. Gen X has been moving up into those spots for awhile now. I'm not seeing how this is an all of a sudden thing. Most Boomers still have plenty of years of retirement left ahead of them so it's not like they are going to all suddenly die soon.
They'll be out playing golf and sitting on the front porch in their rocking chairs for many years to come. Gen X is starting to retire, too. The Millennials who have been working hard and gaining experience are entering management positions. Soon the Millennials will be the old established ones complaining about the younger Gen Zs. Such is the cycle of life.
The younger Boomers also got the shaft compared to older Boomers.
My parents are 65. When they came into the workforce, pensions were on the way out for the private sector. Many older Boomers ended up with private sector pensions.
A lot of Boomers ended up losing a lot in 2008 - by the time they "made it back," COVID hit, or it was time to retire.
Most of the ~65 year olds I know have at least one living parent, most of whom are to an age that at least some level of help is needed.
My husband and I are in are late 50's. We both entered our jobs when there was a pension plan. When pensions started to be phased out, we were grandfathered in (reduced amount) AND we were also able to take advantage of the new 401K plans with employee match. I know a lot of people our age who got similar deals.
Gen-X has long been ignored in American society, primarily due to being a very small generation brought about by the collapse in birth rates during the 1970's. The Boomers have also hung on for a long time, and the Millennials were a baby boomlet of their own, and so Gen-X continued to be ignored.
However, Gen-X are now in the prime of their careers and likely to be at the height of their earning power over the next decade. Demographer Peter Zeihan has made a compelling case on several podcasts I've listened to that as we reach peak Boomer retirement, Gen-X won't have the numbers to replace them all, Millennials are 5 years behind in terms of skills/careers because they came of age in the Great Recession, and Gen-Z is locked into social media algorithms rather than working and building skills. This will lead to an extremely favorable job market for Gen-X over the next decade until Millennials catch up and Gen-Z (hopefully) matures.
I've also been thinking that on top of that favorable job market, as the Boomers die, Gen-X will inherit their parents wealth and because they were from small families, won't have to split it with very many siblings.
Will society finally start paying attention to us, and will resentment and jealousy be the cause?
Gen X has largely lived their lives under the radar, so from that perspective there's not much appetite among some of us Gen X to have attention paid to us now. We've been here all along, doing our thing.
It's going to vary individual to individual, but I also see Gen X as having been at the right place and the right time in terms of the job market for most of their working years. We could get into fields like technology and healthcare before they became saturated and were in prime position to invest through two major recessions to grow wealth. If there's Gen X still waiting for their turn, they likely already missed their chance.
Many of us are doing better than our parents ever did.
Ya'll are a bunch of Debbie Downers, but with a name like Hemlock140...
Obviously, some people have parents that spent every dime they ever had on booze and meth and won't leave anything behind but bills and heartache. Some people will spend a $1 million on long term care because they refuse to die. I'm talking about statistically, and in the aggregate, Gen-X stands to benefit tremendously from the tight labor market and not having to split any Boomer wealth they inherit with a bunch of siblings. If you have any kind of assets at all, I think you're more likely than not going to leave something behind. Anecdotal examples from my own grandparents who were all born between 1914 and 1921, and died between 1977 and 2008. These were all working class people of modest means:
Grandfather 1: dropped dead of a heart attack in the kitchen while eating blueberry cobbler.
Grandmother 1: lived alone another decade on a modest Social Security check and a $20k inheritance from a wealthy cousin. Then had a stroke and lingered in a nursing home for many years. Spent down all her money and in the end the nursing home was getting her Social Security, but when she finally died her small house, contents and several acres it sat on were auctioned off and her 3 sons split the proceeds.
Grandfather 2: had dementia and required several years of nursing home care, paid for by the Veterans Administration.
Grandmother 2: lived for 26 years on her husbands Social Security and about $50k they'd managed to save up when interest rates were high in the late 70s. Spent some time in assisted living and a few months in a nursing home and was in spend down mode when she passed. There was about $20k left, a house and a car. All those assets were left to a daughter and two grandchildren.
Primary residence, vehicle, personal belongings and home furnishings are generally exempt from Medicaid spend down.
So with your examples of what the heirs received—did they each net $100k? Even $200k? That’s enough for a nice down payment on a house, but make sure you can still afford the upkeep, property taxes and insurance. Or maybe that’s enough to pay off your bills and buy a new car. But I wouldn’t call those inheritances as outrageous. Low 6 figures is easily spent in a year, especially by people not used to managing money.
Your parents both died young from the sounds of it. And you were young when your dad died.
I've seen people in their 70's shuttling their 90 something year old parents around to doctors appointments. Sometimes the parent is a bit doddering but more spry and physically capable than their 70 year old "kid" is.
Not too young, they had me later in life. They were 78 and 83 when they passed. Now my brother was the shocker, unexpected death at 49.
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