Author Topic: Do you expect to inherit?  (Read 27123 times)

jdchmiel

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #50 on: December 02, 2012, 06:43:37 PM »
I am not planning on anything, and it would be stupid of me to do so.  I am 33 and still have 3 living grandparents.  My parents are young, father retired early from corporate work, has his own lucritive business to keep him busy.  My mom works 3 days a week to stay busy / have health insurance paid for.  I suspect due to the great health of everyone in my family, that even with substantial nest eggs they will live a very long time.  Wife's family is pretty much the same exact situation, though they are a bit older.  So once you get through that layer of uncertainty, Then I have 2 siblings, wife has 3 siblings, so there would be splitting there.  IF any windfall ever came my way from inheritance or any method, It would probably put me over the edge to ER earlier than I am projecting, but my ER dream seems to be different than most - I want to retire from one job and take up another that I can do out of love of doing it, not necessity of the paycheck.

SilverSoul

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #51 on: December 03, 2012, 07:15:46 AM »
I don't expect anything.  Like many others have said, my financial plans do not account for any kind of inheritance.

My parents have been divorced for quite some time now.  I could possibly receive some money from my mom, though I know she doesn't have a ton.  What she has would probably be split between myself and my sister.  I highly doubt I would get anything from my dad, and I'm just fine with that.  I don't think he has much.

StarswirlTheMustached

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #52 on: December 05, 2012, 06:53:23 AM »
Nothing of meaningful financial value, no. My parents are going to need every penny and every bit of equity in their house to fund any kind of retirement; the in-laws have money, but they are talking about buying a second Porsche, so I'm expecting that they'll have burned through most of their cash over the next 20 years, and what's left after the siblings are done squabbling will be negligible. (especially our share, as such squabbling is just too distasteful to indulge in, no matter what the ROI, and we will almost certainly the least in need).
I'm sure a few heirlooms will show up and have massive sentimental value -- which, if you bring it to Starbucks with 3$, might just get you a coffee.

Peter

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #53 on: December 07, 2012, 07:00:04 PM »
I expect I'll get something, though it really doesn't matter to us early retirement guys does it? Even if both my parents only makes it to only 75 then I'm still going to be 45, and retired already on my own. What if my dad makes it to 105???? I'll be 75 haha!

smedleyb

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #54 on: December 07, 2012, 09:13:54 PM »
Given all the hard drinking, smoking, and drugs I've done in the past, I fully expect to bequeath rather than receive. 

dionysiandame

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #55 on: December 08, 2012, 09:02:02 AM »
Yes, it's morbid to think about, but do you?

I'm not sure for myself. My parents could easily leave a significant estate, and given their very modest material lives, they probably will. Most likely, I'll inherit everything (I'm an only child).

And let me be clear: I don't think my parents SHOULD leave me anything. They've worked hard all their lives, and their money is theirs to do with whatever they want. If they spend it all down, I'd be happy as long as they got enjoyment and value out of it.

In any case, I haven't included any amount of inheritance in my financial planning.

Yes and it IS depressing. My father had to twist my arm to get me to come sign all of the paperwork at his bank. I put it off for months. I don't have any financial plans based on an inheritance however. He retired at 54 and is doing his globe trotting thing, I'm just mad he doesn't call to let me know when he is about to be leaving the country.

James

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #56 on: December 08, 2012, 10:47:09 AM »
I know my parents have some significant assets, and there is pension money to provide for some expenses so they may have a sizable amount left if they manage it well.  I think there is a good chance the great majority of it will be tied up in a lake house, and it's possible they will try and set up a fund to ensure the family can continue to use it for quite a while.  I don't like the idea at all personally, but it's their choice and they can do what they want.  But in the end I would say I can reasonably expect some inheritance at some point, but I don't factor it into my decisions at this point.


I'm hoping they are able to leave some for my sister and brother who could use the money a lot more than I can.  I have no idea whether any assets I'll eventually receive will be sizable enough to make a difference.  I hope to be FI before that time, and any assets from them would simply be nice insurance.  One personal goal I have is to be FI with enough money on top of that to invest in 3rd world countries in ways that benefit them and in which profit is only a distant and doubtful possibility.  It would take time that I would only have through being FI, and money I could only invest if I did not need it for FI.


I would also love to tell my children something like "The day you can prove to me you are FI, I will add $100,000 to your finances to show my level of respect for your accomplishment.  I will know at that point you are able to be responsible with finances and spend the money wisely."  I think giving money to any of my children who have proven they cannot handle finances would be a waste, but that's easy to say at this point, it would be hard to implement that in real life...

arebelspy

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #57 on: December 08, 2012, 10:53:52 AM »
I would also love to tell my children something like "The day you can prove to me you are FI, I will add $100,000 to your finances to show my level of respect for your accomplishment.  I will know at that point you are able to be responsible with finances and spend the money wisely."  I think giving money to any of my children who have proven they cannot handle finances would be a waste, but that's easy to say at this point, it would be hard to implement that in real life...

I love that idea, mainly because gifting it earlier makes them less independent (see: discussion in The Millionaire Next Door book), but your idea does not.

Filed away for future reference.
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Bakari

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #58 on: December 08, 2012, 02:30:36 PM »
My mother has a rental house, plus her own house, which I will inherit (assuming she doesn't sell the rental).

Since I don't really believe in inheritance, morally, my plan is to rent them both out at cost, to someone who is doing something to make the world a better place.  In other words, (assuming they are both paid off), property tax, insurance, maintenance, etc, divided by 12, would be the rent, which should be well below market rate for rent in this area (which is the point of an investment rental property).
Instead of just looking for tenants with a reliable job, good credit, etc, I would require some number of volunteer hours, working at a low-pay political advocacy job, or something equivalent, where they can't afford regular rent because they spend their time do-gooding.

mm1970

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #59 on: December 08, 2012, 04:10:18 PM »
Probably.

My dad passed 5 years ago. I inherited about $10k.

My mom passed last year. Her hubby my stepdad earned the money, and we three kids are in the will because he didn't have any. But he could always remarry because he's only in his 60s. I just want him to be happy.

My grandpa had some money, several hundred thousand. But he remarried when my grandma died. The money is in trust and doesn't get disbursed until she dies. I get 1/3 of my mom's 1/4 of the girls' share.  The sons get a lot more. Well, the second wife is 95 and has outlived 2 of the 7 kids and will likely outlive at least one more. Which is awesome. I love her to death. They married in the early 80s.

The amount we could inherit from all sources  is less than our net worth.

Sparky

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #60 on: December 08, 2012, 10:09:50 PM »
I don't expect anything from my parents or from anyone else. I'm guessing I'll be fully supporting at least one parent at some point in the later future. It's 100% on me, as my sister has zero assets to mention. It's a sensitive subject to me, I've tried to bring it up the past few years without success. My family people tend to die young or live into their 90's healthily, so a little hard to predict on that front.

GF, likely future wife parents are good with their money and I'm not overly worried about their future situation.

Adventine

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #61 on: December 09, 2012, 12:03:50 AM »
I would also love to tell my children something like "The day you can prove to me you are FI, I will add $100,000 to your finances to show my level of respect for your accomplishment.  I will know at that point you are able to be responsible with finances and spend the money wisely."  I think giving money to any of my children who have proven they cannot handle finances would be a waste, but that's easy to say at this point, it would be hard to implement that in real life...

I love that idea, mainly because gifting it earlier makes them less independent (see: discussion in The Millionaire Next Door book), but your idea does not.

Filed away for future reference.

That's brilliant. Also saving that idea for when I have kids.

Peter

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #62 on: December 09, 2012, 08:54:03 AM »
I would also love to tell my children something like "The day you can prove to me you are FI, I will add $100,000 to your finances to show my level of respect for your accomplishment.  I will know at that point you are able to be responsible with finances and spend the money wisely."  I think giving money to any of my children who have proven they cannot handle finances would be a waste, but that's easy to say at this point, it would be hard to implement that in real life...

I love that idea, mainly because gifting it earlier makes them less independent (see: discussion in The Millionaire Next Door book), but your idea does not.

Filed away for future reference.

I remember hearing that one of the multi-millionaires on Dragon's Den (Shark Tank - USA equivalent) has a trust setup that will payout every year to match the salaries of his children. That way he can be very generous, but still the motivation behind receiving the money is always derived from your own ability to work/earn.

I always thought I might do something like that if I were super rich...

Self-employed-swami

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #63 on: December 09, 2012, 07:08:26 PM »

I don't actually expect to outlive either my parents or his. My mother died when I was 8, her mother died when she was 7, her mother's mother died when her mother was 2 and so on. I've researched my maternal line back 7 generations and each mother died before her daughter's 10th birthday. Now, the causes of death that I know of (only have that info going back 3 generations) were not anything genetic. My mother died in a car accident, my grandmother in a wheat harvest accident and my great-grandmother died from a suspected infection in the pre antibiotics days. So there isn't any family history that directly makes me more likely to die young, but I have simply never expected to live long enough to see my children into adulthood, let alone living long enough to bury my father.

My Mom died at 50.  When I was 27, I had this misguided assumption that I would also die young.  It was a crazy fallacy (hopefully), but it was something that I carried with me.  When I turned 28, I realized how silly that was.  I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only person who's just assumed they'd die young though.

... expect another response from me shortly, after I finish reading the rest of this thread...

Self-employed-swami

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #64 on: December 09, 2012, 07:57:40 PM »
And I'm done reading the whole thread now.

My Mom died almost 5 years ago. She owned a business that we sold, but then had to deal with 7 years of unfiled and unpaid personal and business taxes. The estate took over 4 years to settle, and the only things she owned were the business, and 2 vehicles (no real estate).  It was crazy difficult, and required three trips to probate court with the estate.  We had to hire an estate lawyer, and a tax lawyer to deal with that mess. 

I burned through $60,000 pretty quickly (a few cars, and the start-up costs for my business, our wedding, paying for the remainder of DH's and my school, a few vacations), despite being pretty financially-savy, and we are in a higher cost of living area, so our house is the most expensive thing we've bought.  We only owe ~$65,000 on the house (less than 20% of the cost). 

I'm not sure that my life is any better than it would have been, if my Mom was still here, and we'd not received a penny.  She was TERRIBLE with money (as evidenced by her non-payment of any taxes in 7+ years before her death) and if she'd had access to the money, she'd likely have spent every penny herself.  My life is different, that is for sure.  We didn't have the best relationship (she was emotionally abusive) and it took me a good 3 years after her death, to process it all.

Anyhow, it sure 'set us up' as our housing costs for our family-sized 3 bedroom house, are just the same as they were for our 1 bedroom apartment, because of the cash we put down.  I am grateful, while at the same time, still battle with the guilt of enjoying the freedom that her death brought (both monetarily, and emotionally).  I miss her less and less, but often it is more intense than I expect it to be. 

My Dad will be retiring sometime in the next few years, and I hope he lives until a ripe old age, free of mental and physical limitations.  I haven't talked in detail with him about his finances, but I saw the other day that he's keeping 10 times what he should be, in cash, in his chequing account, and I gave him crap for it being there, and not being somewhere earning interest.  He's old school though, and feels like he always needs access to enough to pay cash for something large (like think brand new car large) over a weekend.  His GF is working on getting him to use online banking, and then we can get him an e-savings account that he can have the access to he likes, while also earning interest.

We paid off his house with the first estate disbursements, and he owes no one, any money.  He has both of my Mom's vehicles, and he has such a large FU fund, that he often reminds his employer, who is really in charge in that relationship (go Dad!).  He used to be the kind of person who never took more than 4 vacation days a year, and saved every penny for later.  However, since my Mom's death, he has finally started spending money on things he wants, and he enjoys, like trips to Nascar stuff.  He takes at least a month off work every year, and heads south. 

I hope that he, and his money last the exact same time, but I suspect that he is frugal enough that his money will outlast him, and there will be something left for us.  Hopefully that won't be for another 30+ years though.  I don't think I can handle losing another parent yet.

As for the inlaws, it is a completely different story.  My FIL will likely never be able to retire, but will somehow be financially independent.  However, my MIL will likely need our financial support, and will probably wind up living with us in the future. 

DH and I would like to be able to pay for schooling for our kids, should we be blessed with them, but we won't likely tell them.  I grew up in a frugal household, where we bought things secondhand, and I worked for my activity money (paper routes and the like, starting when I was 8).  I grew up knowing the value of a dollar, and we want our kids to be the same way. 

I'm not sure that I really answered the question, but I didn't expect to inherit anything, until my Mom died suddenly almost 5 years ago, and I'm not expecting anything else, as my one set of grandparents are likely to leave the bulk of their (likely sizeable) estate to my uncles that run farms.

Money changes family dynamics, and not always for the better.  I think my family is rather unscathed, but my inlaws definitely treat us differently than they used to.

James

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Re: Do you expect to inherit?
« Reply #65 on: December 12, 2012, 08:07:32 AM »
I remember hearing that one of the multi-millionaires on Dragon's Den (Shark Tank - USA equivalent) has a trust setup that will payout every year to match the salaries of his children. That way he can be very generous, but still the motivation behind receiving the money is always derived from your own ability to work/earn.

I always thought I might do something like that if I were super rich...

What I wouldn't like about that idea is that a high income consumer kid could simply up consumption and still be rewarded by that system.  But it does give me an idea for a modification to my prior thought.  I could match my children's yearly savings.  Earning more would still be motivated, but only if they saved more, so there would be a large incentive to save as much as possible.  And meeting with me every year to document the savings would provide me with a platform to encourage them and support/advise them in investment and other financial issues if they wish.  They could always maintain privacy by turning down my help which I would also respect and encourage.

I'm sure I'll modify and play with this idea over time, but I think incentives matter a lot in behavior.  I'd love to provide good incentives for my children that help them learn lessons that took me way too long.