Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
The Los Angeles Times has a trend piece about Baby Boomers deciding they've already done enough to help their children. They've decided to spend their remaining savings rather than leave money for their children after they die.
My parents -- a pastor and public school teacher -- probably wouldn't have been the type to dole out funds even if they had them. Barring a lottery win or something, I don't think my siblings and I should anticipate any windfall if my parents die.
My in-laws, however, recently mentioned that they plan to spend their savings on travel rather than leave big inheritances for their kids. They really have helped out their children quite a bit over the years. I completely support their plan.
The comments to the article are devastating, though, with many tirades against the selfishness of boomers. What do you think? Also, I wonder if there's any relationship between death taxes and these decisions.
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
After my first post, ("Good for them") I began thinking of what my generation is leaving those left behind, like thousands in debt run up by a profligate government doing the bidding of its baby boom constituency, a total lack of quality education and a culture that is spiraling downward as a result of the narcissism of the 60's. In keeping with what we've been to this point, why not spend what's left? However, I still like this commercial from Sony.
Edited on September 8, 2011 at 5:46pmJul '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
"...I don't think my siblings and I should anticipate any windfall if my parents die."
If?
Feb '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
Not only will Papa Toad and I be unlikely to leave an "inheritance" to our children other than memories and possibly some property, we can't even afford to send them to college. My own parents will leave property to their children, and possibly some money for the property and taxes, and my in-laws hope to leave us something... but we're not holding our breaths. They have given us the greatest gift -- life! -- and after that we can't ask for too much more. I think the idea of expecting an inheritance is the selfish one, not the idea that one's own money is one's own to spend as one sees fit.
Sep '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
How many of these boomers expect my generation to fund their SS and Medicare benefits while they spend their personal accumulated wealth on vacations and entertainment? Far too many, if my own extended family is any indication.
Dec '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
Most of us Boomer's kids would be happy if they'd just vote to leave our children a chance to achieve some of the success they've had. Personally, I told my in-laws to enjoy the fruit of their labor while they can rather trying to save it for my wife and me. If there's anything left we'll gladly receive it, but we certainly have no claim on it. All that being said, anyone who wants to support my inheritance can enjoy my mother-in-laws books.
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
I cried simply reading the description to this one.
Feb '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
We Toads love I'll Love You Forever! We love to find the cats in each picture, and the drawing of the mother crossing town at night with a ladder strapped to the roof of her car to crawl into her son's room and sing to him is priceless.
Dec '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
I cried simply reading the description to this one. · Sep 8 at 8:47am
Sadly, that's not my mother-in-law. Amazon thinks all Sheila's are equivalent apparently.
Jun '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
Boomer Bob: "After all, the kids are so ungrateful--ungrateful for the big house, the three SUVs, the RV, the boat, the motorcycles, the mistresses, the drinking problem, the gambling addiction, and the divorce. And on top of that, we never asked them where they were going at night, or made them interrupt their weekends with church. What more did they want from us? We're really disappointed in them."
Mar '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
Inheritances have a profoundly corrosive effect on the young. Any kid who knows he will come into money ends up less motivated to succeed. We all know many, many examples of people wrecked by money they knew was on its way - let alone those who were wrecked by money they did not earn, and so did not value.
For this reason, my beloved spawn have been told that they will not inherit *a dime*. They can expect nothing from the passing of their parents. And it is because (of course) we love them too much to give them anything.
Edited on September 8, 2011 at 6:01pmJun '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
Mark Steyn has a great line on the boomers, something to the effect of, "they were born in peace, they were born in a time of limited government... the richest generation in human history... and now they're whining because they don't get to see Robert Goulet in dinner theater."
So exits the crappiest generation this nation has seen...
Dec '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
iWc: Inheritances have a profoundly corrosive effect on the young. Any kid who knows he will come into money ends up less motivated to succeed. We all know many, many examples of people wrecked by money they knew was on its way - let alone those who were wrecked by money they did not earn, and so did not value.
For this reason, my beloved spawn have been told that they will not inherit *a dime*. They can expect nothing from the passing of their parents. And it is because (of course) we love them too much to give them anything. · Sep 8 at 8:59am
Edited on Sep 08 at 09:01 am
I heard Krauthammer say once, "The blessing of cynicism is that you expect nothing, receive less, and yet remain serene." For some reason that popped into my head reading your comment.
May '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
I believe the "inheritance" is already in place...it's a mountain of debt.
They say that struggle and adversity build character, so we're bequeathing to our descendants an excellent opportunity to build strong character. I'm sure they'll be grateful.
May '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
My father intended to leave some valuable property to us upon his passing. I told him that when his will was read it should say, "Being of sound mind and somewhat sound body, (he died of Parkinson's) I spent it all."
I hope to pass something along. Given the expenses and debts (house and/or college) awaiting young people today, it may help to "catch up with the plow."
Mar '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
The best inheritances are those with sentimental value. A favorite chair or heirloom - something to connect the past with the future. These are the things I cherish from my ancestors, and I hope those who survive me will treasure my keyboard. Maybe they'll bronze it.
Edited on September 8, 2011 at 6:22pmMar '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
That was my first thought as well. Setting aside other considerations, there is a certain satisfaction in citizens depriving the federal beast of the wealth they have earned over a lifetime which our benevolent overlords wish to seize from us on our deathbeds.
Oct '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
It could be worse. We could be Europe, where the adults seemingly don't care about their children's economic future at all.
Aug '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
The baby boomer generation is truly the most selfish generation of recent history. Traditionally, the transfer of property from one generation to another was one of the cornerstones of maintaining a middle class.
Now we have a generation who will leave their children with debt and whose children will inherit no property due to the "reverse mortgages" that the older generation received to pay for hookers and crack.
The fact is that the break down of the family extends beyond child birth and the "single parent" curse. It includes "Sun Cities" where connections between generations are dissolved. Boomers didn't have to take care of their parents, the State could do it for them. Now they segregate themselves from the emerging generations, building no connections between generations.
We need to return to a family ethic where parents take care of children when the children are young, and where children take care of parents/grandparents as they get older. The connections of the family are valuable and inheritances are a way of ensuring that future generations can succeed.
I'm not talking Paris Hilton here, I'm talking middle class inheritance. A pox on Boomers.
Aug '10
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
Nobody has the right to tell someone how to spend their own money. If the parents don't want to leave any cash for their kids, that's their prerogative.
Furthermore, counting on the death of one's parents is a lousy form of financial planning.
Sep '11
Re: Baby Boomers Decide Not To Give Children Inheritance
The article starts off with a quote from someone who paid for her daughter's medical school tuition. All else being equal, I'm guessing that the daughter has a lifetime earning potential that dwarfs her parents.
Not that I disagree with many of the complaints about baby boomers. I'm sympathetic to Nathaniel Wright's arguments in comment # 18. I'm simply suggesting that the situation may be more complex than simple selfishness.