Dad says me & my sibs will inherit “more than we think”, but I have my doubts.
Too many lean times in the family.
Possibly. But since everybody in the family has lived at least into their late eighties and since end-of-life health care costs can be staggering, I don’t know how much my brother and I would really end up inheriting (nor would I expect or want to inherit for another thirty years or so).
I think you might find that he’s still the same cool guy, living the same way he did before. Just a guy with one hell of a safety net in case of something tragic. 
No. I haven’t had any contact with my family in about 10 years and that’s the way I like it. If somebody were to die and I received some kind of notice to show up at the reading of the will I’d hire a lawyer to go in my place. That’s one of the little things I learned recently here on the dope
I got zip. Not that I was expecting anything. After my father died, I never heard from my stepmother again.
My take on that attitude is different.
I married into a family that is quite wealthy, but very low key about it, very modest. One thing I noticed with the kids, especially being married to one of them, is that there is a certain laissez faire about money, and success. It is like having a really good insurance policy. No matter what we do, we will never be in the streets, nor will our children starve.
My husband is a good provider, and we work hard, we run our own business. We can take risks that others might not be comfortable with… Thankfully, they have all turned out well. But we are careful and thoughtful with our plans. We don’t take advantage of the situation.
His brother was a very nice guy, one of my best friends. He died when he was 43, basically drank himself to death. Because of the ‘insurance policy’ of having the parents he had, he knew he never really had to do much with his life. He didn’t. Minimal monkey jobs just to pay the bills, no wife, no kids.
He was a great friend, great brother, pretty good son, and a great uncle to my kids. But he never had any purpose. Does that mean I think he needed to go out and take over Wall Street, or find the cure for cancer, or become a household name? No. I think it would have been great if he would have just done something. Help out destitute kids in Indonesia, become a professional fisherman, fight fires, something. I think because he had no purpose, no ambition, no goal, he died way too soon.
Yeah, I still miss him.
Maybe.
My mom and stepdad each have life insurance policies to the tune of half a million, which would be split four ways. $125K around here is damn good money. But needless to say, I won’t see a dime of it unless they die in a plane crash or something. Assuming they live out their golden years, all I have to look forward to is a 1/4 split of a house (worth about $80K) and a 1/4 split of their various belongings, worth not much.
My father on the other hand is a different story. He acts like he’s poor, but he’s been known to squirrel away money. He’s also made quite a bit more than he likes to admit from growing and selling certain crops that aren’t grown in the open in Menard County, Illinois. And I’m sure he’s got a pretty generous life insurance policy through his job. He lives pretty fast and loose, and I honestly don’t expect him to live to 65. However, he may be spiteful to me and my sister and leave it all to his current wife’s kids. Who knows?
Mrs. Homie’s family is a different ball game. Her mom is broke, but her mom’s parents have all kinds of money, which they’ll undoubtedly leave to their 3 children. Mrs. Homie’s mom’s cut will eventually come to us, but who knows how much (if any) will be left by then.
Her dad lives like a miser and probably has low to mid six figures put away somewhere (and in the Ozark mountains of southeastern Missouri, where he lives, low-to-mid six figures is several fortunes). He also has a pretty huge ranch, and I’m sure Mrs. Homie’s brother will buy out our share.
The bottom line is that, by the time Mrs. Homie and I are 60, we’ll have probably come into about $150-200K from various sources. We could do worse.
I’ve read several articles about the humongous intergenerational transfer of wealth that is expected over the coming years. I wonder if expectations of that are contributing to so many folks piling up debt.
My folks died a while back, and left us some that we expect will be spent well before the kids are through college. My wife's dad has some , but he is also a total dick and a bigamist whom we don’t speak to. Don’t expect a penny from him, tho I wouldn’t be surprised if he skips us and leaves something to our kids.
My father is an only child, and my grandparents on his side are comfortable… He will inherit everything, I imagine, unless they leave stuff to their friends, which is a strong possibility. My stepmothers parents are loaded (they panic when their checking account gets under 5 figures), and she is an only child, so she will inherit everything save what they may will to their grandchildren. I am barely a grandchild, and as the one of us to actually do soemthing with my life, I expect to get nothing from them.
My stepmother will manage to destroy any actual wealth they manage to inherit, and I have been told I will not be inheriting any property, as they intend to liquidate everything and move to Vegas when my father retires.
The annoying thing is, the money they have/inherit/make will be thrown away chasing a multi-million dollar pipe-dream my stepmother has. If it pays off, she’ll make a couple tens of millions… but it always seems to get hung up on small issues (no blueprints for her idea, no actual investors, no capital) and her business sense is TERRIBLE.
No, my goal is to see to it that my children can enter their adult lives stable, healthy, happy people so that, someday, my grandkids can inherit from them. Hehehe…
I don’t expect I’ll inherit huge sums.
My grandparents on both sides of the family are gone, and I didn’t get single thing. There were things that were supposed to come to me from my Opa, but the greedy relatives took it. We were here in the US and they were in Germany, so there was nothing we could do. This taught me to expect nothing.
My mother is not rich, and at just about 70 years old is still working. I told her to enjoy life while she can and not worry about leaving stuff to my sister or I. She has a will and there are certain things that are coming to us, but not large sums of money.
My MIL is quite comfortable and talks often of how she doesn’t want to spend money so she can leave it to us. My husband and I have told her over and over again, that we expect her to enjoy her life to the fullest and to quit worrying about leaving us anything. She doesn’t really listen to us, although she did finally break down and buy a new car. She didn’t finance it, just paid cash.
I’m not expecting anything from my Dad and step-mother either. I have two sisters. One from my Dad’s and mother’s marriage, and one from Dad’s and step-mother’s marriage. My Dad and step-mother seem to do well, but I don’t expect anything. It’s just the way it is and it doesn’t bother me in the least.
At any rate, I’m not worried about whether we receive anything. I just want my parents to live their lives and enjoy them.
My parents don’t really have any large sums to leave in a will. They also know that if it came down to it I’d much rather absolutely nothing at all than their house, be it where they currently live or anywhere else.
My grandmother is the only other relative I’m fairly close with. She’s doing pretty well financially; not loaded but saved well for her retirement. I know I’ll get something from her, though not as much as her kids or her grandkids/great-grandkids. Whenever we visit, whenever she sends me a birthday card, etc, she forces some amount of cash onto me. I invariably tell her that she really doesn’t need to do that; I have a job and she should be spending her money on enjoying herself. She equally invariably responds that spoiling her grandchildren is something she enjoys, and I should show some respect and not question my grandmother. (She’s kind of awesome that way).
My father died 4 years ago. Everything was in a trust; after all the dust settled, there was about $150K in it. 1/3 to me, 1/3 to my brother & 1/3 to put my niece through college. She gets the balance when she turns 35.
Not mega-millions, but it’s a nice nest egg.
VCNJ~
Both my mom and my dad (they’re separated) inherited quite a bit from their parents. Nothing went to the grandchildren. Neither my mom nor my dad are great earners, so they will spend most of their inheritage and pass possibly very little on to me and my brother.
In answer to the OP, however, I have chosen for the kind of mortgage (for a modest home, about 200 K) that will cost less now, but may cost more to pay off when I’m in my late 50’s (so in 15-20 years). If me and my fiance are still together by then, no problemo. But if, in my late fifties, worst case scenario, I am divorced, single, unemployed, and my savings gone, I can use what is left of the inheritance (parents will be 90-95 by then) to finance my house.
While there are certainly families with a lot of wealth, I hope people aren’t disappointed. If your parents retire today will a million dollars (mine are right about at that point), it isn’t very likely they will leave much of anything to you. Retirement, inflation, health care costs, and a fairly long lifespan are likely to eat up a lot of wealth long before death, then there is the fact that a million dollars spread between a three children and six grandchildren (ignoring the trust for the dog) isn’t a lot of money (granted, I wouldn’t turn down the check). I don’t think MOST people who expect it will be lucky enough to get enough to justify piling up debt.
I’m quite sure that’s true.
It is a lot, but not in the same sense that it was in, say, 1930 or even 1960, prior to the inflationary era.
I agree with Silenus. I hope my father’s last check bounces.
I have no idea what I will inherit from my mom’s estate when she goes, but as someone who is the youngest of 5 ( three are deceased and one is on borrowed time) I expect to get something, but really don’t care.
My mom has had a shitty life ( one should never bury all their children in their lifetime.) and I want her to learn to enjoy what she has. Being that she is a product of the Depression and good old fashion GUILT Irish/Catholic Double Whammy!, she doesn’t spend money on herself ( except on cheap things, which she buys loads of., but I digress.) and el crappo toys for my children. She could possibly have a wad of money somewhere, but it is doubtful and again, I don’t care and don’t think about it.
That said, I have an amusing anecdote:
Driving somewhere with my mom as a passenger, she said, " You know, when I die, you will come into quite a bit of money."
My thoughts instantly figure her idea of *Quite A Bit of Money * ( $10K) and my idea of *Quite a Bit of Money * ( A million) are quite different, but I say nothing.
My mom continues in the same voice that would be used to casually announce the weather, " Unless, of course I linger in some nursing home and the estate is eaten up by costs."
I burst out laughing and pretend to open up her door as we are driving, " Guess which ending I pick for you!"
My mom. Let me show you her. Let me show you my mother.