How many of you have a Trust Fund? What’s it like?

Richie Richer wrote:

Upper middle class? I worked my way through college. My father earned $20k per year and raised a family of 6. I learned that everyone has a great deal of money to invest. I have never had cable TV. I lived with only my work cell phone. We did not eat out. Most don't want to make sacrifices at a young age in order to live a lifetime of leisure.

Yep. I am in the same boat as you (well, similar anyway). My family poor initially. My mother was a stay-at-home mom and my father was a lowly Methodist minister who barely made enough for our family of 5 to survive. When us three kids were a tad older, my mother went back to school to become a nurse. Her income and then my father's move to bigger churches greatly increased the family income.

Still, when I went to college, we were not wealthy.

I worked to pay my way through college (which I got half price on because I went to a Methodist college) and took out loans totaling $7,500.

When my wife and I got married, I had a job, and she was a graduate student at Stanford with a stipend. We banked half our income for the first 7 years of our marriage. Then, when graduate school was over for both of us (I went back during that period of time too), we got jobs and then after a couple years had our first child. My wife stayed home with the two kids for 15 years (so our son was 12 when she went back to work). During that time we averaged putting away 15% of my salary. When she went back, we upped our investing to about 25% of our income, and invested even more than that in some bad stock years (2008 for example). We didn't have cable TV for a long time, didn't eat out much. We DID vacation a lot though as traveling is something I have always wanted to do and have done.

It is not difficult to amass several million dollars by simply investing your income over time. Yes, unless you have a HUGE income, you make sacrifices to make that happen, but I never made any sacrifice that I missed. I'm a good cook. I don't need to eat out a lot. Now that the kids are out of the house, we DO order food more often, we have many subscription streaming services that we use, and we no longer buy used cars...but we are in a different financial position today than we were 20+ years ago.

I still stand by $4M not being enough to retire on at 40 - it does work in your no risk fantasies of living at the US median wage and doing nothing with the rest of your life except waiting to die.

Most people don't actually mean that there is money in a trust when they say it. They mean that someone provided them enough money for them to live off of. Otherwise it is silly to say that somebody is a trust fund baby. Many posters on Letsrun likely have net worths of less than $500k ye they have established a trust. Many also have been the recipients of a trust even though it may have been only $100k. You need to learn to deal with general terms instead of getting wrapped up in technicalities. Yes, I created my own "trustfund".

I have 3 siblings. My parents gave each of us about $200k a bit after college graduation, mostly in stock and even after already paying for college outright. This was within the last 10 years. My parents could have given more, but my dad once told me he wanted to give us "enough to do something, but not enough to do nothing."

None of us are complete do-nothings, drug addicts, or whatever. No one has blown all the money, and I understand that most of us have added to it considerably. Professions are as follows: attorney, hedge fund analyst, copywriter, small software business owner.

The real value of the money is the safety net which provides the confidence to take risks, knowing you have something to fall back on. I think my parents would have thought twice about giving the money if they knew any of us were irresponsible. As far as an "inheritance" maybe we will get more, but "starter money" (200k) in your 20s is much more valuable than inheritance (1 million) in your 60s.

I expect to earn $300k per year on my investments. You must not know what the word median means. People like you are not able to do it because you don't know how to invest so you will never amass significant wealth. People like me are able to retire on that amount because that is precisely how I was able to amass it in the first place.

blueblooded wrote:

I still stand by $4M not being enough to retire on at 40 - it does work in your no risk fantasies of living at the US median wage and doing nothing with the rest of your life except waiting to die.

That’s because you are a nitwit. As FP and others said many live great lives on 140kish annually. Especially if they own their house outfight. Please note that taxes are lower on CG. This is basically 10k of spending money a month post tax. This is plenty for most people to do whatever the hell they want.

Not quite correct.

My grandparents placed money in a trust for their grand children, Each of us were bequeathed quite substantial amounts. There were legal trust documents that had binding conditions such as executors of the trust and when funds could be touched.

I am not a trust fund baby but my friend is a high net worth manager. There are only a few posts in this thread who truly understand what a trust fund baby is. The 4 million dollar poster is just bragging on his money but that is peanuts and isnt a trust fund. A trust fund baby gets millions and millions when they turn 18, 21, 25, etc.

I got a little bit of cash when I was young.

Invested biggly but nobody appreciates my accomplishments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0c66XvN5WM

Yes, I'm fully aware. I just don't see the point of posting one's wealth on a message board. And I do not care for the term, trust fund baby. While some fortunate ones live off progenitors' hard work, my siblings and I decided not to do so.

hi sweetie hows it going wrote:

Richie Richer wrote:

I made my own. I retired in my mid 40s with 3 children to still put through college. I never made a great deal of money but socked every penny into the stock market and have a net worth exceeding $4M now. I pointed this out in a different thread and was even questioned by one of the founders who didn't believe that it was possible until I showed the simple math.

Must be nice, crook

This reply is a barometer of what kids are being taught today. So for those of us who worked hard, lived modestly, and saved ... they are going to come for it sooner or later.

Makes we wonder if I should spend it now, because the AOCs of the world are going to try to steal it at some point.

Like warm apple pie.

the media is corrupt wrote:

hi sweetie hows it going wrote:

Must be nice, crook

This reply is a barometer of what kids are being taught today. So for those of us who worked hard, lived modestly, and saved ... they are going to come for it sooner or later.

Makes we wonder if I should spend it now, because the AOCs of the world are going to try to steal it at some point.

It’s true - careers out of HS just don’t exist anymore. Above average would be some entry- mid level job somewhere after uni where you work to pay off student loans into your 30s while trying to start a family and save for a down payment at the same time. All these people living on the bubble with their $4M are banking on the floor not falling out when the current 30-40 year olds want their turn and push the cost of entry up even higher for the kids graduating tomorrow.

It would be easy to be jaded when you’ve tried to get started circa 2008 and then COVID happens.

hi sweetie hows it going wrote:

Do you have enough to live on? Is having one essentially like socialism, where you lose all drive to do anything of value?

You're just mad because you work a shi*tty job that you hate, because you're a coward. Right?

bfef wrote:

hi sweetie hows it going wrote:

Do you have enough to live on? Is having one essentially like socialism, where you lose all drive to do anything of value?

You're just mad because you work a shi*tty job that you hate, because you're a coward. Right?

I make $250j a year, my 5k pr is 14 flat, my wife is smoking hot etc...

Is a trust fund the same as a fixed lifetime annuity? I have a loser (with a capital L) son who I don't want to deal with anymore. F him. He won't get any inheritance when my wife and I go under bur I am leaning heavily towards buying him a fixed lifetime annuity with ~$250K. Probably give him, what, $400-500/month? Not enough to live on but at least he can f'ing eat while he lives under a bridge somewhere.

1ub2run wrote:

I used to be a financial advisor.

Most trust find babies are.. losers.

I had a son of a client buy a 4x4 with cash. Totaled it on way home. Didn't know he was suppose to get insurance beforehand.

Many people say the #1 problem of the rich is how to make their kids successful.

You want to help but not too much. They have to earn it first. You want to buffer any disaster but not spoon. You want to make it downhill but without making it a one way street. It's harder than it sounds.

most financial advisors are...losers as well

there only purpose in life is too suck money off the principle to pay themselves fees

most completely outsource any and all investment decision making to real investment analysts in a larger headquarters

most will just invest you in vanilla bonds/stocks (at high fees), and peddle garbage like annuities or cross sell expensive insurance plans.

Your average wealthy individual would be much better investing in a basic stock bond split, and using a private banking team for access to bespoke financing options and accredited investor opps. A lawyer can handle the occasional estate planning event.

No need to insert another individual (financial planner) into the mix sucking off fees every year with VERY LITTLE value provided.

the media is corrupt wrote:

hi sweetie hows it going wrote:

Must be nice, crook

This reply is a barometer of what kids are being taught today. So for those of us who worked hard, lived modestly, and saved ... they are going to come for it sooner or later.

Makes we wonder if I should spend it now, because the AOCs of the world are going to try to steal it at some point.

Don't worry, when "liberals" talk about taxing the rich, they mean taxing the obscenely rich, not people who have the amount of money you likely have. They're not talking about taxing people who are comfortable, they're talking about taxing the obscenely rich--something that was routinely done before Reagan was president. Then there were fewer and less obscenely rich people than there are now. Think about how much money society could have to do useful things like have a national power grid--oh, wait, that already exists, but the "freedom-loving, Republican" Texans decided they didn't want any part of that.

The Social democracies of Scandinavia have the highest labor force participation rate in the world, look at World Bank data or OECD. I am unsure why there is still the correlation between having enough money to be able to eat and have healthcare to not wanting to work at all.