Why do some parents not leave any money to their kids?

maybe he would enjoy traveling the world with you, sailing on your boat with you when you are still alive rather than getting a check from you when you die? just a thought...i mean what message are you really sending him?

Americans don't care about family any longer than they're legally required too.

Great post.

Thanks for your ideas.

We gravitate to spending and indulging on experiences rather than things. We do take nice vacations but they are domestic, maybe Hawaii a couple of times since he was born, but nothing luxurious. We did stuff like camping and mountain biking for as long as he was interested in them. And frankly, we travel as much as any of us want to.

Please understand that buying stuff isn't going to increase our time together one bit.

We live an average middle class lifestyle for which we really enjoy.

The only thing a bit out of the ordinary is that we live in one of those expensive cities and in a pretty nice neighborhood, but a modest house nonetheless. I wouldn't change that for the world, either.

Again, i think you're absolutely right. I just don't think that buying anything is going to change that.

killermike wrote:

where better to put that money than with the people you've already given your life to helping grow?

A highly effective charity

Surely they would have no money left if they were so generous with charity.

Charity begins at home.

Fortunately, when both of my parents passed away, I inherited billions of dollars. It was a rough time. Travelling the world to learn to bring justice to all those terrorists was my calling.

I hope I can give away my money when I get old. Obviously how I can do that is highly dependent on how I die. BUT... I hope if I live long enough I can start giving it away to people and causes that matter to me, and I can see them enjoy it.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Surely they would have no money left if they were so generous with charity.

Charity begins at home.

I'm not even sure what the second line means.

I plan on giving consistently throughout my lifetime, but considering that I don't know when I will die, I certainly hope I have money left after my death. If I have significant money (greater than $500k), which I hope I do, I will certainly give the majority of it to a highly effective charity. Assuming my children don't somehow become victims of Malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, they won't be the greatest opportunity to do good with a dollar.

Not fooling anyone by posting under a different name, nagoya.

In the US, the health care system is already broken (bad and terribly expensive), and spiraling worse every year, and becoming a hurricane of wealth destruction, so that's probably a serious factor.

I think the recommendation was 1.4 to 2 grand per Kilogram of Body Weight. No wait, am I'm getting this confused with the Protein for Distance Runners thread?

don't waste life wrote:

if my parent's have a few hundred thousand when they die I will be disappointed......disappointed that they weren't able to spend the money enjoying life.

worrying about how much money you are going to inherit or how much you have to pass on is a waste of life, as is trolling running boards with threads like this.

^This. If I have any money left when I die, I have failed miserably.

you can't take it with you wrote:

Even if you only have a few hundred K left when you pass, where better to put that money than with the people you've already given your life to helping grow?

You need to get out of your BMW-driving, avacado toast-eating suburbs a bit more. Not many people have "a few hundred K" to leave their kids.

Don't have kids and live for today!

you can't take it with you wrote:

Where exactly do these people leave their money?

Even if you only have a few hundred K left when you pass

If your "kids" need an inheritance when you die at 80-90 and they are 50-60, then you failed at parenting. Failed miserably.

I am quite sure that my parents won't have a "few hundred K" when they pass. They are living well thanks to great lifetime financial planning, but they have not hoarded money either.

They helped all three of their kids with things like college and starting homes and businesses when it was useful, and now in our 40s-50s as well-off professionals, none of us expect anything from them. When my parents go on a nice vacation and joke about "spending our inheritance," we tell them to spend it all. We don't need a thing from them, because they invested in their children at a smart time (building an education, career, household and early investments), not the idiotic American preoccupation of putting aside vanity "inheritance" money that would have had more impact on your children earlier in life.

Personally, I find nothing more disgusting than families circling like vultures as their elders age, talking about inheritance like it is their birthright. If you are 50 and need mom and dad to help you through through your mid-life crisis and catch up on the bad planning and investing of your early adulthood, your parents and you sucked at life.

What are you talking about? Your propensity to stereotype others is saying more about your lack of observation than anything else. Money or no money, I'm glad I am not related to you.

yawn yawn wrote:

some don’t even have that wrote:

This is gross, but a lot of people don’t even have “a few hundred K left” when they pass. A lot of people are just that bad at life.

A lot of parents would be grateful not to have their children turn out like you.

If you consider not having a few hundred k left when you die as being bad at life, then I feel truly sorry for you.

+1

Truly the embodiment of entitlement.

Some parents have zero bequest motive. My parents, despite an upper class lifestyle that included luxury cars, country clubs, etc. contributed nothing to my college. Since getting any financial help was a struggle due to their high 6 figure income, I ended going somewhere that was not a junior college but would pay me for my test scores, etc. I learned to expect nothing. The great thing is that if you they don't help, they can't tell you what to do. The never saw my grades, hated my major, hated my Ph.D. in Economics, disliked my hippy girlfriends but I figured that it was all my sacrifices, not theirs. As I have grown older I have seen some of my friends put themselves out for their parents due to love but also the fact that the estate is in the background. Perhaps I am a bad son, but I worry less than others about my aging parents. What goes around comes around.

Some parents believe that letting their kids struggle a bit will do them some good. You can be proud of accomplishment with hard work. Having stuff given to you may rob you of that satisfaction / growth.