I'm surprised that it's normal among people I know (though as tiurin said, there are a shocking lot of trust fund babies in our (DaP/Mudd/CTY) circle) to blithely assume that there'll be money to inherit when their parents die, even beyond sale of a home. That the money their parents are spending today (to buy them fancy dinner, say) is "just" paying down the inheritance. I edited out a few lines about the parents spending the money now for tax purposes so the child will have less of a tax hit later. (You went to college with the originator of the comment I pasted. She has a 5-yr-old baby now. She and I are not friends.)
I can honestly say that I've never been a part of discussions of saving money for future generations or receiving money from past generations. When Grandpa's brother died, then his widow died 5 or so years later, they left their money to their niece and nephews (my mom and her brothers). That's all been distributed now (Grandpa parcelled it out into tax-free bits), probably over 5-6 years. No idea where they got their money; they never had kids, so that's one bit. Jack was in the Navy during the Korean War, don't know what he did after that. He died when I was in high school. I don't think Amy ever worked; her English wasn't very good. (She was from Japan.)
When my grandparents moved into their retirement village, they had to shuffle their assets and savings to pay the entry fee, and they have rent on their apartment, too. I have no idea what they'll leave. I vaguely recall them saying they basically entrusted the Village with their money, but this was a long time ago--before I met Ben, even.
The only thing I've ever heard about Grandpa's dad was that he specified in his will that his (gorgeous, based on pictures) house in Pennsylvania overlooking the Susquehanna not go to the family, because he didn't want to cause strife over who got the house and who didn't.
The planning of and for inheritances is as alien to my experience as living on Mars.
no subject
I can honestly say that I've never been a part of discussions of saving money for future generations or receiving money from past generations. When Grandpa's brother died, then his widow died 5 or so years later, they left their money to their niece and nephews (my mom and her brothers). That's all been distributed now (Grandpa parcelled it out into tax-free bits), probably over 5-6 years. No idea where they got their money; they never had kids, so that's one bit. Jack was in the Navy during the Korean War, don't know what he did after that. He died when I was in high school. I don't think Amy ever worked; her English wasn't very good. (She was from Japan.)
When my grandparents moved into their retirement village, they had to shuffle their assets and savings to pay the entry fee, and they have rent on their apartment, too. I have no idea what they'll leave. I vaguely recall them saying they basically entrusted the Village with their money, but this was a long time ago--before I met Ben, even.
The only thing I've ever heard about Grandpa's dad was that he specified in his will that his (gorgeous, based on pictures) house in Pennsylvania overlooking the Susquehanna not go to the family, because he didn't want to cause strife over who got the house and who didn't.
The planning of and for inheritances is as alien to my experience as living on Mars.