Mildly Infuriating

Damn, I wish my parents had an inheritance to waste.

My mom just wanted to make enough to spend it over her lifetime, and that seems fair to me. She got nothing from her parents and had to support her own mom in her old age, and didn't want to cost us anything.

I would argue that inheritance is a huge driver of inequality. I have gotten small amounts from the estate of my dad's parents (my dad died when I was 16) and a childless relative and even those amounts jumped us ahead some, I can imagine what some huge amount unearned would do - but it's just that. Unearned.

My mom is "choosing" to spend it at a retirement home because we can't have her live with us and my brother is an asshole. And honestly, I'd rather have her spend her last years in comfort (we won't even be in the same country) than get some windfall when she dies.

Retirement homes aren't cheap. She's in her early 80s, but both of her parents lived until their 90s, so I'm guessing there won't be much of any inheritance left over.

Oh this is me. Their house is packed and they keep buying more shit and going on international cruises. We’ll get nothing.

No one should expect to inherit anything when their loved ones die.

The worst people are those that are too lazy to build something on their own, but sit around praying for their parents death so they can inherited and live an easy life.

Inheritance is clearly societal ill, and even on a personal level, depending on inheritance might cause family troubles

Inheritance is weird. My partner and I stand to inherit a good bit when the parents on either side pass. Both sides of the family had successful middle class careers saved and invested well. Even considering the siblings on both sides, we could inherit an amount around $1M from either side.

But it's weird in two ways. First, it's not something that can be counted on. On either side it could be completely eaten up by nursing home care and medical costs for our parents. So we're not planning our own retirement assuming a windfall from inheritance. Second, on either side, unless they're unlucky, at least one of the parents is likely to live into their late 80s or 90s. So we'll already be in our 60s or 70s.

In other words, while we stand to likely inherit a good chunk of change, it will come so late in life that we won't really need it. Unless our parents die younger than expected, we will already be well into a fully funded retirement by the time they pass.

I feel inheritance made a lot more sense in the past. A farmer or a craftsman would will their farm or business to their children. And that child would take over that business while the parent was still alive, but too old to work it anymore. The child got the business or farm, but in turn had to support the parent in their later years.

But now? You're basically just inheriting your parent's house and whatever is left over of their retirement accounts. And you're doing so at an age where it really doesn't necessarily help you. Sure, if you yourself are unable to retire, then that windfall will be a godsend. But considering how wealth reproduces through generations, if you're in a position to inherit substantial funds from your parents, odds are you probably have a pretty big nest egg yourself built up by then. The people who could really use an inheritance to fund their retirement are unlikely to have parents wealthy enough to give them one.

But yeah, this is why I support strong inheritance taxes. For most people who inherit anything substantial, by the time you actually inherit something, you don't really need it anymore.

Jokes on you, i grew up poor and never had an expectation of shit.

Us child free Gen Xers on the other hand...

I don't think what's talked about enough is kids having the talk with their parents about not being able to take care of them when they get old because you can't afford to take of yourself and didn't save anything for retirement. So you hope SSN will be enough for them. I know my mother always asked me if I would take care of her when she got old.

She would say that's why she had kids. But I had to sit her down and run the math and I said it's not about if I have the will or not it's is it possible and the math just doesn't workout and I have an okay job. I can only imagine what people lower down on the ladder are going through.

There are a lot of boomers that about to get a horrible wake up call and a lot of heartbreak watching our parents suffer at hands of their own making.

They will be drowning and some kids are going to jump in and get pulled under when trying to rescue them and the ones who know they don't have to proper equipment. Stay out of the water and mourn the loss.

And that is there choice, and most of what's left over will go into their care home expenses anyway, that'll drive them bankrupt either way.

So the real question is, what should Millenials & Gen-Z do now

Most people need to sell their estate to pay for end of life care, just tell your boomer parents they can spend their last days in whatever dumpster their meagre estate can afford and they might rethink their next cruise.

My thought is that if you’re going to give money, don’t wait until you die. The earlier you help someone, the more of their life it can improve. Help your kid buy their first house or something. Then spend everything before you die.

Make a boomer leisure business, lazy children. EZ.

Suckers I inherited a cane from one side and a watercolor of a dog from the other. Behold my wealth and cry into your lentils. My lentils are salty enough.

Lol my dad left me everything he had when he died. So, I got a truck.

When my mom goes, my sister and I might get to split a house we don't want that's on its third or fourth refinancing.

I guess if your parents don't have an inheritance to give you just never consider not getting one to be a problem.