Planning to receive an inheritance

[ronocnikral]

i've found my happiness and planning to be independent of any windfalls.

i've seen too many families ripped apart with members asking for an "advance" on their inheritance. my grandma must be worth quite a lot, as they formed a corporation and everyone gets a "share" every year. either way, i hope it works out for my pappy. my only request from him was not to leave a bill.

also, i know my FIL has quite a bit of cheese. between two pensions, health care coverage through the VA, a lawsuit settlement, he has quite a bit laying around. but, i would rather he spends it on his cable TV and learning to walk again.

 

[Moemg]

I received a surprise inheritance from a close friend of my family . We were all in her will to receive $1,000 and some personal items . When she died there half a million dollars so it was divided among all the people in the will . We all received $20,000 and the personal item . They nice thing was our children also inherited and they all put good use to the money . Payments towards graduate school , my niece expanded her business . I took my Mom & My Aunt & my daughter on a cruise and invested the rest . By the way my personal item was an original Tiffany lamp .

 

[MichaelB]

Families are funny and money often comes between people. An expected inheritance may not be there because of someone else’s greed or manipulations. Doesn’t matter how open the loved ones are because the problems originate with the survivors.
An inheritance is a nice surprise, especially when unexpected, but has a great capacity to disappoint, and for that reason shouldn’t be part of a financial plan.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I will likely inherit something from my 93 year old Aunt (who is in good health and very sprightly, God bless her). She has no children, only 6 nieces and nephews and some great nieces and nephews...all quite well off. I certainly don't count on anything at all. She asked me recently about leaving a substantial sum to her college, including her house which is near the campus. I encouraged her to do so...she got a scholarship to attend this school and goes there for various events still. She also wants to leave money to her church...another excellent idea as she derives a lot of spiritual strength from attendance. I think she should also leave a bequest to the young couple who live next door to her as they help her out a lot with small tasks, bring over some meals, have taken her to doctor's appointments.

 

[donheff]

Seems like the only one in my family likely to leave an inheritance is me. (heh)

+1 Me too. When my mother died she left a little money to her 7 kids, 21 grandkids, and a few great grand kids. I bought a jet ski. My two kids know they may get a pile from DW and me but that it may get decimated by Mr. Market. So far they seem to be LBYMing with an eye to their own FI.

 

[heyduke]

I... By the way my personal item was an original Tiffany lamp .

you knew we were going to ask... didn't you?

 

[Coach]

BigNick, I don't think you should feel grubby. Realistic planning means that you consider all possibilities.

I agree with the others -- there are still a lot of ifs for you. Too many to build a number and a date into your plan. But I would not ignore the possibility of inheritance. As time passes at least some of the ifs will resolve and the range of possibilities will narrow.

Coach

 

[73ss454]

Seems like the only one in my family likely to leave an inheritance is me. (heh)

My bad, after careful thought I did get an inheritance, a Funeral Bill!

 

[grumpy]

I have some experience with inheriting money from parents. Before I ER'd I inherited around $180K from my mother. DW's father is nearing the end of his life and she will inherit around $200K. In our planning we have always intended to fund college expenses of grandchildren (when we have some - DIL is pregnant with the first). We never counted these amounts toward figuring out when we would be FI. But we did allocate less of our portfolio toward future education costs. I figured that if these expected inheritances didn't materialize, we still had many years to accumulate the education funds.

 

[ls99]

To paraphrase an old saying from my days in Alaska: Go and get that bear, before you try to sell its hide.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I received a surprise inheritance from a close friend of my family.... By the way my personal item was an original Tiffany lamp .

I (and everyone* he ever met) received a never worn tee-shirt from a rock concert from a childhood friend; it was a nice gesture from his family.

--------
* Not the same tee-shirt.

 

[Westernskies]

You retire on the potatoes, not the gravy. Plan accordingly.

 

[braumeister]

Just one other stray thought.
Don't know where she lives, but some states have an estate tax that can take a sizable bite out of whatever is left when she dies. Unlike the federal estate tax, there is often no threshold on state estate taxes, so the applicable percentage is applied to the estate and the state takes it off the top, with the remainder distributed to the heirs.

 

[TromboneAl]

It doesn't bother anybody else to be discussing counting up the money you're going to get when someone dies?

Reminds me of that movie in which the old Italian women are gathered around someone's deathbed waiting to pounce on her possessions as soon as she takes her last breath. Anybody know what movie that was?

 

[Khan]

Just as a derailment:

Back in the '60s Father's parents took in a relative who was demented (don't know a better word, drank and smoked himself to that condition). They took care of him for a year or so before he died.

After he died there was a small insurance policy from his time in the military (Don't know details).

Obviously the money should have gone to the folks who took care of him.

One of the relatives demanded a share and there were lawyers involved and the money got split up (as one aunt said: enough to buy a pair of jeans).

The relative who demanded the money wasn't spoken to for several years. Then he showed up at a Thanksgiving dinner crying and begging for forgiveness because it was his wife's idea and she was now dead.

Family is highly overrated.

 

[aaronc879]

Even if I thought I would eventually get something I wouldn't plan on it until it actually happened. I expect no inheritence. My parents have very little now and will likely have nothing but SS and a small pension by their 70's so I would get no cash even if they died relatively young. Based on family history, my mom will likely live to be late 90's or beyond while I will be lucky to make late 70's. So I may not even outlive my mom. Therefore no inheritance.

 

[CuppaJoe]

....

Reminds me of that movie in which the old Italian women are gathered around someone's deathbed waiting to pounce on her possessions as soon as she takes her last breath. Anybody know what movie that was?

Sounds similar to this opera which is hilarious:

Gianni Schicchi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[FUEGO]

I have some experience with inheriting money from parents. Before I ER'd I inherited around $180K from my mother. DW's father is nearing the end of his life and she will inherit around $200K. In our planning we have always intended to fund college expenses of grandchildren (when we have some - DIL is pregnant with the first). We never counted these amounts toward figuring out when we would be FI. But we did allocate less of our portfolio toward future education costs. I figured that if these expected inheritances didn't materialize, we still had many years to accumulate the education funds.

This is probably where a lot of our eventual inheritance(s) will go. Kids and/or grandkids. Assuming we are comfortably FIRE'd and don't really need the money. We probably wouldn't give a huge lump sum, but maybe let them know that the grandkid's college is paid for, and take the extended family on vacations (depending on size of inheritance).

 

[Westernskies]

..take the extended family on vacations

I thought you were risk-averse...

 

[Moemg]

Here is a picture of what I'll probably inherit from my Mom .

 

[calmloki]

It doesn't bother anybody else to be discussing counting up the money you're going to get when someone dies?

Reminds me of that movie in which the old Italian women are gathered around someone's deathbed waiting to pounce on her possessions as soon as she takes her last breath. Anybody know what movie that was?

No clue, but a favorite movie of mine has several great death scenes, including a gangster's and more on point, a Momma housewife's. The Momma rises from her deathbed to take care of business. Tampopo (Dandelion). Outstanding highly recommended film.

 

[bbbamI]

I wish I had enough money to give to the people I care for now instead of having to wait until I'm a resident of a pine condo.

 

[haha]

No clue, but a favorite movie of mine has several great death scenes, including a gangster's and more on point, a Momma housewife's. The Momma rises from her deathbed to take care of business. Tampopo (Dandelion). Outstanding highly recommended film.

I loved this movie too! The actress that plays Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto) also has a great role in Taxing Woman. I appreciated that wordplay.

Ha

 

[SecondCor521]

I think the greatest danger in this area is not making FIRE plans that are contingent on external dependencies but in viewing loved ones (particularly parents) through a $$$-studded lens and cheapening what may be our last years with people who are often the most important people in our lives. I have to say that W2R was very helpful in enlightening me in this area a while ago.

In my case, my parents are very open about their finances and their estate plans, so I know with relative certainty that I stand to inherit enough to make me FI several times over. I also happen to know that I would spend every penny of that inheritance on my kids' college before I would spend a penny on anything for me, because that is what they value; doing otherwise would seem to be disrespectful.

I actually want to avoid becoming FI by inheritance, so ironically the prospect of that spurs me on to accelerate my independent FIRE plans. Currently I'm looking at basic FI in about 4-5 years.

2Cor521

 

[Meadbh]

Many years ago when I was an intern, I looked after a single farmer who was dying of cancer. He was definitely FI and not a gregarious person. As soon as the news got out that he was not long for this world, a bevy of greedy relatives started showing up, exhausting whatever strength my patient had left. He soon asked for a "no visitors" sign. It was so obvious that the greedy relatives wanted part of the estate. I hope the farmer left his estate to charity.