Are you all in on the SKI movement?

[ychuck46]

Since we stopped traveling, our combined SS and pensions cover our expenses.
We use the RMD for QCD's, taxes, and gifts to our children.
We figure there will be some left when we are gone, and it will divided up among our 4 sons.

We have to start our RMDs this year; not happy. Similar to you it will be used for taxes, cruises, home updates, and gifts to the daughter/SIL. I am thinking about upping the last so they can enjoy themselves more now instead of waiting until we are gone, when they may or may not be able to enjoy it as much due to aging.

 

[RetiredHappy]

We spend without constraint and still expect to leave a nice inheritance.

 

[Sunset]

I paid for a good portion of the kids College expenses.
Also supported my Sister during the last 15 years of her life as she was irresponsible with money and I didn't want her to live on the street.
My view is the same as I told my Mother when she asked if she should extend a trip to visit Russia (at an additional expense). I said YES, go spend my inheritance.

The reality was I didn't expect any inheritance from her and wanted her to enjoy life. I hope my kids have the same view.

We spend what we want, but being naturally cheap, means we don't spend enough to run out, so the kids will be getting some, and in the meantime our gifts are nice, but not dependency creating.

 

[Koolau]

We raised our kids to be independent. They've all found gainful empl*yment. They do not need a big inheritance from us. We often help them with things like house down-payments, weddings, "just-because" gifts, etc. IOW we're giving with a warm hand. When we pass, our intent is to continue funding our favorite charities. There will be a significant "final gift" to the kids, but a "classic inheritance" is not in the cards for our kids - and they know it.

 

[Lorenzo]

The issue seems easier for many here thanks to a long bull market that allows spending freely AND leaving something to the kids. I wonder if the thinking might have been different had this question been asked in 1980.

 

[planuntilthefisthits]

No kids here, but we have the nieces, nephews and their kids listed as beneficiaries in the trust documents. Giving with warm hand now for healthcare and educational expenses. Most of our estate is slated for charitable causes.

Meanwhile, our assets have grown so much that it is inconceivable that we will die with zero.

 

[Dtail]

We don't have any target amount to leave for the 5 combined children. Whatever is left is left.

 

[VanWinkle]

The 4 kids want me to spend it all, but my brain won't allow me to "waste" money on things
I don't want or need. I will gift them each year and the rest will go when I go.

 

[levindb]

We definitely SKI...I calculate each month how much we can spend annually to Die With Zero at age 105. I have a few relatives that lived into late 90's, and DW's mother lived to 98 and grandmother lived to 101...so it was important to choose an age and ensure we will still get fresh diapers in the nursing home.

We have told sons not to expect anything, and our wills/trusts will pass any leftover funds to grandkids...skipping a generation because the sons will be in their 70's when we pass. Also, the grandkids cannot receive funds until they are at least 30 years old...and we may adjust that as they develop their financial habits/knowledge.

 

[old medic]

Neither of us have been left any sizable inheritance. We have our pension/SS for income flow and nest egg that I doubt will ever achieve 7 digits. Its there for us to BTD if we want. We may gift the kids some but the leftovers will be for the grandchildren.

 

[marko]

We don't think in terms of a net balance as much as focus on income.

If we had children, we'd likely set up a trust that would provide supplemental income today as well as a greater income amount after we passed. Id guess that a thousand or so a month today would go a long way for rent etc.

 

[Flieger]

Fair enough. As an only child my daughter had her days through college fully funded by ourselves, followed by us paying for the wedding. I also was her mortgagor for her two homes, saving her a ton of money on mortgage interest (she paid the loans back fully). But since my wife and I don't need to spend more on travel, etc than we already do, our retirement assets keep growing, the last month or so being an outlier. I'll have no issue if she and our SIL get a decent amount from ourselves since we'll have had a nice run.

Don't mistake my post. If there are funds for an inheritance, that will be great. Both of my daughters work hard (as well as ONE of the SIL's ), and they also have taken up the practice of planning for their own hopefully early (55 or so) retirements. I'm just saying I am not LIVING my life to provide an inheritance for them. As someone else also stated. no "generational wealth" here to deal with either.

Flieger

 

[ychuck46]

The 4 kids want me to spend it all, but my brain won't allow me to "waste" money on things
I don't want or need. I will gift them each year and the rest will go when I go.

Our daughter/SIL are great in that regard, too. They want us to spend and be happy and we already are doing that but the bull market, notwithstanding the last month or so, allows our assets to keep growing. We won't spend frivolously just for the sake of it. Plus, we start taking RMDs this year so the Feds will be taking some of the monies that might have been inherited.

 

[Sorcerer]

SKI sounds like a fake made up term.

 

[Montecfo]

I really need to dig into this Die With Zero thing.

But honestly if I took that tack I have no idea what I would spend it on.

 

[bobbfrommn]

I don't have kids, the DW does. They are friendly, but not that close to each other. If one of us goes, obviously the other has it all. We've discussed if we pass at the same time, she can allocate her half however she wants. I think her plan provides some cash for them, college funds for the grandkid but she's not "saving it for them". If she lives to 100 and uses it all up, she's fine with that. As for me in that situation, the bulk of my half goes to whomever takes over care for my dogs. I have two friends who have said they would take them if something happened to the two of us. Didn't mention the cash to them, so it will be a nice posthumous "thank you" showing up.

 

[Masquernom]

If I left a significant amount of money to the stepdaughter, it would all be gone in a year and she'd be really lucky to live through it. At the rate she's living her life right now, I may outlive her anyway.

 

[SecondCor521]

I'm starting to try to do so.

I'm 56 and my net WR is still under 1%. I'm spending more but I inherited an amount from my Dad which offsets the increased spending.

My three kids are 31, 26, and 24. They're all doing just fine on their own, and they're telling me to enjoy myself and spend their inheritance.

I probably won't be able to adjust that much so they'll get a bunch when I pass away.

I do plan on some more trips and some additional specific spending, but relatively speaking it won't move the needle much. Going to Europe in July with the middle kid and his GF (Paris / Geneva / London).

In the meantime I've disclaimed some of my inheritance from my Dad which is going to them, and I'll continue to do and probably increase the annual gifting.

But in terms of the articles in the OP, I'm fortunate that I can spend what I can spend, and I don't have to really think of it in "SKI" terms because it's not an either/or situation.

 

[Luvtoride]

Since we stopped traveling, our combined SS and pensions cover our expenses.
We use the RMD for QCD's, taxes, and gifts to our children.
We figure there will be some left when we are gone, and it will divided up among our 4 sons.

Were health reasons involved for stopping traveling? I hope all is ok.

Travel is still a big part of our “discretionary spending” and we hope we can continue doing it for awhile. Acquiring new “things” is low on our list (see declutter thread) of spending.

This topic fascinates me from the perspective of how others implement the management of their assets/ resources. Spend vs. save for kids, etc.
We have friends and meet people who fall into every quadrant of the equation I.e. have significant assets and don’t spend to low on assets yet still spend. It is a very personal decision and when spouses are factored in that aren’t of like mind it can become quite contentious/ problematic.

Luckily, we are fortunate to have enough resources to do things like upgrading our 20-hour trip home from Europe (including transfers and waiting for connecting flights) this week to Polaris Business Class on United. Upon settling into our suite/pods on the final flight home, we snapped a selfie of us there and sent it to our 2 adult daughters with the caption…”if we don’t fly first class…” (they know the rest of the quote). They both responded YAY !

 

[Surewhitey]

Fair enough. As an only child my daughter had her days through college fully funded by ourselves, followed by us paying for the wedding. I also was her mortgagor for her two homes, saving her a ton of money on mortgage interest (she paid the loans back fully). But since my wife and I don't need to spend more on travel, etc than we already do, our retirement assets keep growing, the last month or so being an outlier. I'll have no issue if she and our SIL get a decent amount from ourselves since we'll have had a nice run.

This is exactly our experience with our daughter down to the two homes being financed... Having 1 (great) daughter makes our future pretty simple at the moment too.

I've told my mother to spend what she needs (homebound for step-father) but she's just not a spender at this point. She wants to split it 5 ways when she goes.

We're (hopefully) 1 yr away from the "starting point" and this topic is definitely down the list of priorities with warm hand giving higher. Thankfully DD & SIL are pretty good in their financial decisions into their early 40s.

We both have family rarely getting above 80, so we'll likely be leaving a chunk, but planning for 95-100...just in case.

 

[Souschef]

Were health reasons involved for stopping traveling? I hope all is ok.

Travel is still a big part of our “discretionary spending” and we hope we can continue doing it for awhile. Acquiring new “things” is low on our list (see declutter thread) of spending.

This topic fascinates me from the perspective of how others implement the management of their assets/ resources. Spend vs. save for kids, etc.
We have friends and meet people who fall into every quadrant of the equation I.e. have significant assets and don’t spend to low on assets yet still spend. It is a very personal decision and when spouses are factored in that aren’t of like mind it can become quite contentious/ problematic.

Luckily, we are fortunate to have enough resources to do things like upgrading our 20-hour trip home from Europe (including transfers and waiting for connecting flights) this week to Polaris Business Class on United. Upon settling into our suite/pods on the final flight home, we snapped a selfie of us there and sent it to our 2 adult daughters with the caption…”if we don’t fly first class…” (they know the rest of the quote). They both responded YAY !

Thank you for your concern. We traveled extensively for 13 years. During that time, we did 52 trips, over 500 days, and 18 cruises.
However, we are now 87 and 82, and we have some physical limitations, but we are content with what we have seen and done.

 

[Luvtoride]

Thank you for your concern. We traveled extensively for 13 years. During that time, we did 52 trips, over 500 days, and 18 cruises.
However, we are now 87 and 82, and we have some physical limitations, but we are content with what we have seen a done.

Wow, where else is there to go that you haven’t been/ wanted to see! That’s great!
I hope we can continue to travel to the many places we want to visit/explore for some time to come!

 

[wmc1000]

Feel financially comfortable enough to do everything we desire and will probably still leave each of our 3 kids +/- 1M each.

 

[TripleLindy]

We’re not obsessed with either side of the argument. We spend what we want and give freely to our kids now for help with things like first home purchase and grandkids college funds. Projections from Vanguard’s model show leaving a nice inheritance, but that’s not really an objective of ours. But as much as I joke about having my last check bounce, spending all of our money isn’t an objective either.

 

[mystang52]

We travel often (not quite in the "frequently" category), and if we want to buy something we do. Even though we have LTC and great Medicare Advantage insurance, and substantial assets, DW is terrified at not having enough $$$ for potential long term illness needs. We contribute, monthly, to our grandkids' 529s but DW doesn't want to increase the current amount, nor outright gift to our kids. So for sure our kids will inherit a nice piece of change. We are fortunate that bothikids/families don't need out money anyway. And DW's genes likely means it'll be quite a wait for them!