lemming
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- May 29, 2008
- Messages
- 600
Are you asking for an argument for debate with your parents or your kids?
Since you say you don't have kids....
Since you say you don't have kids....
I think "owe" is the wrong word, at least for me - - that is more applicable to financial responsibilities such as repaying loans.
Although my daughter is doing better at her age than I did at that age, still I'd like to ensure that she is comfortable in her old age (which I can do without depriving myself of anything, really). This is not a matter of "owing"... it is due to my love for her as her mother.
I think "owe" is the wrong word, at least for me - - that is more applicable to financial responsibilities such as repaying loans.
Although my daughter is doing better at her age than I did at that age, still I'd like to ensure that she is comfortable in her old age (which I can do without depriving myself of anything, really). This is not a matter of "owing"... it is due to my love for her as her mother.
When I was growing up, my parents promised me a college education at a state school. I went to law school.
Ain't that the truth ...Well, thank goodness we have the responsible generations coming after the boomers to clean everything up and solve all the problems. Their wisdom (along with body piercings and tatts) promise a bright future for all.
Do you mean being in the position of the DDIL ? The only way the rug would be pulled out would be if DS and we both decided to sell, which would require DS to screw over DDIL anyway. I don't see how that is materially different to if the couple owned 100% of the house (or at least, of the part which the bank doesn't own) and then had a break-up.If I was on the "other side" of this transaction, I would say "thanks, but no thanks", I would want to build my family, without the rug being able to be pulled out from underneath me. The relationship would probably sour very quickly.
I love these posts that start out "This is the worst it's ever been, the economy is permanently broken, and nothing will ever be the same again. History is over."Especially in the "new economy" in which many folks who did the right thing find themselves utterly unemployable, do you think that you owe it to your legacy to leave a big nest egg, rather than spending it all so that you can "die broke"?
I guess what I am trying to say is that folks at retirement age now were fortunate to live during the great compression (i.e., the working class taking a large portion of the economy), which now is clearly over. This generation was able to use their labor value to extract out a good return from the economy - subsequent generations will not. Do you think that folks in this generation owe it their children and children's children to leave them with the money needed to live well?
It seems that the tycoons of the Robber Baron age did not try to spend all the money they could, but instead left large trusts for their descendants. Don't you think it would be fair to also set up such a trust?
You have a link for that "greatest disparity of wealth" claim? Because off the top of my head I would've put the excesses of the 1890s or the 1930s ahead of the 2000s.I think most Americans are royally screwed. The boomers have squandered an unprecedented bounty. The consequences of the economic and political choices made by the boomers has brought about the greatest disparity of wealth in our nation's history--one that continues to increase.
I hope that by the time we come to leave a legacy, our kids won't need it for anything other than to boost their own retirement.
If we get to activate the FIRE plan with 200K more than we need, I quite like the idea of putting 100K per kid into any home purchase which they might make. That would be on the basis of an outright purchase of a part of the property, with the idea of keeping the money safe on "our side" of the family, in case of divorce. So for example if DS marries and buys a 300K property, we would buy 1/3, and we'd structure it legally so that 51% of the partnership could force a sale. That might mean us ganging up with DDIL to screw DS, but I suspect he would accept that risk ; on the other hand, it would mean that they could sell to move up, etc. (Does this make sense ? Has anyone done it ?)
We told our daughter (only have one child) not to expect anything, nor do we expect anything from our folks. Fortunately, she and her husband are good savers and well on their way even with their modest income.
When she was in college, we told we would cover tuition room and board for 4 years. Misc expenses were hers, as well as anything after 4 years. She graduated in 3 1/2 years.
We do give generous gifts to them as we feel we can afford to. Once we get to SS age and have a sense of how our finances look then, we will start making some distributions to them if we believe we can afford it. Our plan provides a nest egg for them, but the plan will have bumps along the way.
Do we owe them--no. Would we like to assist and leave them something that makes a difference- you bet! But we will take care of our needs and some of our wants first, as this is OUR time.
swampwiz, with all the money you're saving with your Chapter 7 and not paying your bills you should be able to leave a bunch of money.
Our first grandchild is 7 months old. We already have $30K in a 529 plan for her. Our plan is to put the RMD's from the IRAs we inherited into that plan each year until she goes to college.
Bless you. I suspect you have been an excellent parent and will be an excellent grandparent as well.We do not have to scrimp on our own lifestyle to do these things so we are happy to be able to augment the finances of subsequent generations.