When to start gifting

[RetiredHappy]

I have only one child whom I have been gifting him for the past 12 years, since graduating with his first Bachelor's degree. He makes a little over minimum wage but it's enough to support himself. He owns his home outright, paid a third from his savings while he lived with us and the other two-thirds as a gift from me.

I continue to make annual gifting into his investment account and let it grow. As his mother, having him feel financially secure is my priority.

 

[brett]

You are the ONLY person who can decide this.

You are the only person who has intimate knowledge of your situation. I would not even be temped to pass comment or opinion for it would be worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

[rkser]

We gift the max to our 2 kids amounts which are not IRS gift reportable, we often gift the Stock ETF shares except the Birthday or Christmas gifts.

After reading the comments on forums, gifting with warm hands makes much more sense. So far it has not had un intentioned results as both are self sufficient on their own & hopefully will continue to be. We do 529 plans for the grand kids which we hope will be helpful .

We do have enough funds if needed for our nursing home expenses, if the Market continues to favor us.

 

[folivier]

Gifting to our kids depends on our assets and available cash at the end of the year. This year we decided to gift each grandchild a few hundred put into their college funds. Also $1k to both of our sons. Unfortunately one is a recovering alcoholic and has decided to push us out of his life. Hasn't spoken to any of our family since early summer. We have kept a good relationship with our granddaughters through their mother. So DW wrote his check but sent a text that he had to come over to pick it up which he won't do. So we'll wait a couple months then gift that amount to our granddaughters college funds.
We're also in the process of updating our wills (which we haven't done since they were children) and after long discussions have decided to leave him in our will for now.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

So we have more than we will ever spend —-UNLESS one or both of us end up with extensive medical/care expenses. I’d rather pass the money on to my kids “with a warm hand “ but want to make sure we don’t run short before we check out.

So the question is- should we start giving an annual gift to the children or should we keep our powder dry and figure anything left after we’re gone is good enough.

One child has no need for money now- second child is doing fine but could upgrade their life with an annual gift.

Here’s the details;

Have about $1.5 M in invested dollars (25% deferred/75% tax deferred 60/40 allocation). Between social security and pensions we have about $120K income against $110K expenses. Roughly half the income is COLAed.

Have no long term care insurance. Spouse has some health issues. Knock on wood nothing yet for me. We’re both 70 years. Will start RMDs in a couple years adding to the excess income.

So we aren’t touching the investments at all right now and investments are increasing each year. I’ve been sitting on that money figuring that’s our long term care plan- but lately I’m wondering if we’re being too conservative. Would be nice to help the kids out while we’re still around!

Anyone else trying to figure this out? Would welcome any thoughts.

We have more than enough to live comfortably. However, Wife and I are indecisive on how much we should gift our only child age 30.
He is a single professional making a nice living and enjoying apartment life.

I would not want him to rely on too much regular gifting, so that his motivation and work ethic disappears.

Hopefully he will be financially mature enough at ~age 35+ to handle larger annual cash gifts and future inheritance.

Also, I can relate to the toxic family issues and the financial picture regarding my siblings who I have not seen in a few years.

 

[RetiredHappy]

We have more than enough to live comfortably. However, Wife and I are indecisive on how much we should gift our only child age 30.
He is a single professional making a nice living and enjoying apartment life.

I would not want him to rely on too much regular gifting, so that his motivation and work ethic disappears.

Hopefully he will be financially mature enough at ~age 35+ to handle larger annual cash gifts and future inheritance.

Also, I can relate to the toxic family issues and the financial picture regarding my siblings who I have not seen in a few years.

You can open up a joint investment account with your son, and have him as the primary and gift directly into the account. I have been doing it for the past 10 years+. I manage the gifting and the investments in the account. I figure by the time my son retires, he should have at least a million dollars in it to help fund his retirement. When we die, he should get another nice inheritance.

 

[DJRR]

My Dad had a Federal pension that covered his living expenses, so he used his RMD to help out with the grandkids 529 and Christmas gifts for the kids. Worked out well for him.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

You can open up a joint investment account with your son, and have him as the primary and gift directly into the account. I have been doing it for the past 10 years+. I manage the gifting and the investments in the account. I figure by the time my son retires, he should have at least a million dollars in it to help fund his retirement. When we die, he should get another nice inheritance.

+1
I like your approach. I send gifts to his checking account and he transfers to his fidelity brokerage account which I co-manage with him.