Will you spend your kids inheritance?

[Lancer]

My father applied himself to blowing his bucks leaving not much, and that went to my stepmother. He was a drunkard so I don't think he was in control. Spent too much time in a bottle hiding from his demons.

Will you have a last fling before your life ends, depriving your kids of your life's work?

If you were 70 and needed expensive kemo or some other treatment/operation that would take everything you had, would you do it to prolong your last days or sacrifice yourself for your family?

[Alexander's Horse]

My children have had my inspiration. That should be enough for them.

[Jon Miller]

you pay for your kids when they are young...

you shouldn't pay for them when you are dying

JM

[General Ludd]

I don't think I'll have to worry about this, as I'm not likely to ever have any savings of note.

[loinburger]

I don't plan on having kids, and my parents don't plan on leaving much for an inheritance.

[Alexander's Horse]

actually today its the grandchildren who miss out if you don't leave much

[Flubber]

I expect nothing from my parents in the way of an inheritence. My view is that they did their job when they raised me and supported me up through college. I hope they spend every nickel they have but since they are careful, frugal middle class people that can never plan exactly when they will die, they will likely leave a small inheritence.

As to your specific questions,

1. while I feel no obligation to leave an inheritence behind I would not have a "last fling" just to deprive them of anything (I assume I like them). But I would not feel any requirement to save my money for them either. If a fling sounds like fun to me, I'll do it.

2. This question is not really that applicable to Canada as things currently are but I'll assume it was. I would spend my last dime on anything that could have me live longer with a reasonable quality of life. But chemo? The idea of spending my last days constantly puking holds little appeal so I would likely decline it even if it were free

[asleepathewheel]

I agree with Flubber. Once my (yet unborn offspring) reach maturity and can sustain themselves, then I will worry less about leaving them something behind. i won't go out of my way to spend my money frivolously (cause, after all, I could myself live longer than expected and run into poverty then), but I will be comfortable, hopefully.

I really don't expect an inheritance from my parents (actually, next time I talk to them I will engage them in this conversation), my single mother did a damn good nearly thankless job of raising my sister and me and my father can keep his money, he's worked very hard to earn it. I'd probably rather both give the money to charities when the pass-I certainly don't need it.

[Alexander's Horse]

its quite hard to spend all your cash when your 85

[Dinner]

18 year old hookers and mountains of cocaine are the answers.

[chequita guevara]

I don't believe in inheritence, which doesn't mean I'll turn it down if it comes my way. Let me qualify that by saying, I think personal items and such should be passed on, but not wealth. I'll help set my kids up in life, but they won't get anything from me dying, not that I'm going to die.

[Lancer]

"My children have had my inspiration. That should be enough for them."

It's enough for all of us AH.

Jon, Flubber, asleepatthewheel, it seems to me that some families deal with death as families and some people deal with it as individuals. That's how we see families where the money goes for generations in support of the clan. For instance I really doubt that any of the Kennedys is going to blow their kids inheritance. What's a Kennedy without John's rum running money?

"actually today its the grandchildren who miss out if you don't leave much"

How so?

"18 year old hookers and mountains of cocaine are the answers."

Oerdin, I can't say much for your ambitions but considering what they are at least you got the priorities right.

"I don't believe in inheritence, which doesn't mean I'll turn it down if it comes my way. Let me qualify that by saying, I think personal items and such should be passed on, but not wealth. I'll help set my kids up in life, but they won't get anything from me dying, not that I'm going to die."

Che, this philosophy, if it's a commie thing, almost assures that your kids will hate communism.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Lancer
"actually today its the grandchildren who miss out if you don't leave much"

How so?

My parents once told my brother and I, (paraphrasing of course), "when your grandparents die and we inherit a bunch of money from them, we'll just give you two the money, because we don't need it." Which makes sense -- the 50-somethings (my parents) already have everything straightened out financially, but the 20-somethings (my brother and I) could sure use an extra twenty grand (or whatever) in next month's paycheck to help pay off the mortgage.

[loinburger]

The same sentiment was expressed when my parents gave my brother and I copies of their wills. I'm not married, and my brother is (and my brother and sister-in-law will presumably have kids someday). "We've split the estate 50/50 between you two, because that makes things simpler, but it's implied that [loinburger] will give a higher percentage to [loinburger's brother] if [loinburger's brother and loinburger's sister-in-law] have kids they need to support." The problem being that it's a pain in the ass to write that into a will, so it's easier for my parents to just trust that I'd abide by their wishes. But the implication is the same -- the inheritance is for the grandchildren, not for the children.

[Zkribbler]

What I'll probably do is buy an annuity -- kind of like negative life insurance. The insurance company pays you every month you manage to stay alive. That way, I won't have to worry about outliving my savings.

Usually, annuities have a "10-year=certain" option which is only minimally more expensive than normal annuities. With this option, the insurance company pays for a minimum of ten years, even if you die. Although I don't have any kids some of my close friends have kids who've grown up with me as their "uncle." So I could name them as beneficiaries.

Also, if I pick up a wife along the way, she'd be protected..for a few years at least.