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Even Boomers and Xers are still inheriting wealth from their Silent parents.
I'm 37. My dad is 66. His parents died last year within two weeks of each other at age 87. The two estates are still tied up in probate. His parents had about $100,000 cash each - about $200,000 total. After two stays in skilled nursing facilities, final expenses, etc., there's about $30k combined cash left. The house has been on the market for over two months with barely any nibbles.
My guess is that the price of the home will need to be reduced by probably 20% to sell - it's on the TN/VA line - TN has no state income tax, but VA does - and the house is in VA, sadly by just a few hundred yards. It's zoned to VA schools, which are about thirty minutes away, and you actually have to drive back into TN to get out of the dead-end area they're in. The other homes on the street are typical "Appalachian trailer trash." The house has a lot of things working against it.
My guess is that each of the five brothers and sisters will inherit about $30k-$40k once it's all over with. The oldest brother is a multimillionaire. It'll be a good "shot in the arm" for the rest of them, but certainly not a life-changing amount of money.
My mother's father died in 2009, but her mother is still alive. I can't imagine that she has that much in terms of assets. The home is paid for - that's probably worth $250k-$300k. I know her final expenses are paid for, but no idea what the rest of the assets are like.
Message board posters are more affluent than the average person on the street. The vast majority of Millennials are not going to inherit millions. 3/4 of my grandparents were still alive at my 37th birthday last year. We haven't even gotten through the Silents yet.
My parents are 66. I know they have $200k-$250k in home equity. My guess is about $100k-$150k in their retirement plans. My mother has never made more than $17/hr. or so - she retired and took early SS at 62. Dad did OK as a factory mechanic - made probably $50k-$60k until he was laid off in 2008, and ended up spending the next decade making $15-$17/hr. in a call center before finding factory work making about the same thing in 2018 or so. He worked there for about three years and quit on the spot at 63. He's been doing deliveries for a paint company for about $20/hr. part-time for the past couple of years. I'm assuming he's still working because they need the money.
If dad were to drop dead, mom ends up in my lap. Their house isn't paid for. She's not able to take care of the house on her own. While I wouldn't let her be homeless, I wouldn't want her living with my permanently either.
The bottom line is that I am pretty unlikely to inherit a life-changing amount of money.
Up until 2019 or so, housing prices here basically marched along with inflation. It might take months to sell. Yes, there's been a big spike since then. My parents bought their house for $88k in 1997. The house was valued at ~$160k-$170k as recently as late 2020, then the slope of that curve got a lot steeper. It's now $291k. I bought for $96.5k in 2019. A townhome right in front of me sold for ~$190k this month.
I make a lot more than my parents ever did. I have about $100k in retirement plans, my home equity, and about $10k (three to four months of expensive) in savings. I have no debt other than the mortgage and about $7k left on a heat pump loan through the city that is just rolled into my power bill every month.
In saying that, I have a bit of extra, but I'm not doing as well as people might think from the outside looking in.
As with anything in life, the 80/20 rules applies. 80% of the assets are held by 20% of Millennial parents. Those 20% are in line to inherit a lot.
The next 20% will probably inherit enough to help them coast through life if they don't blow through it within 5 years. That's 40% of all millennials.
The next 20% will inherit enough for a downpayment on a home. The other 40% will inherit almost nothing.
As with anything in life, the 80/20 rules applies. 80% of the assets are held by 20% of Millennial parents. Those 20% are in line to inherit a lot.
The next 20% will probably inherit enough to help them coast through life if they don't blow through it within 5 years. That's 40% of all millennials.
The next 20% will inherit enough for a downpayment on a home. The other 40% will inherit almost nothing.
My bet is over 70% will inherit very little or not enough to make any substantial change in their life.
What we will see is further concentration of existing wealth kept within families, will mirror how wealth in Europe is accumulated (inherited) more than how wealth accumulation has traditionally worked in the US.
My bet is over 70% will inherit very little or not enough to make any substantial change in their life.
What we will see is further concentration of existing wealth kept within families, will mirror how wealth in Europe is accumulated (inherited) more than how wealth accumulation has traditionally worked in the US.
Once again your thesis does not align with the numbers. According to Dave Ramsey and several other sources around 21% of US millionaires inherited anything of value, 16% inherited $100k and 3% a million or more.
US wealth does not an even a little mirror aristocratic wealth in Europe.
At some point I think you should stop presenting your feelings based ideas as facts.
Our son will be rich someday, but he is now almost 60 years old, single, without children, and semi-retired.
Hopefully, he will be an old man before he sees any inheritance. We may have to make some other plans
for wealth distribution.
Once again your thesis does not align with the numbers. According to Dave Ramsey and several other sources around 21% of US millionaires inherited anything of value, 16% inherited $100k and 3% a million or more.
US wealth does not an even a little mirror aristocratic wealth in Europe.
At some point I think you should stop presenting your feelings based ideas as facts.
most people do not change their opinions here based on facts because their opinions aren’t formed by facts
If those millennials expecting their parents to transfer wealth, they will end up broke because they didn't earn the money and once it is transferred it will be used up and they won't ever be able to make it back.
People who have good financial wisdom and good income won't care or need the wealth transfer until their parents believe they can give them the money now to help them invest.
It’s insane that some people think that they are entitled to an inheritance because they helped their parents in their final years. In my family every generation helps the previous generation because you love them. I have helped friends to stay in their own homes until death or close to it without any expectations.
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