"Why we should all aim to die broke"

I have 3 children all in their middle to late 30's. Chalk and cheese. One is very careful with his money. One is not very careful with his money. The third sits somewhere in between.

They will each inherit one third of my property. My will states that each grandchild will inherit €30k. There will be a pot of about c€2m made up of property c€1.5m and cash c€500k.

They get good cash birthday and Christmas presents. We are increasing this amount toward the €3k per annum as we get older. Larger sums will be given toward weddings.

Both myself and my husband live off very little. We are not interested in spending large amounts of money on cars/furnishings/designer anything. We enjoy helping our children out. My father helped me out but unfortunately both myself and my siblings began to "expect" these annual handouts. I am trying to avoid this with my children.

So each child will get a decent sum of money. The taxman will do absolutely nothing and will also get a large sum of money.

We are trying to increase spending on ourselves but have always enjoyed looking for a bargain over the years so it can be difficult to break the habits of a lifetime.

I know my children won't blow their inheritance. My father handed me an inheritance. He started with nothing. I haven't blown his inheritance.

I don't know what else I can do.
 
I should add as Montbretia's post above reminded me that both myself and my husband have practically nil pensions coming. One of us might get the state pension, the other not so sure.
We also have the fear that we may also run out of money. The only thing is we can downsize our home and release some equity if the worst comes to the worst. However when you live in a house and area that you love this can be a difficult thing to do.
 

see post 62 , you brought up lack of gay rights in the past ?
 
This makes no sense. You say you are afraid of running of money but are still giving (your words) good cash gifts for birthday and Christmas gifts to your adult children, as well as 3k per annum gift each!!
No offense, but as a 34 year old with two siblings, I think you are very foolish. With no pension, you need to prioritise your own life first. I don't understand why adult offspring get gifts above a token gesture... Surely the gifts should be going the other way! (my two brothers seem to disagree however).
 

the elderly are better off than the youth in this country in almost every way financially , why would money be going the other way ?

which isnt to say parents have an outright obligation to heap cash gifts upon their kids
 
ardmacha said:
25 year olds can't buy houses because they are too expensive. Only "cash buyers" can buy houses.
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Simply not true. Most houses are bought with mortgages.
How many "cash buyers" have an element of inheritance in there in the background allowing them drive up the price of houses beyond the ability of a person merely working to pay for them?
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How many indeed??? I have no idea but I suspect it's a lot fewer than you think. Average life expectancy is well over 70 which means that most people are well over 30 years old before their parents die. And we don't see that many first time buyers at that age.


You've made this point about people dying several times. The cure for this a scheme of life insurance, not the end of inheritance taxes.
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So children and infants should take out life policies on their parents? How would that work? How would they pay for it?


People do not have that objective. They may have the objective that exchanging money in return for productive work be taxed in the same way as the exchange of money for being related to someone.
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That can be read as an argument against income tax free allowances and exemptions, which most people enjoy up to nearly €20k per annum, or €800k in a working lifetime, way more than their inheritance tax thresholds.
 
galway_blow_in said:
the elderly are better off than the youth in this country in almost every way financially , why would money be going the other way ?
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Because I feel my 70 year old parents have done their job. I should be repaying them for putting me through 21 years of clothes, food, school and college, not expecting more from them.
 
username123 said:
Because I feel my 70 year old parents have done their job. I should be repaying them for putting me through 21 years of clothes, food, school and college, not expecting more from them.
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To be fair, it depends how much money they have. In aggregate, the current generation of 65/75 year olds probably represent the peak in terms of average wealth. If they have the capacity to help their kids without endangering their own position, there's nothing wrong with them doing so.
 
If so, that is indeed their choice. However, the person above (@Kimmagegirl) indicated she was worried about running out of money AND didnt have a pension, but was still giving large gifts to adult children. That surely makes zero sense.
 
Kimmagegirl said:
We also have the fear that we may also run out of money
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In reality, I don't think we will though. I just have to convince myself. I think we will have plenty but the fear factor is constantly there. We presently live on about €20k per annum. With €500k in the bank and a house worth €1.5m we should be O.K. I feel I can still be generous to my children without going oveboard.
 
galway_blow_in said:
see post 62 , you brought up lack of gay rights in the past ?
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I brought the subject up as how not good things were for most people back in the day not for what you said " so we should . . . " - Read my posts and stop jumping to conclusions. Are you my son?
 
"Why we should all aim to die broke"

Predicting when we are going to die would be as hard a job as trying to ensure that we're broke when we do die.
Nearly impossible to get both events synchronized.
Sorry about the formatting. I copied and pasted the thread title
 
Reactions: jim
T McGibney said:
Simply not true. Most houses are bought with mortgages.
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It is an issue
http://www.independent.ie/business/...rs-squeezing-out-2540-age-group-34576928.html

And cash buyers do not have to buy starter properties to affect their price.


So children and infants should take out life policies on their parents? How would that work? How would they pay for it?
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I didn't mean that, as you well know. But responsible parents could take life insurance so that their children would not suffer financially if they died especially young.

That can be read as an argument against income tax free allowances and exemptions, which most people enjoy up to nearly €20k per annum, or €800k in a working lifetime, way more than their inheritance tax thresholds.
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Well then, how about a lifetime tax allowance, or at least a up to 65 one, if you use it it an inheritance than you don't get it for subsequent income.
 
If you restrict the right to obtain inheritance, the wealth of older people still would impact property prices, as they would buy houses as pension investments. It wouldn't necessary restrict house demand.
 
ardmacha said:
I didn't mean that, as you well know.
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Sorry, I don't know. That's why I asked.

But responsible parents could take life insurance so that their children would not suffer financially if they died especially young.
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The proceeds of a life policy paid by the deceased are already assessable to inheritance tax. If you're suggesting that they be exempted, I'm sure you're aware that this would drive a coach and four throughout the entire CAT process?
 
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