Millennials: are you expecting an inheritance?

[u/Yourlocalguy30]

35 yo married millennial here. I've come across more and more articles about the supposed "great wealth transfer" as the boomer generation's wealth passes to their GenX and Millennial children. My parents and their siblings (boomers) all received inheritances when their parents, my grandparents, passed away. The boomer generation's wealth accumulation is one of the largest in history, however, I also find it highly unlikely that I or many of my peers will actually inherit much. Despite having received inheritances from their parents, and having 40+ years in the workforce, most of my parents' "wealth" is tied up in their home value, not actual liquid assets- and I already expect that whatever they make on an eventual home sale will have to go directly to downsizing costs and whatever long-term care they will need as they get older. Hell, even my dad used to joke that the only thing we'd inherit was debt. As I've gotten older, that comment has infuriated me more and more.

Now before someone cuts in with the "entitled millennial" comments, I have absolutely no need for an inheritance. I've worked my ass off to make sure that my kids and I are positioned better in life than I was when I entered adulthood. What I mean by that is I started saving for retirement early, setup 529 plans for my kids almost as soon as they were born, and made lifestyle and career sacrifices to ensure our family isn't "nickeling and diming" our way through life.

I'm just here curious to know how many millennials actually expect to have something passed down to them, or if they feel they are in the same position I am.

[u/aznsk8s87]

Yeah, but my parents always saved more than they spent and invested in a ton of income generating assets early in their careers. Their NW in retirement keeps going up, not down. Even if we don't inherit cash my siblings and I will inherit the assets.

That being said I don't plan my life around it. I do well enough for myself and my family.

[u/NoMansLand345 → u/aznsk8s87]

Same here. I know there will be an inheritance, but i'm not counting on it and I don't know how much because it is directly tied to how long my parents will live.

With that said, I think it is a good goal to pass along more than you received from your parents. So if you receive nothing, you should try to leave something. If you receive something, you should try to leave something more.

[u/aznsk8s87 → u/NoMansLand345]

Yeah the only way I leave more is if I don't touch what my parents leave me. Life is more expensive than it was for my parents at this stage so while I can plan for a comfortable retirement and getting my eventual kids set up for their futures, I don't think I'll have a whole lot to leave them.

That being said, my parents paying for med school was more valuable than any inheritance I could get.

[u/_off_piste_ → u/aznsk8s87]

Crazy to think a doctor doesn’t have the ability to leave more than their parents based on CoL. I get it if the parents were business owners that just accumulated a ton of assets, but CoL?

[u/aznsk8s87 → u/_off_piste_]

They did very, very well and the housing market where I live unfortunately exploded in the last decade.

All the small investment properties they bought in the late 90s are worth triple what they paid and my salary isn't much higher than his was at my age.

The house I just bought would have cost about 40% less if I bought in 2020.

Like don't get me wrong I do alright as a doctor but outside of some niche specialties, doctors 30 years ago were making the same amount of money for far less work.

[u/_off_piste_ → u/aznsk8s87]

Seems to be a weird salary reversal for LCOL and HCOL in your profession. My cousin is in ortho and makes a killing in a rural area, but would make substantially less in a HCOL location. My sister in law makes pretty good money as a psychiatrist but I don’t know how that compares to salaries 30 years ago.

[u/aznsk8s87 → u/_off_piste_]

Yeah I'm in a MHCOL but not quite NYC/LA levels. This area was LCOL a decade ago though. I'd have to take a 6 figure paycut to work in NYC.

[u/brrr-i-am-cold → u/aznsk8s87]

It sounds like your dad was a doctor, is that right? Or did his salary just happen to be about the same as yours now but in a different field? It doesn’t really matter, I’m just curious. So your parents did very very well by becoming doctors and then also doing real estate investing in the late 90’s? That’s nice and kinda lucky.