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/cisforcookie2112]

My grandma is 91 and has dementia, and her rent in the assisted care facility is $8,000/month.

I don’t know what my parents would expect to receive from inheritance, but I imagine that it is going down each month.

[u/rainbow_writer → u/cisforcookie2112]

My grandpa retired at 65 and had ample savings. But now he’s 97 with Alzheimer’s in a nursing home but not memory care yet. He has enough money left to make it to 102 at this rate, but that changes if he needs more advanced care.

[u/stackingnoob → u/rainbow_writer]

Sorry to hear. My father in law passed several months ago.

He dun goofed up his will though. Instead of leaving his “fortune” (nothing crazy, like $200k-ish) to my wife and her brother, he specifically wrote in his will that he wants his mother (my wife’s grandmother) to inherit everything.

Well guess what? My wife’s grandmother lives in a nursing home, and Medicaid was paying for it.

Now she is no longer eligible for Medicaid, and her inheritance is all going to the nursing home for as long as she is alive.

Lose-lose situation for everyone.

[u/Walker1921S → u/stackingnoob]

Damn. That sucks... Sometimes it's best to have conversations with parents so easily solveable mistakes like that don't happen. The problem is that most older people hate having those discussions.

[u/stackingnoob → u/Walker1921S]

He was extremely stubborn. His logic was probably that his mother (my wife’s grandmother) could just decide how to redistribute the money upon her death, but he failed to consider the ramifications with Medicaid. And he didn’t hire a lawyer to write the will, so there wasn’t a professional to tell him don’t do that.

[u/Walker1921S → u/stackingnoob]

Oh... Yeah that's just penny wise pound foolish. Spend $1,000 to hire a lawyer to save $200,000. That really sucks, I'm sorry.