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Well, if Gen X and Millennials wanted their own fortunes they should have planned ahead like boomers and been born back when a house cost $7,500.

/sarcasm

That's because the real wealth transfer has been to the billionaires and close to billionaires.

Nothing will fix that short of a cyclical historic repetition of the French Revolution.

I'm GenX. I've spent my entire life watching the Boomers fuck things up, then having to wade through the debris they leave in their wake.

I'm not expecting that to change now.

Thank you every piece of shit asshole that bucks against the idea of universal healthcare. Fuck you a billion times over. Price gouging out of control capitalist bullshit

Gen X here. I do not expect any inheritance at all.

And how much of this "fascination" with generational wealth transfer is actually companies salivating over potential profits?

The top 1% of American earners now own more wealth than the entire middle class

Shit. Throw in a few reverse mortgages to pay for Meemaw and Pop pop's cruise every 6 months, and we won't even get that generational housing.

I'm Gen X with an adult daughter.

I have never received a penny from a deceased family member and have watched too many people getting into nasty fights over the crumbs left by their recently departed loved ones.

It's become a life priority to leave my daughter a clean estate, with no debt encumbrance, and no possibility for any other person to get at it.

At present, if I were to take my leave from this mortal coil today, she would net roughly $300k.

Part of my plan is to get everything out of my estate and into her hands before healthcare takes it all. Fuck them.

The irony here is that she won't need it. She's done well for herself. I anticipate that when it's my turn to shake hands with the devil, she'll more likely than not use the proceeds for some charitable pursuit.

The point is that I want her to make that choice rather than giving some doctor his semi-annual Ferrari that he'll drive for six months then dispose of.

Even ignoring the health care costs, the transfer isn't going to save anything. The vast majority of wealth is concentrated in a small number of families, so only those few will benefit anyway. It was never a generational problem, it was always a problem of wealth concentration among the rich.

My mom was a boomer and died when I was a young adult.

Because she was wildly irresponsible with money, as many boomers were in the early internet days, and because of cancer, the only asset really left after she died was the house, which my step dad sold because they were upside down on it after the bubble burst. He didn’t really come out ahead on it.

I was left with nothing but her stuff to sell off. I made about $4k total on it, and it took months on eBay to even get that.

I hope it’s better for others, but I rather expect it won’t be unless they are already pretty well off -and- make a point to preserve as much as they can, which most won’t because “I earned it I’m going to spend it as I see fit”. (Which, you know, totally fair, but doesn’t help if you are banking on inheritance)

I grew up poor so wealth transfer wasn't really a phrase spoken at our house. I always thought inheritances were just plot points on tv or for the rich to maintain their power.

The wealth the Boomers amassed decades ago was good enough to pay off a mortgage and pay for their retirement. It didn't include passing anything to the next generation. The money itself became borderline worthless because their "Greed is good" and "I've got mine. Fuck you" mindset quite literally destroyed the world. The economy is just as fucked as the planet.

No transfer for me. My boomer dad already sold our family's property to slumlords

Then they find out that a parent put a reverse mortgage on the family home...

It's kind of ridiculous how rich people get everyone riled up about estate taxes that will barely impact them, if at all. It will impact the rich though, extensively if they're not careful with their arrangements.

I'm just about 40, my parents are in their early 60's. When they pass on, I'm most likely already hitting retirement age myself. I don't need extra cash when I'm old.

One of my mothers boomer quotes , "I'm going to spend my kids inheritance". She did too. She is now 84 and needs to sell and borrow. Good thing I believed her when she started saying this in 1988.

for many, health care costs will claim the bulk of that wealth.

They system was designed that way. Save for retirement so corporate healthcare can get it.

I'm fully aware my parents will die and leave me nothing, unless they leave me their debts. I have no children to burden.

Thankfully, I've never imagined gaining anything from my mom when she passes some day. Thankfully her parents set up a trust so she isn't homeless, but when she finally gives in to assisted living, those bills will eat whatever is left.

She's always like, "but I'm leaving you the house!"

The house is full of worthless collectibles and smells terrible after decades of floods and cats. If she got hit by a bus tomorrow I'd probably sell it to one of those seedy We Buy Ugly Houses companies.

Oh neat, so our robust free market economy that is more meritocritous than anywhere else on earth is actually a giant sham, better hope you have rich parents!

All that stuff your parents told you your whole life about working hard studying hard and you'd be guaranteed to make it? Oops, they were wrong, now help them figure out how to access their Hulu account, again. What? You've barely eaten? Ah, pff, builds character!

If someone figures out a way to actually set up a business that soylent greens the boomers, I'll figure out how to do some exquisite cooking recipes with it.

Our father locked up our property in legal hell to protect it from his evil siblings. But now we can do much of anything with it LOL other than keep paying taxes. That's generational debt lol.

Actually it's probably really smart because if you sell to slumlords, you are giving up your real wealth. Just let the properties gain momentum. One day for your kids to fight about. Just have 1 kid problem solved. But if he dies? Ok have two kids. Send one to the monstery or the convent. But what if they marry poor....hmm arrange marriages! What if they don't like that? ....teach them racism from the early moments in life....oh shit, this sounds like we are destined to recycle ♻️ hilter and his narzis. Yah maybe sell the house and go back to being poor. That's how we did it!