Do you worry about your kids being able to maintain your current lifestyle?

[Anonymous]

I grew up upper middle class in a LCOL area. Parents did very well and owned multiple businesses.

I went to college with no debt, married husband and we also do well. HHI is around $700-800k a year. Sister is also doing very well and her HHI is around $1-1.2 million a year.

I worry our kids will get used to this lifestyle and never be able to replicate it. They are used to living in large houses, traveling to summer houses, flying on nice vacations (first class many times), etc. they aren’t spoiled at all and seem appreciative as much as kids can be but this is just the life they are used to. DH and I work hard and want to enjoy our life as well.

Do you also worry about your kids being able to maintain their lifestyle as they grow up? Of course DH and I do not want to or expect to fund our kids into adulthood and expect them to find careers and support themselves.

[Anonymous]

I think 99 percent of kids now will have a much lower quality of life as adults. Unless you can stop AI and climate change.

[Anonymous]

Not worried at all but we don’t live a life of excesses now.

[Anonymous]

It is up to them. They see how much their dad works (he is the bulk of the income) and we talk with them about how the life we lead usually involves a busy stressful job. At this point I would be surprised if they make as much simply because they want a better work/life balance and I don’t blame them. DH didn’t set out to earn this much, we are living well beneath our means and plan to retire early. Luckily for them, they will have wealthy parents as a safety net, something that we did not have. They will need to support themselves but we plan to pay for college and possibly grad school, and subsidize vacations and some education for our potential grandchildren.

[Anonymous]

I don't worry about it, but I don't think they will be able to afford the same lifestyle. For one of my kids, it won't matter. It will be harder for the other.

[Anonymous]

You should be. Most of my acquaintances in the DC area are very downwardly mobile. Yet extremely comfortable as they are subsidized by their rich and UMC families.

You should be telling the kids immediately not to expect a dime beyond schooling or whatever. Otherwise they will observe their other rich friends be supported indefinitely by their families and expect the same from you.

FWIW I grew up LMC in the rural south and knowing that my parents weren’t planning to give me any money really helped me understand that I had to make my own money in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should be. Most of my acquaintances in the DC area are very downwardly mobile. Yet extremely comfortable as they are subsidized by their rich and UMC families.

You should be telling the kids immediately not to expect a dime beyond schooling or whatever. Otherwise they will observe their other rich friends be supported indefinitely by their families and expect the same from you.

FWIW I grew up LMC in the rural south and knowing that my parents weren’t planning to give me any money really helped me understand that I had to make my own money in life.

This is the general idea behind “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”

[Anonymous]

Most people take a lifestyle hit when they become young adults. But hopefully their parents have taught them and modeled the importance of hard work and the concept of working to achieve goals.

It’s actually more of a problem when young adults enter the real world and expect to live at the exact same lifestyle their parents live in now. Unless people come from very wealthy families, they had to establish themselves. There’s something to be said about out learning how to appreciate what you can accomplish.

[Anonymous]

No, we live under our means and not a grand lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

We make 1/2 of what you make so my kids could manage that with regularish jobs. I've taught them how to wash toilets. We don't fly first class and they share a bed on vacations often or we don't go.
I grew up in a one bedroom apartment with no car and camping vacations if any. Immigrated, got really lucky several times (with my first job, with husband etc), chose a career and work places that are family friendly so I'm home at 4:30 and can spend time on life instead off a grind for $.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up upper middle class in a LCOL area. Parents did very well and owned multiple businesses.

I went to college with no debt, married husband and we also do well. HHI is around $700-800k a year. Sister is also doing very well and her HHI is around $1-1.2 million a year.

I worry our kids will get used to this lifestyle and never be able to replicate it. They are used to living in large houses, traveling to summer houses, flying on nice vacations (first class many times), etc. they aren’t spoiled at all and seem appreciative as much as kids can be but this is just the life they are used to. DH and I work hard and want to enjoy our life as well.

Do you also worry about your kids being able to maintain their lifestyle as they grow up? Of course DH and I do not want to or expect to fund our kids into adulthood and expect them to find careers and support themselves.

Not quite too worried. But I know at least 2 families where post divorce the women and kids can't afford the same lifestyle and are pretty much funded by parents - living in their second/investment homes, given money for everything, vacations paid etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people take a lifestyle hit when they become young adults. But hopefully their parents have taught them and modeled the importance of hard work and the concept of working to achieve goals.

It’s actually more of a problem when young adults enter the real world and expect to live at the exact same lifestyle their parents live in now. Unless people come from very wealthy families, they had to establish themselves. There’s something to be said about out learning how to appreciate what you can accomplish.

+1

I don’t worry about it because I’ve told my kids about how I lived in my 20s and that is how they will be living too.

[Anonymous]

It was all doom and gloom when I was in high school. Now most of my peers are doing pretty well for themselves. I'm not sure about everyone's kids, but my kids are going to be just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people take a lifestyle hit when they become young adults. But hopefully their parents have taught them and modeled the importance of hard work and the concept of working to achieve goals.

It’s actually more of a problem when young adults enter the real world and expect to live at the exact same lifestyle their parents live in now. Unless people come from very wealthy families, they had to establish themselves. There’s something to be said about out learning how to appreciate what you can accomplish.

+1

I don’t worry about it because I’ve told my kids about how I lived in my 20s and that is how they will be living too.

In my 20s I shared a dump of a house with a bunch of friends, what a great time that was. But my kids are going to better schools than I attended, they selected more lucrative majors than I did, and they get far better grades than I did. I hate to see them miss out on all the fun I had.

[Anonymous]

I don’t worry about it at all. They’re going to be poor for a while, then they’ll do a bit better but money will be tight and, hopefully, they can get to more of a comfortable place as they get older. They’re going to need to make it work for themselves.

By and large, young adulthood is poverty. You have nothing of your own at that age. And that’s okay because there are other things to compensate.