Will your kids *need* to work? Or would they be fine no matter what

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's nice not to HAVE to work but it makes one weirder and weirder as they age. There is an inability to compromise. Priorities do not align with those of most people. When things don't go their way there are extreme reactions, crying suicide or resort to childish behavior. All those weird tics of youth become exaggerated with each passing year.

At some point the never needing to work becomes inability to work and inability to adapt to changes. The ones who never married become impossible to marry. The ones who did marry end up in a co-dependent drama where they have no normal-ish people around them because they are weirder and more extreme versions of themselves with each passing year. The world has to accomodate to them, not the other way around.
I have known a few people like this and watched this develop over several decades.

This is true, seen it too.

[Anonymous]

I remember having a client who complained that their parents were only millionaires so they had to work for a living. They were whining because their friends who are children of billionaires could have lives of leisure.

Tiniest violin playing....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is some crazy s*!t. Kids never need to work?!

A lot of women don’t work, it’s not that unusual. I’ve never worked full time. I know it’s risky but it’s worked out.

My son has enough money to not work but what would he do all day? He’s a beneficiary of a generation skipping trust, now in his early 20s. He gets more money every month from this trust than he does from his paychecks. He is not a spender though so he should be fine.

[Anonymous]

Even Waltons and Gates and Trumps and Kardashians work. Wealth just gives you options and flexibility and a safety net.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Even if my child only grows his own crops or makes art or writes poetry. They need to work. They need purpose.

[Anonymous]

Most people need to work, OP. If you had a thread where everyone responded that their kids wouldn’t need to work, it wouldn’t exactly be a representative sample of the greater public. What kind of question is it?

[Anonymous]

Yes my kid will need to work though we are hoping for her to be in a place where it is not necessary for her to work in a very difficult or demanding job unless it's something she really wants to pursue. She should graduate from college loan free thanks to our savings, grandparents are leaving her a small trust that she will gain access to in her 20s which will either go towards a home or retirement investments, and DH and I will be able to help with childcare or other expenses if/when she has her own family.

To me, this is ideal. It allows her to pursue her passions though keeps her practical enough. But she will not have to struggle so much with some of the things that really weighed my husband and I down when we were starting out in life, saving for a home and trying to figure out how to have children when childcare is so expensive. Plus I had extensive loans from college and grad school. We have worked hard to help spare her those particular challenges, and done well enough that when my parents passed we were able to put most of our inheritance in trust for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's nice not to HAVE to work but it makes one weirder and weirder as they age. There is an inability to compromise. Priorities do not align with those of most people. When things don't go their way there are extreme reactions, crying suicide or resort to childish behavior. All those weird tics of youth become exaggerated with each passing year.

At some point the never needing to work becomes inability to work and inability to adapt to changes. The ones who never married become impossible to marry. The ones who did marry end up in a co-dependent drama where they have no normal-ish people around them because they are weirder and more extreme versions of themselves with each passing year. The world has to accomodate to them, not the other way around.
I have known a few people like this and watched this develop over several decades.

This was interesting to read because it describes my BIL to a tee, but he is not independently wealthy. His parents have just facilitated him not having to work for most of his life (since his late 20s when he kind of flailed around post-college for a while and then moved back in with them) and this is precisely what happened. They kept hoping a woman would come along and take him off their hands and they did not understand that he had nothing to offer any woman because he's all liability.

Thinking of my BIL as a trust fund baby without the trust fund is kind of funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who’s to say their investments or property will be worth anything if the bottom really falls out of the labor market?

What happens if your job goes away and you can only find a new one for 1/4 of your old salary? You can’t go through life worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is some crazy s*!t. Kids never need to work?!

Exactly what I was thinking .. Ewww

[Anonymous]

Nothing in life is certain esp money. People that have it are one of two types. Driven to have more and not enjoy it. Or capable of wasting an insane amount.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, i grew up on the Philadelphia Main Line I know of way more live-off-the -Trust fund kids that lived and died alone than not. My sister married one, and I knew him, his siblings, and all of their boarding school friends. Parents/families with “you don’t need to get a job” attitude are typically dysfunctional. Wealthy parents with high expectations - whether divorced or not- have much better outcomes. If you want to totally screw up your kids, tell them don’t worry - I got you. A purposeless life is for losers.

[Anonymous]

This will sound obnoxious, but it's a new-money flex from folks who didn't grow up in generational wealth so don't know that even if true, you don't say it out loud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boy, is this message board out of touch with the experiences of most people. Yes, my child will have to work in order to support herself. I do not have multiple millions of dollars that I will be able to leave behind when I die.

It's not too late. I did it on minimum wage. Learned about investing and passing the knowledge and some money down to my kids.
It only takes $1000 to start learning. Actually, it takes $0 to start learning. I don't know if people don't want to learn, don't think they can, or don't understand what I'm talking about.
Real estate investing and flipping seems easier to understand, but it takes more effort, time, and money.

[Anonymous]

Of course my kids NEED to work. I NEED to work.

You are in the DCUM bubble.