Generational wealth. What's behind the obsession?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you guys seen the current fertility rate and it's trend lol? Many of you will be lucky if your kids have kids. Many don't want to.

Estimates indicate a 12-percentage point drop in the number of 18-year-olds entering college from 2025 to 2030.

Let that sink in.

I believe in Japan more adult diapers are sold than baby diapers.

By 2050 births will probably come to a halt in the US.

Yes people should absolutely build generational wealth, but do keep in mind that YOU are probably not even going to have grandchildren.

As long as liberals stop having kids the future of the country should be in great shape

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you guys seen the current fertility rate and it's trend lol? Many of you will be lucky if your kids have kids. Many don't want to.

I’m an elder millennial and feel like I just missed the cutoff for learning how badly it sucks to have kids

The constant noise, expense and loss of freedom.

Women used to have kids because they had no other option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you guys seen the current fertility rate and it's trend lol? Many of you will be lucky if your kids have kids. Many don't want to.

Estimates indicate a 12-percentage point drop in the number of 18-year-olds entering college from 2025 to 2030.

Let that sink in.

I believe in Japan more adult diapers are sold than baby diapers.

By 2050 births will probably come to a halt in the US.

Yes people should absolutely build generational wealth, but do keep in mind that YOU are probably not even going to have grandchildren.

As long as liberals stop having kids the future of the country should be in great shape

Yes we can end up just as great as the other countries where women have no rights. You know, the countries you like to bomb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you guys seen the current fertility rate and it's trend lol? Many of you will be lucky if your kids have kids. Many don't want to.

Estimates indicate a 12-percentage point drop in the number of 18-year-olds entering college from 2025 to 2030.

Let that sink in.

I believe in Japan more adult diapers are sold than baby diapers.

By 2050 births will probably come to a halt in the US.

Yes people should absolutely build generational wealth, but do keep in mind that YOU are probably not even going to have grandchildren.

As long as liberals stop having kids the future of the country should be in great shape

The birth rates in red states are still under replacement rate so don’t get your hopes up too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not an obsession, it's a general frame of mind.

My family are European aristocrats (titles, castles, etc) and we have genealogical records that go back to the 10th century. It's always been impressed in the minds of new generations that you don't just think about yourself. You are one individual in the family line. Your job is to accept your family history (warts and all), raise your kids as best you can, try and sustain yourself economically and teach them that they, too, have to maintain financial stability. Castles are extremely expensive to maintain, and since they're full of family lore, no generation wants to be the one to let them go. Over more than a thousand years of our history, some generations have been extremely wealthy and successful, and some have been dirt poor. A lot of my relatives are now middle class. Cycles are inevitable and depend on world wars, economic recessions, changes in the tax system, etc.

The idea is not to accumulate and transmit wealth at all costs. It's to leave behind something worthwhile for future generations.

Are you the French poster-because is so, I am so tired of hearing abt your castle! If not, don’t be like the French lady.

Imagine how tiresome she in in real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not an obsession, it's a general frame of mind.

My family are European aristocrats (titles, castles, etc) and we have genealogical records that go back to the 10th century. It's always been impressed in the minds of new generations that you don't just think about yourself. You are one individual in the family line. Your job is to accept your family history (warts and all), raise your kids as best you can, try and sustain yourself economically and teach them that they, too, have to maintain financial stability. Castles are extremely expensive to maintain, and since they're full of family lore, no generation wants to be the one to let them go. Over more than a thousand years of our history, some generations have been extremely wealthy and successful, and some have been dirt poor. A lot of my relatives are now middle class. Cycles are inevitable and depend on world wars, economic recessions, changes in the tax system, etc.

The idea is not to accumulate and transmit wealth at all costs. It's to leave behind something worthwhile for future generations.

Are you the French poster-because is so, I am so tired of hearing abt your castle! If not, don’t be like the French lady.

Imagine how tiresome she in in real life.

Have only seen her post a couple times but fwiw it would be very easy for most of DCUM to buy a castle in France. They are not that expensive...but they are a pita!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we all need to pause and define what is "generational wealth"?

I am not leaving trust funds for my children so that they can afford to never work in their lives. Because that will mean an eventual decline of my family. Also, I am not that rich.

My idea of generational wealth is mainly providing for
- costs of modern age childhood,
- college until employment,
- shelter until the child/adult wants to live on their own and the math works,
- medical insurance till they are eligible and I have employment that covers it
- My own retirement and financial solvency so that my child is not burdened financially in taking care of me.

Because of my own culture, I will not consider the child launched until they are married. So let me throw in the following -
- Kid's wedding (Depending on my economic condition, it will be a wedding I can afford, not what my kid dreams about!)
- Car (because public transportation is not well-established in this country)
- Set up for a professional life - basic furnishings for an apartment, professional wardrobe

And if I was really doing well financially, I would throw in
- Help with some downpayment of a condo/apartment
- Help with childcare - labor or money.

If I have some more financial bandwidth, I will also add
- Family vacations where I covered some or all costs

And if I was quite rich
- Education for my grandkids

Super rich?
- Trust funds.
- Real estate and other assets.

I don't agree with this framing. My parents, and my spouse's parents, were all public teachers - the textbook definition of middle class. They did all of the bolded. And while not entirely financing their grandkids' educations, they have made not insubstantial contributions to their 529 accounts, to the extent they are able.

No one in their right mind would say that they have generational wealth. Paying for your kids' college is just expected.

When I think of generational wealth, I think trust funds. Not necessarily at a "never have to work again and become a profligate dipsh!t like Paris Hilton" level, but something that kicks off income, and can be tapped for large expenses (tuition, substantial downpayment, etc.) without cleaning it out. I don't have a particular value in mind, it's more of an attitude.

[Anonymous]

I have no motivation to leave my kid money. I don’t even think that expectation is good for young adults.

Maybe it is because my family of origin was blue collar, but I think she is lucky she has no college debt and won’t have to worry about my support (or LTC in retirement).

(Don’t get me wrong, as an only child she probably will inherit some $, but that was not one of my financial goals.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought that generational wealth, at least in the discussion of Black families not having it, it isn't about huge multi-million dollar estates.

Rather it's about parents being able to help kids with college, or down payments or just even being there as a backstop.

Kids who go out into the world without this are in a much more precarious place than those who have it.

That’s middle class. Generational wealth is when your kids are already wealthy on the day they are born, not just supported.

That's right. That's the reason it's referred to as generational. The wealth is so substantial that at least one future generation will be wealthy without needing to lift a finger.

[Anonymous]

Because I want to know that my kids and grandkids are safe and cared for - as much as I can anyway, even after I'm gone. People have left bequests to their children since time immemorial. It's a normal thing to do. What else am I going to do with my accumulated assets?
Sure people can and do give to charity but providing for your descendants is another normal thing to do.

[Anonymous]

I’d rather have my children enjoy generational wealth than slave away at Google, Morgan Stanley, a federal agency, or other soul crushing office work. If they pursue the arts, great. If they pursue being a teacher or something low paying, great. If they want to just work out and travel and live well with their own families, great. Any of it is better than the toil and striving and stress you see on this forum and in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d rather have my children enjoy generational wealth than slave away at Google, Morgan Stanley, a federal agency, or other soul crushing office work. If they pursue the arts, great. If they pursue being a teacher or something low paying, great. If they want to just work out and travel and live well with their own families, great. Any of it is better than the toil and striving and stress you see on this forum and in the DMV.

I have no idea how much wealth you have, but have in laws on my spouse's side where the grandparents left $50MM to a son and two grandchildren...and it's all gone now (happened over 20 years). The all "traveled and lived well"...literally. None of the three ever held a real job...just a series of lifestyle businesses that ate capital and went nowhere, in addition to traveling a ton, living in resort towns and spending without abandon.

Look...if the kids hadn't been such dumbf**ks of course they could have lived well off just the dividends, but the grandparents who made the money kind of had the same attitude as you and didn't instill any kind of stewardship over the estate.

BTW, the money was all in generational trusts...if the ones who benefit from the trusts want to get at the principal, they can. In this case, it was all their stupid business ideas. The trustee was not going to risk getting sued for not releasing the principal even though they probably thought the ideas were not going anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d rather have my children enjoy generational wealth than slave away at Google, Morgan Stanley, a federal agency, or other soul crushing office work. If they pursue the arts, great. If they pursue being a teacher or something low paying, great. If they want to just work out and travel and live well with their own families, great. Any of it is better than the toil and striving and stress you see on this forum and in the DMV.

I have no idea how much wealth you have, but have in laws on my spouse's side where the grandparents left $50MM to a son and two grandchildren...and it's all gone now (happened over 20 years). The all "traveled and lived well"...literally. None of the three ever held a real job...just a series of lifestyle businesses that ate capital and went nowhere, in addition to traveling a ton, living in resort towns and spending without abandon.

Look...if the kids hadn't been such dumbf**ks of course they could have lived well off just the dividends, but the grandparents who made the money kind of had the same attitude as you and didn't instill any kind of stewardship over the estate.

BTW, the money was all in generational trusts...if the ones who benefit from the trusts want to get at the principal, they can. In this case, it was all their stupid business ideas. The trustee was not going to risk getting sued for not releasing the principal even though they probably thought the ideas were not going anywhere.

And you know what? At least they had fun. You live once. They weren’t going to be all star lawyers if they’re that foolish so at least they pursued travel and leisure.

[Anonymous]

Pretty simple really in the 1960s 61 percent of people were considered middle class (https://theworld.org/stories/2015/12/11/american-middle-class-shrinking ) but the middle class is shrinking. In part because the upper middle class and above are growing. In a generation the numbers will continue to shift and income and wealth inequality will continue grow. Foresee a 30-70 split between the haves and have nots. Want my kids and grand kids to be in that 30%. Fortunately have the means to set my kids on the right path.

That is why generational wealth will become even more relevant going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to understand the obsession behind generational wealth. If your retirement is on target, your kids college education funded and you own a home then why are you obsessively stressing over the generation beyond your kids?

I'm not obsessed, but there is only SO MUCH money I can spend. As we have gotten older our expenses are less and less. I do not get joy from buying things. At 48 I have the furntiure I need, I only gain and lose the same 10lbs so my clothes fit, we only travel with 3 often just 2 of us, and we are sitting at a very low interest rate and payment for a house that is now probably too big for us. I'm not going to just spend money becuase we have it. We just have a bunch of money left over each month and continue to dump into the market and occasionally buy a rental property when the right deal pops up.

I'm not looking to leave my kids money, I'm looking to give it to them when they need it most when they are starting their own adult lives.