Do you know your parents net worth?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP it is so wildly transparent that you are wanting to inherit your dad's money and that is the root of your concern about the estate plan. And it is gross.

Op - not at all. DH and I are very comfortable. Our HHI is in the high 6s and my sisters HHI is in the millions. I just don’t want the headache of what it will take to deal with his estate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I know my mom's net worth. We did not know my ILs net worth and now every thing is a mess and is going through the court system.

My kids know our net worth. We have some investments that will go to the kids. We have a generous pension that will end when both of us are dead, so we will not be able to pass on too much of it to the kids from that except probably whatever we can give them every year as gift.

We have a house worth 700K. I have jewelry worth a couple hundred thousand. We have some inheritance that may come our way - a few hundred thousand here and there. That will probably go to the grandkids (our children) because getting the inheritance as a senior citizen we don't think we can use it - but are grateful that our parents had that money and that they were self-sufficient and we did not have to help them monetarily in their old age. That is our philosophy too. We do not want to be dependent on our kids monetarily in our old age.

Fascinating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP it is so wildly transparent that you are wanting to inherit your dad's money and that is the root of your concern about the estate plan. And it is gross.

Op - not at all. DH and I are very comfortable. Our HHI is in the high 6s and my sisters HHI is in the millions. I just don’t want the headache of what it will take to deal with his estate.

If he has a wife, even a third one, you won’t have to. Trust me on this.

[Anonymous]

$10 million-ish? They are unusually frugal and don't like to talk about money. My siblings and I generally don't care, except that one (learning disabled) will require a trust and we want to make sure that's sorted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was just having an interesting discussion with my dad and found out his net worth. It was sort of eye watering to me. This is a guy with only a 2 year associates degree. His personal net worth is $3-4 million and that doesn’t include the 5 businesses he is part of. So I would guess it is close to $7 million?

What makes this even more insane is he doesn’t have any sort of active will, no estate planning to think of, and keeps putting it off no matter how many times I bring it up. The thought of settling his estate if something happens to him makes me want to cry.

If there are no complications (ex-spouse, step kids, estranged kids, etc.) sit with him and create a trust, will, healthcare poa, etc. All of these can be done with online templates. Once this is done, title his assets in the name of the trust (e.g. "Dad Revocable Trust dated 6-30-2025"). He will continue to own all his assets and have full control through the trust. Once he passes, you and sis become the trustees of the trust and are now the owners of said assets without going through probate..

Op here - no lots of problems with us. Parents are divorced. He is on his 3rd wife who is here on a green card and much younger. It’s all a mess.

If he is married then she likely gets it all and you don't need to be involved in settling his estate at all. If, however, you want a piece of the action then that needs to be in a will.

[Anonymous]

I know my mothers NW because I have to manage her finances at this point. We set her up with a financial advisor to consolidate all the accounts she had, and we get monthly statements. It's around $4m at the moment, and her government pension basically covers her living expenses in her retirement home. Already sold her house so no complications there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know my mothers NW because I have to manage her finances at this point. We set her up with a financial advisor to consolidate all the accounts she had, and we get monthly statements. It's around $4m at the moment, and her government pension basically covers her living expenses in her retirement home. Already sold her house so no complications there.

Me too. I know where everything is, every account, password and value. After my dad died and left a mess she didn’t want to put my brother and I through that so she became very transparent and started consolidating everything she could. Which was incredibly lucky because a few years later she started declining cognitively. It’s just practical to know what’s there. I hope she lives forever (as long as she has a good quality of life). But I’m also a realist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - every couple years I go with them to their annual meeting with their financial advisor. I also have online access to all their investment accounts. They have between $6-7M at 80 and 79. I'm an only child so their only heir.

This is how it should be with parents letting their children know this information

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was just having an interesting discussion with my dad and found out his net worth. It was sort of eye watering to me. This is a guy with only a 2 year associates degree. His personal net worth is $3-4 million and that doesn’t include the 5 businesses he is part of. So I would guess it is close to $7 million?

What makes this even more insane is he doesn’t have any sort of active will, no estate planning to think of, and keeps putting it off no matter how many times I bring it up. The thought of settling his estate if something happens to him makes me want to cry.

What types of businesses? Small businesses and sole proprietorships are notorious for not paying taxes: working in cash, thus underreporting income; paying employees in cash, thus avoiding payroll taxes; inflating cost of goods with contractors who kickback the difference; conflating personal and business expenses to enjoy personal luxuries as a write off to business income. On and on. Part of the “magic” of small businesses is fraud.

[Anonymous]

Yes. My parents have always been meticulous with their finances and include all their children in yearly updates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP it is so wildly transparent that you are wanting to inherit your dad's money and that is the root of your concern about the estate plan. And it is gross.

Op - not at all. DH and I are very comfortable. Our HHI is in the high 6s and my sisters HHI is in the millions. I just don’t want the headache of what it will take to deal with his estate.

Why would you need to deal with anything? His wife gets it all.

[Anonymous]

I have some idea, but not the entire picture. My main concern is there has been no estate planning done and they refuse to go. I suggest it once or twice a year and nothing happens. I am an only child and afraid I am going to be left with a mess. I have my own family and job that take up a lot of time. I have anxiety and feel overwhelmed just thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was just having an interesting discussion with my dad and found out his net worth. It was sort of eye watering to me. This is a guy with only a 2 year associates degree. His personal net worth is $3-4 million and that doesn’t include the 5 businesses he is part of. So I would guess it is close to $7 million?

What makes this even more insane is he doesn’t have any sort of active will, no estate planning to think of, and keeps putting it off no matter how many times I bring it up. The thought of settling his estate if something happens to him makes me want to cry.

What types of businesses? Small businesses and sole proprietorships are notorious for not paying taxes: working in cash, thus underreporting income; paying employees in cash, thus avoiding payroll taxes; inflating cost of goods with contractors who kickback the difference; conflating personal and business expenses to enjoy personal luxuries as a write off to business income. On and on. Part of the “magic” of small businesses is fraud.

Are you the person who just started the other thread accusing small business owners of tax fraud?

That is not what this thread is about, fyi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was just having an interesting discussion with my dad and found out his net worth. It was sort of eye watering to me. This is a guy with only a 2 year associates degree. His personal net worth is $3-4 million and that doesn’t include the 5 businesses he is part of. So I would guess it is close to $7 million?

What makes this even more insane is he doesn’t have any sort of active will, no estate planning to think of, and keeps putting it off no matter how many times I bring it up. The thought of settling his estate if something happens to him makes me want to cry.

What types of businesses? Small businesses and sole proprietorships are notorious for not paying taxes: working in cash, thus underreporting income; paying employees in cash, thus avoiding payroll taxes; inflating cost of goods with contractors who kickback the difference; conflating personal and business expenses to enjoy personal luxuries as a write off to business income. On and on. Part of the “magic” of small businesses is fraud.

Are you the person who just started the other thread accusing small business owners of tax fraud?

That is not what this thread is about, fyi.

Yes, I started the other thread and did so because it is of interest on its own.

How it pertains to OP is the notion of being awestruck by her dad with an associates degree who has piled up millions and has several businesses. I’m not alleging anything, but I am suggesting that there could be something more behind that wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was just having an interesting discussion with my dad and found out his net worth. It was sort of eye watering to me. This is a guy with only a 2 year associates degree. His personal net worth is $3-4 million and that doesn’t include the 5 businesses he is part of. So I would guess it is close to $7 million?

What makes this even more insane is he doesn’t have any sort of active will, no estate planning to think of, and keeps putting it off no matter how many times I bring it up. The thought of settling his estate if something happens to him makes me want to cry.

What types of businesses? Small businesses and sole proprietorships are notorious for not paying taxes: working in cash, thus underreporting income; paying employees in cash, thus avoiding payroll taxes; inflating cost of goods with contractors who kickback the difference; conflating personal and business expenses to enjoy personal luxuries as a write off to business income. On and on. Part of the “magic” of small businesses is fraud.

Are you the person who just started the other thread accusing small business owners of tax fraud?

That is not what this thread is about, fyi.

Yes, I started the other thread and did so because it is of interest on its own.

How it pertains to OP is the notion of being awestruck by her dad with an associates degree who has piled up millions and has several businesses. I’m not alleging anything, but I am suggesting that there could be something more behind that wealth.

What a jerk.