The amount of people living subsidized by their parents is astounding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very normal and human thing to use your resources to take care of your own offspring

Not adults! The “normal” human behavior is for adults to take care of their aging parents. I know 40-something’s who get allowances from their 70 year old parents. 😝

Most of these people are stunted professionally because they relied financially on their parents.

So, OP, I support my elderly parents, should they have to pay income tax in the money I give then each month?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I happen to know who in my circle is supported financially by their parents. They are not shy about sharing this information. But once they share it, I am now aware that everything they do is only possible because of their parent’s hard work & business acumen — not their own.

It does change my perception of them, I can’t lie. It’s an American thing. We value self made people. Whether you like it or not, those people will always be respected more.

A) You only know about the ones that tell you

B) The wealth isn’t necessarily from hard work and acumen

C) America is as built on nepotism and inherited wealth as most other countries, don’t delude yourself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I happen to know who in my circle is supported financially by their parents. They are not shy about sharing this information. But once they share it, I am now aware that everything they do is only possible because of their parent’s hard work & business acumen — not their own.

It does change my perception of them, I can’t lie. It’s an American thing. We value self made people. Whether you like it or not, those people will always be respected more.

Eh, not necessarily. I have more respect for someone who does a low-paying job that has positive effect on society—teacher, professor, curator—because they can afford to, over someone who’s hellbent on making as much money as they can.

And not everyone with a lot of money has really done “hard work” or even necessarily has business acumen. Many just get lucky, skirt the law, pillage the environment, and/or exploit labor to be successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happen to know who in my circle is supported financially by their parents. They are not shy about sharing this information. But once they share it, I am now aware that everything they do is only possible because of their parent’s hard work & business acumen — not their own.

It does change my perception of them, I can’t lie. It’s an American thing. We value self made people. Whether you like it or not, those people will always be respected more.

A) You only know about the ones that tell you

B) The wealth isn’t necessarily from hard work and acumen

C) America is as built on nepotism and inherited wealth as most other countries, don’t delude yourself

I actually disagree. I think America was built on the backs of laborers and working class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happen to know who in my circle is supported financially by their parents. They are not shy about sharing this information. But once they share it, I am now aware that everything they do is only possible because of their parent’s hard work & business acumen — not their own.

It does change my perception of them, I can’t lie. It’s an American thing. We value self made people. Whether you like it or not, those people will always be respected more.

A) You only know about the ones that tell you

B) The wealth isn’t necessarily from hard work and acumen

C) America is as built on nepotism and inherited wealth as most other countries, don’t delude yourself

I actually disagree. I think America was built on the backs of laborers and working class.

Yet you have a problem with those people succeeding, acquiring some amount of wealth, and passing any money to their descendants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a big extended family with generational wealth. I benefit from it, and I will pass it on.

I gotta say, this idea of subsidizing doesn’t bother me. If my kids are happy and healthy and fulfilled, I don’t really care if they use trust money or a salary or some combo to pay their bills. There’s no prize when you die for a pile of W2s. The very few people in my extended family who really made piles of money were all entrepreneurs anyway. Boom and bust types.

It would be kind of crazy to me to have a bunch of assets and not change your life at all.

Agree with all of this, but as was said in a previous comment, I just want the rich kids to pay TAXES on this unearned income. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Their family/parents paid taxes on the income already. If they are under 18 and/or a college student, you can simply pay their expenses. It's also easy to pay their expenses when older and not get caught. You just use a family CC that you pay for.

Or you simply gift the $19K/year per person

Yes, their parents paid taxes when it was their income. Now the kids can pay taxes when it becomes their income. That’s how income taxes work (or should work, anyway).

I mean, my employer already paid taxes on their own income, so why should I have to pay taxes when they give some of it to me in exchange for some form of labor?

Yes, if you are gifting it to non-family, make it income. But a parent helping their 25 yo kid out should not count as "income" IMO. That's where I have issues.

But WHY? What is the actual difference, when looked at from the perspective of the adult child with rich parents vs the adult child with poor parents?

Because family takes care of family. Just because my kids hit some magical age does not mean that we still don't want to help them out. They still have jobs, meaningful careers they love and live within their means. I mean the poor kid probably didn't have parental help with college---are you proposing we tax kids on the money their parents use to pay for their college? No, it's just called helping your kids with what you have. Yes, some will have more, some less. But you can go from poor to rich, get an education and focus your efforts on improving you. I grew up LMC, worked my ass off to do well in school and get into good schools and also do well in college so I could get a job and pay off my student loans. In 1999 I was 6 years out of graduate school, had paid off all of our loans (almost $80K), bought a first home and well on our way to saving for retirement. I was making 6 figures with my bonus (in 1999 that was an excellent salary). None of that was luck. It was just excelling at school an at our jobs. I knew the path out of low income lifestyle was education and that nothing would be handed to me, so I had to work for it all. That meant not partying as much in college as many kids, it meant working FT on any break to have enough money to attend college. It meant spending hours searching for internships and jobs (in early days of internet---it took a lot more work/planning).

Nothing was handed to me or my spouse. We simply worked hard and were always looking for ways to better ourselves.

A long-winded way of saying there’s absolutely no difference between some poor kid’s earned income and your rich kid’s unearned income except for the fact that it’s YOUR kid, so he’s special and shouldn’t have to pay taxes. Got it.

And nobody cares about YOUR rags to riches story, we’re talking about your spoiled kids that DO in fact get everything handed to them while their peers have to work for it AND pay the taxes to fund our society your welfare kids get to enjoy.

You can help out your adult kids by paying them for being your kids, AND your kids can pay taxes on that income. This isn’t a difficult concept to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is my sister and her family: she and her husband started investing well in real estate starting in the 1980s in a very high COL area. Fast forward to present day - all of her residential properties are now occupied by her children and their children. They work in their careers, but they don't pay rent or mortgages. She gets to live near them, because otherwise they would have had to leave that area long ago.

So…a family-owned property is inhabited by family members? How terrible.

I know, so shameful. This is what families of all income levels do---they help out however they can.
If you can afford it, why wouldn't you?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lifetime estate and gift tax exemption increased to $13.99 million per individual for 2025. In most situations (esp with married couples giving), people don't need to worry about giving $50,000 this year versus the exclusionary max of $38,000/year (in the couple scenario). A lot of people wrongly think they can only give $19,000 each per year (above that just needs to be reported). There are also things that don't "count" toward the $19,000, like direct payments to medical providers direct tuition payments.

Or even better, simply have a "family Credit card". For us it's the one we got for each kid when they turned 16 and started driving. All 3 kids have one, along with me---it's my account with them as secondary. Once kids are out of college, they put purchases on that card that we are paying for (plane tickets home or vacations with us or trips to the grandparents). And yes, education and medical can both be paid directly without being considered a gift.

Do they have limits on it?!

Yes---only agreed upon purchases. We pay for all their airfare to fly "home" to see us and for family trips/vacations. Also for airfare to go see grandparents and the hotels/car rentals associated with that. This way their grandparents get to see them 2-3 times per year for a few days. Quite frankly, our kids are quite frugal, as they were not aware of our true wealth until they were in college---because we raised them to not get everything and to understand the value of $$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a big extended family with generational wealth. I benefit from it, and I will pass it on.

I gotta say, this idea of subsidizing doesn’t bother me. If my kids are happy and healthy and fulfilled, I don’t really care if they use trust money or a salary or some combo to pay their bills. There’s no prize when you die for a pile of W2s. The very few people in my extended family who really made piles of money were all entrepreneurs anyway. Boom and bust types.

It would be kind of crazy to me to have a bunch of assets and not change your life at all.

Agree with all of this, but as was said in a previous comment, I just want the rich kids to pay TAXES on this unearned income. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Their family/parents paid taxes on the income already. If they are under 18 and/or a college student, you can simply pay their expenses. It's also easy to pay their expenses when older and not get caught. You just use a family CC that you pay for.

Or you simply gift the $19K/year per person

Yes, their parents paid taxes when it was their income. Now the kids can pay taxes when it becomes their income. That’s how income taxes work (or should work, anyway).

I mean, my employer already paid taxes on their own income, so why should I have to pay taxes when they give some of it to me in exchange for some form of labor?

Yes, if you are gifting it to non-family, make it income. But a parent helping their 25 yo kid out should not count as "income" IMO. That's where I have issues.

But WHY? What is the actual difference, when looked at from the perspective of the adult child with rich parents vs the adult child with poor parents?

Because family takes care of family. Just because my kids hit some magical age does not mean that we still don't want to help them out. They still have jobs, meaningful careers they love and live within their means. I mean the poor kid probably didn't have parental help with college---are you proposing we tax kids on the money their parents use to pay for their college? No, it's just called helping your kids with what you have. Yes, some will have more, some less. But you can go from poor to rich, get an education and focus your efforts on improving you. I grew up LMC, worked my ass off to do well in school and get into good schools and also do well in college so I could get a job and pay off my student loans. In 1999 I was 6 years out of graduate school, had paid off all of our loans (almost $80K), bought a first home and well on our way to saving for retirement. I was making 6 figures with my bonus (in 1999 that was an excellent salary). None of that was luck. It was just excelling at school an at our jobs. I knew the path out of low income lifestyle was education and that nothing would be handed to me, so I had to work for it all. That meant not partying as much in college as many kids, it meant working FT on any break to have enough money to attend college. It meant spending hours searching for internships and jobs (in early days of internet---it took a lot more work/planning).

Nothing was handed to me or my spouse. We simply worked hard and were always looking for ways to better ourselves.

A long-winded way of saying there’s absolutely no difference between some poor kid’s earned income and your rich kid’s unearned income except for the fact that it’s YOUR kid, so he’s special and shouldn’t have to pay taxes. Got it.

And nobody cares about YOUR rags to riches story, we’re talking about your spoiled kids that DO in fact get everything handed to them while their peers have to work for it AND pay the taxes to fund our society your welfare kids get to enjoy.

You can help out your adult kids by paying them for being your kids, AND your kids can pay taxes on that income. This isn’t a difficult concept to understand.

CUrrently under the gift limits, so nope, they don't "get everything handed to them". Totally legal and should (and likely will) remain legal. We also gift to friends and other family (nieces/nephews/etc) and keep it all under the Federal gift limit. We follow the laws and nobody is required to pay taxes.
Stop being jealous of others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very normal and human thing to use your resources to take care of your own offspring

Not adults! The “normal” human behavior is for adults to take care of their aging parents. I know 40-something’s who get allowances from their 70 year old parents. 😝

Most of these people are stunted professionally because they relied financially on their parents.

So, OP, I support my elderly parents, should they have to pay income tax in the money I give then each month?

Should the elderly childless who work as Wal Mart greeters to keep themselves in cat food half to pay taxes on the income Wal Mart gives them each month?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happen to know who in my circle is supported financially by their parents. They are not shy about sharing this information. But once they share it, I am now aware that everything they do is only possible because of their parent’s hard work & business acumen — not their own.

It does change my perception of them, I can’t lie. It’s an American thing. We value self made people. Whether you like it or not, those people will always be respected more.

A) You only know about the ones that tell you

B) The wealth isn’t necessarily from hard work and acumen

C) America is as built on nepotism and inherited wealth as most other countries, don’t delude yourself

I actually disagree. I think America was built on the backs of laborers and working class.

Yet you have a problem with those people succeeding, acquiring some amount of wealth, and passing any money to their descendants.

Nobody has a problem with any of that. Many of us have a problem with their descendants not having to pay taxes on their payouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a big extended family with generational wealth. I benefit from it, and I will pass it on.

I gotta say, this idea of subsidizing doesn’t bother me. If my kids are happy and healthy and fulfilled, I don’t really care if they use trust money or a salary or some combo to pay their bills. There’s no prize when you die for a pile of W2s. The very few people in my extended family who really made piles of money were all entrepreneurs anyway. Boom and bust types.

It would be kind of crazy to me to have a bunch of assets and not change your life at all.

Agree with all of this, but as was said in a previous comment, I just want the rich kids to pay TAXES on this unearned income. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Their family/parents paid taxes on the income already. If they are under 18 and/or a college student, you can simply pay their expenses. It's also easy to pay their expenses when older and not get caught. You just use a family CC that you pay for.

Or you simply gift the $19K/year per person

Yes, their parents paid taxes when it was their income. Now the kids can pay taxes when it becomes their income. That’s how income taxes work (or should work, anyway).

I mean, my employer already paid taxes on their own income, so why should I have to pay taxes when they give some of it to me in exchange for some form of labor?

Yes, if you are gifting it to non-family, make it income. But a parent helping their 25 yo kid out should not count as "income" IMO. That's where I have issues.

But WHY? What is the actual difference, when looked at from the perspective of the adult child with rich parents vs the adult child with poor parents?

Because family takes care of family. Just because my kids hit some magical age does not mean that we still don't want to help them out. They still have jobs, meaningful careers they love and live within their means. I mean the poor kid probably didn't have parental help with college---are you proposing we tax kids on the money their parents use to pay for their college? No, it's just called helping your kids with what you have. Yes, some will have more, some less. But you can go from poor to rich, get an education and focus your efforts on improving you. I grew up LMC, worked my ass off to do well in school and get into good schools and also do well in college so I could get a job and pay off my student loans. In 1999 I was 6 years out of graduate school, had paid off all of our loans (almost $80K), bought a first home and well on our way to saving for retirement. I was making 6 figures with my bonus (in 1999 that was an excellent salary). None of that was luck. It was just excelling at school an at our jobs. I knew the path out of low income lifestyle was education and that nothing would be handed to me, so I had to work for it all. That meant not partying as much in college as many kids, it meant working FT on any break to have enough money to attend college. It meant spending hours searching for internships and jobs (in early days of internet---it took a lot more work/planning).

Nothing was handed to me or my spouse. We simply worked hard and were always looking for ways to better ourselves.

A long-winded way of saying there’s absolutely no difference between some poor kid’s earned income and your rich kid’s unearned income except for the fact that it’s YOUR kid, so he’s special and shouldn’t have to pay taxes. Got it.

And nobody cares about YOUR rags to riches story, we’re talking about your spoiled kids that DO in fact get everything handed to them while their peers have to work for it AND pay the taxes to fund our society your welfare kids get to enjoy.

You can help out your adult kids by paying them for being your kids, AND your kids can pay taxes on that income. This isn’t a difficult concept to understand.

CUrrently under the gift limits, so nope, they don't "get everything handed to them". Totally legal and should (and likely will) remain legal. We also gift to friends and other family (nieces/nephews/etc) and keep it all under the Federal gift limit. We follow the laws and nobody is required to pay taxes.
Stop being jealous of others.

Stop gaslighting and deflecting. It’s not jealousy to point out when the game is rigged. America was never meant to have a permanent aristocracy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very normal and human thing to use your resources to take care of your own offspring

Not adults! The “normal” human behavior is for adults to take care of their aging parents. I know 40-something’s who get allowances from their 70 year old parents. 😝

Most of these people are stunted professionally because they relied financially on their parents.

So, OP, I support my elderly parents, should they have to pay income tax in the money I give then each month?

Should the elderly childless who work as Wal Mart greeters to keep themselves in cat food half to pay taxes on the income Wal Mart gives them each month?

NP. Is Walmart gifting them the money, or is it their wages?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happen to know who in my circle is supported financially by their parents. They are not shy about sharing this information. But once they share it, I am now aware that everything they do is only possible because of their parent’s hard work & business acumen — not their own.

It does change my perception of them, I can’t lie. It’s an American thing. We value self made people. Whether you like it or not, those people will always be respected more.

A) You only know about the ones that tell you

B) The wealth isn’t necessarily from hard work and acumen

C) America is as built on nepotism and inherited wealth as most other countries, don’t delude yourself

I actually disagree. I think America was built on the backs of laborers and working class.

Yet you have a problem with those people succeeding, acquiring some amount of wealth, and passing any money to their descendants.

Nobody has a problem with any of that. Many of us have a problem with their descendants not having to pay taxes on their payouts.

Right, so people of any income level should have to pay taxes on any amount of gifted money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I happen to know who in my circle is supported financially by their parents. They are not shy about sharing this information. But once they share it, I am now aware that everything they do is only possible because of their parent’s hard work & business acumen — not their own.

It does change my perception of them, I can’t lie. It’s an American thing. We value self made people. Whether you like it or not, those people will always be respected more.

A) You only know about the ones that tell you

B) The wealth isn’t necessarily from hard work and acumen

C) America is as built on nepotism and inherited wealth as most other countries, don’t delude yourself

I actually disagree. I think America was built on the backs of laborers and working class.

Yet you have a problem with those people succeeding, acquiring some amount of wealth, and passing any money to their descendants.

Nobody has a problem with any of that. Many of us have a problem with their descendants not having to pay taxes on their payouts.

Why? It's post tax money.