Anonymous
Post 01/02/2026 12:32     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:Money is so much more useful when you are younger. We inherited some money a couple of years ago at the age of 50. Our kids were already in college/about to start college. We already owned a house etc.

We don’t really need this money as we had saved for college and retirement without knowing we would eventually inherit, and we don’t benefit from it like we would’ve when we were younger (we had some student loans, bought in a not great school district etc.).

I don’t have a direct answer for you but this experience has made us rethink how we can use the money to support our kids while they are in their 20s and 30s rather than just having them inherit it once they are settled and have less need for the money.


This. We are thinking about how we can use our money to make our kids live better when they are younger, which we think will actually make their lives better overall. Not saying we don't want them to save or won't leave an inheritance, but maybe the inheritance won't be as big because we paid for school, a house, a car, vacations etc. We want them to then be able to do the same for their own kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2026 10:57     Subject: Re:If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The remarriage or new partner is a high possibility for some people. After being together for that many years, it's going to be hard for the surviving parent to get used to being alone and they're likely to see out a new companion. It's more likely a man will remarry (much more on offer due to longer lifespan for women) but either can happen.


My mother sacrificed her whole life to leave money to me and my sister. My dad remarried and left the bulk of his estate to his second wife. My sister and I together received about 10% of the estate.


My Dad left everything to his 3rd wife except his $100k IRA which I split with my sister. His car went to her son and she lives in the house that her kids will get when she passes.

The best thing to protect against this is to name your children as total or partial beneficiaries on your 401k and IRA. There's a form to complete & notarize that spouse acknowledges this distribution plan.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2026 10:48     Subject: Re:If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:The remarriage or new partner is a high possibility for some people. After being together for that many years, it's going to be hard for the surviving parent to get used to being alone and they're likely to see out a new companion. It's more likely a man will remarry (much more on offer due to longer lifespan for women) but either can happen.


My mother sacrificed her whole life to leave money to me and my sister. My dad remarried and left the bulk of his estate to his second wife. My sister and I together received about 10% of the estate.
Anonymous
Post 01/02/2026 10:45     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:OP, I think a lot of people on this thread are responding without knowing what it is like being from a family that has a lot of money. I am betting most here aren't getting near that amount of inheritance. I do come from a well off family and the emphasis has been for generations on preserving money and passing it on to the next. You will most likely be fine if you are from one of those families. It is the very core of who we are and the values we are raised with.


This -
There is a solid estate plan with trusts and 529s so that we can plan accordingly. Divorce isn't an issue when beneficiaries are named in these accounts. Knowing what we had coming in the future allowed us to send kids to private school and take annual family vacations in the $15k range. One parent has passed and the money arrived as planned.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 22:35     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:Inheritance is difficult to plan around, your parents could live another 20 years. The money belongs to them and they could spend or lose it all before you inherit it.

It's all about risk tolerance though, you could increase your spend moderately since you have a high probability of having that support in retirement.



This. At the same time, we do splurge on vacations and we’re not expecting any such inheritance.

I wouldn’t count on an inheritance but I would still splurge now and then cause life is short and unpredictable so live while you have a life.

No one is assured to wake up tomorrow. You may live long enough to inherit or you may not.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 22:08     Subject: Re:If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
My husband and I will ultimately inherit a lot of money. I suppose we don’t save as aggressively as we otherwise might - we max out retirement and have savings, but would probably otherwise save more aggressively.

Things I spend money on in a way I otherwise wouldn’t: I have three kids and we’re sending them to private school. I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford three kids in private school otherwise. Other than that, we live in a very average house and take 1-2 vacations per year. We live a HCOL area and a basic UMC lifestyle here + private school costs a small fortune. Private school is our main luxury.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 20:11     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Inheritance I act like it doesn't exist.

However the grandparent contribute while they are alive -- most valuable is funding the 529s. This does change how we spend now.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 20:09     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:Inheritance is difficult to plan around, your parents could live another 20 years. The money belongs to them and they could spend or lose it all before you inherit it.

It's all about risk tolerance though, you could increase your spend moderately since you have a high probability of having that support in retirement.


100%. I'm in a similar boat, but between long live and the cost of (great) care, and the off chance something screwy happens, we act like it won't happen. So no, we don't do anything differently except maybe feel a sense of security a lot of the time, but it's so easy for me to snap out of that.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 20:07     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is any of that $6M in a 401K? If so, you have to pay income taxes on it with ten years so it may be worth far less to you. Ask me how I know.


One idea for 401k money is to have your children (if they are adults) the beneficiaries of your parents pre-tax money. They will likely be in a much lower tax bracket.


Or have your parents take out more than RMDs if they are in a lower tax bracket than you. I wish my parents could have done that but they died right after 401K rules changed
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 18:56     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
We asked grandparents to help towards private schools, and didn’t save quite as much as we should have, but didn’t spend freely either. It was tighter than it should have been because of private schools. Grandparents did not help with vacations or other big treats compared to other UMC in this area. After parents died, we were able to have more breathing room. I wish things had been different to spend a little more to spend time together but it didn’t work out that way because of the kids busy schedules, us working a lot at careers, and grandparents being frugal, but we are grateful that the kids benefited from the extra school money and now have a good retirement.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 18:45     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:No way. You never know what could happen.


My kids might be in this situation and I hope the possibility of 6M doesn't change their lives materially.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 17:19     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
This actually happened to us in the late '90s. DH inherited low six figures from his grandparent and that enabled me to leave the full-time workforce and freelance while raising the kids. Today, that amount would have to be closer to high six figures. We did not know this inheritance was coming, and I'm really glad about that.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 17:07     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
If I was 100% certain I would quit my job and be a sahm. If it was likely, I would keep doing everything the same way I am now.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 16:56     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is any of that $6M in a 401K? If so, you have to pay income taxes on it with ten years so it may be worth far less to you. Ask me how I know.


One idea for 401k money is to have your children (if they are adults) the beneficiaries of your parents pre-tax money. They will likely be in a much lower tax bracket.


My kids are in elementary so this doesn't help me, but isn't there a generation skipping tax? My mom once mentioned leaving like 50k to each of my kids, but I thought I read about this tax in that case.
Anonymous
Post 01/01/2026 16:44     Subject: If you knew you would inherit $6M, would you do things different?
Anonymous wrote:Inheritance is difficult to plan around, your parents could live another 20 years. The money belongs to them and they could spend or lose it all before you inherit it.

It's all about risk tolerance though, you could increase your spend moderately since you have a high probability of having that support in retirement.


Yeah this. You don’t need to be black and white about it ( plan 100% to get it or 100% to not get it). The risk is that you’re too conservative and missed out on opportunities in life because you came into huge amount of money at an old age that you can’t enjoy, on the other side you risk not having enough money if you planned to get it and something happened to make it go away.

If you think there’s very a high chance you’ll inherit that money, it makes sense to spend a bit more than usual but not so much that you’d be screwed if the money didn’t come in.