Anonymous wrote:My parents have zero savings. They own a property and a house that is mortgage free. They save up for new cars but they live month to month off my father's fairly meager pension. They are on a pretty fixed income but very good at living within their means. This does limit what they can do and is a little sad as it keeps them at home a lot of the time as they don't have the money to travel or do fun things. Its a bit of a boring retirement.

They will leave us the house / property when they die. I want them to sell it now and live off the money as it would give them a much better quality of life but they refuse to do so, saying it is all they have to leave us. As my siblings and myself are all in much better financial positions than they are, I feel differently! I would rather see them enjoying life as I don't need their money.

You and your siblings can give them anniversary and birthday trips, either local resorts or bigger trips if they’re interested in that. There’s a lot you can do to make their retirement enjoyable. Make sure everyone visits. You’d be surprised how many retirees don’t mind staying close to home.

My mother is worth maybe 3M, possibly another 1.5 pending a land sale abroad. I don’t know how my parents managed to accumulate it since only my dad worked, and he made a fraction of what I make, and raised four kids. They also had to deal with much upheaval due to wars and political strife, including total loss of property and possessions. My mother turned scrimping and saving into a science, so maybe that part of it.

Surving parent, age 82, has a net worth of about $300k, all appropriately invested for their age. Plus a pension and Social Security that combined is about $35k annually.

Rents a 2 BR apartment in a DMV exurb, lives frugally and draws down about $15k - $20k a year.

Parent will do fine unless/until either or both of two things happen:

1. The market tanks (could survive this, but in a weakened financial position)

2. Health goes south and requires expensive long-term care. Which is not a small risk at age 82.

Zero when Mom died and Zero for my Dad who is still living, between social security and small military pension is able to live down south on $3K/month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents are very conservative spenders and private about this except that my father says don't expect anything. He doesn't believe in inheritances, neither parent received one. I would think they have a few million.

So they are going to donate their millions?

DP: that is their choice.

Me personally, I'd at least leave enough to fully fund any future grandkids college educations. That alone removes a huge burden from my kids (their parents) financial picture.

My parents have a house that's worth $300K or so, and owe something like $40K they've borrowed against it. Other than that they live off pensions and social security, and don't have investments or savings really.

How would I possibly know? My mom died first, my dad remarried. Money that was in trust for me and my siblings was distributed to us on my dad's death but my dad left the rest of his money to his second wife.

My in-laws own their home - about $250k. My FIlL (77) hasn’t worked since he lost his job about 20 years ago. My MIL (74) is retiring this year - she’s a nurse who ran multiple out patient centers as the chief administrator. They live in a low COL area and I have no idea. I’d guess $1 million or so.

My parents I know have at least $5m in investments and own 3 homes outright so about $7.5 million there. My dad also owns some small apartment buildings but I don’t know if he owns them outright or not. Still, I’d guess at least $9 million total. My mom (79) is suffering from dementia but so far hasn’t needed in-home care or to move to a center. That could be a long-term expense when she does need more care.

My parents give me and my two siblings / our spouses the maximum allowed gifts per year and have moved to a state with lower taxes / lower COL than where I grew up.

MIL: 0
Mom: 0

My parents and grandparents died broke.

I'm trying to break that "family tradition"...

My mom died in 2020 at age 93. She had been retired since 1991, and continued to live in our family home until 2016 . Independent living - less than 4 years - took a lot of what she had, but through the sale of her home and savings each kid received a little over 100K. Not a lot, but she was so proud, and worked so hard being frugal, to ensure we all got something.

In the vicinity of $4 if I include their house, $2m if I exclude it. Plus my mom has a pretty great pension. They were good savers despite being solidly middle class. When I applied to college in the late 90s, their gross income was $52k. The house was just timing. They paid $58k for it in 1976. It’s now worth over $2m because it’s a double lot that can be subdivided. I suspect it will sell to a developer who will subdivide it and put up two multi-family dwellings.

Anonymous wrote:Wow wow….so so much money and privilege and luck and good fortune. Maybe in another life I’ll be born in this ha.

I’m the poster with elderly parent and 13K to name and 33K mortgage. So I will do palette cleanser here, and say they are negative net worth and that net worth is become more and more negative every month. Sigh.

But always remember that 1) some people are probably lying and 2) people like you and me with parents with little money are less likely to post than those whose parents had millions upon retirement. My mom retired with around 1M and has a little less than that now. My father has no savings and lives abroad off what he gets from social security. People retiring with tens and hundreds of millions are in the minority.

Wow wow….so so much money and privilege and luck and good fortune. Maybe in another life I’ll be born in this ha.

I’m the poster with elderly parent and 13K to name and 33K mortgage. So I will do palette cleanser here, and say they are negative net worth and that net worth is become more and more negative every month. Sigh.

69/65 - 10.2M

In-laws about 2.5M