Do you expect to receive an inheritance?

[disneysteve]

I think we had a thread about this in the past but figured I'd bring it up again. Do you anticipate receiving any significant inheritance? If so, do you have at least a general idea of how much it would be? Have you thought about what you will do with it? How would it alter your retirement plans or other financial plans?

I'm 54. My mother is 88 and except for a small bequest to a nephew and my daughter, everything else comes to me, and odds are the nephew (my cousin) will pass before her. So when my mother dies, I will inherit money from her.

I also have a cousin (the nephew in my mom's will) for whom I am the sole beneficiary of his estate. He is only about 10 years older than me but unfortunately has metastatic cancer that is not curable. Most likely, he will not survive more than 5 years and likely less.

Obviously, I hope they both live for many years but life doesn't work that way. The amount I'll likely get from my mother isn't terribly significant. A nice amount but not enough to seriously alter our plans. The amount from my cousin, however, is different, along with the fact that I may get it within the next 3-4 years. Even after taxes and expenses, that inheritance will be large enough to change future plans. That might mean retiring sooner or at least cutting back sooner. It would definitely allow us to buy a place in Florida even if I don't retire right away.

Nothing to do about any of this right now, of course, but it's certainly in the back of my mind when I spend any time contemplating retirement.

[corn18]

I do not expect it, but will likely receive it from my MIL. $1.8M savings, $450k house split 2 ways (my wife, her grandson). We know every detail of her finances. I have offered to set up a foundation for her and use her bequest to us to support causes that she feels strongly about, but she has made it clear that her inheritance is for us only. That's fine. Her health is poor and she may not live long, but we are considering moving in with her to care for her.

No other inheritance in the mix.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I believe I will from my mom. She's much too frugal. My in-laws probably if i had to guess. They are cheapskates and are thinking they are going to die and get buried with their money. Instead it will go to their sons if I had to guess and they will hate that.

[bjl584]

I do. I'm an only child, and my mom and stepdad have significant assets.
I'm not planning my future on it though.

[disneysteve]

I'm not planning my future on it though.

Absolutely. Same here. My plan has always been to retire at 62 and we are right on track to hit that on our own. However, if we get the anticipated inheritance from my cousin, that would change things.

[corn18]

I do have an input in my retirement spreadsheet labeled inheritance. I can select any date for that to happen. Kindof morbid so I don't use it much. What it showed me was that I am on track to retire in Mar 2021 with no help. Any inheritance just sets that date to now.

[~bs]

more likely than not, receive and split a 800k house (current valuation), but am perfectly fine if the amount is $0.

Also (knock on wood), not happening anytime soon, as both sides of my family are pretty long lived, 90s seem to be the norm. No major life threatening hereditary disease disposition either, as far as I'm aware of.

A side note, but I think expected life expectancy should play a large factor in making decisions on your retirement savings and things of that nature. I know people whos family historically didn't live past mid 60s, so the way they plan maybe should involve a earlier retirement time frame and a higher spending level than someone expecting to live 30 years longer.

[disneysteve]

I do have an input in my retirement spreadsheet labeled inheritance. I can select any date for that to happen. Kindof morbid so I don't use it much. What it showed me was that I am on track to retire in Mar 2021 with no help. Any inheritance just sets that date to now.

Yeah, the inheritance wouldn't make my date now but it would make it a lot sooner, although my wife would love it to be now.

[disneysteve]

I think expected life expectancy should play a large factor in making decisions on your retirement savings and things of that nature. I know people whos family historically didn't live past mid 60s, so the way they plan maybe should involve a earlier retirement time frame and a higher spending level than someone expecting to live 30 years longer.

Agreed. My cousin's father and uncle (father's brother) both developed Alzheimers and died early, in their 60s, and his mother died of cancer when he was 20, so he figured that's where he was heading. So he saved well and lived lean and retired when he was 55. He moved to Florida 7 years ago and has been loving life. Even since his cancer diagnosis, he's been able to continue to do everything he loves, travel, etc. So it sucks that he isn't going to live a long happy life but at least he's really gotten to enjoy the last 8 years of freedom and financial independence. He also started to collect SS earlier this year at 63 when he got the terminal diagnosis. He figured what was the point in waiting for a higher benefit that he won't be around to collect.

ETA: However, you need to be really careful about this. Just because mom and dad died young doesn't mean you will. You don't want to blow through your savings by the time you're 70 or 75 and end up living to be 95. Unless you have a good reason to expect that your life expectancy is reduced, you probably should plan for a long life. My cousin retired early partly because of his family history but continued to keep his spending reasonable until the terminal diagnosis came along. And even now, he isn't spending wildly but he did claim SS earlier than planned so he has surplus income as a result of that.

[riverwed070707]

Nope. Unless my mom gets a large inheritance from her parents or grandma (unlikely - something small maybe) she will never even be able to afford to retire. Finally convinced her to start a 401k at 47 and I think she only puts in to the match. No other savings or assets to her name except a small >$100k house. Probably both fortunate (from a health standpoint) and unfortunate (from a financial aspect) that the women in my family live a LONG time. We currently have 5 living generations with my great grandma (DDs great, great grandma) being in her mid-90s.

[Singuy]

My wife's parents already announced that all valuable assets(which is a living space in HK) goes to the brother(as a respect for tradition). The brother doesn't really want it because he could care less about maintaining it so we may have to help him sell it and give him all the proceeds. Worth is probably 750k to 1.5 mil since I don't know the market. Their current U.S house's value will be split in two but since the brother will be single, we will most likely just have him occupy it since we really don't need anything.

My parents' side is more or less about 2.5 million. I am the only child.

[scfr]

We will receive mementos, but nothing of financial significance. We are currently on the opposite side of the equation, figuring out how much assistance we can/should give (already providing some).

[kork13]

My mother passed about 5 years ago, and her retirement accounts just transferred to my father. His family is all quite long-lived, and we expect he'll live well into his 80s/90s. I don't know exactly, but I think his assets currently are around $750k-$1M. He'll also have a federal pension when he retires in 2-3 years (he's currently 60 y/o). He's very "frugal" (read: cheap), and using my mother's retirement money, just bought his retirement house in cash. So his nest egg will likely be relatively untouched, at least so long as he remains healthy & independent. I haven't seen his will, but knowing him, he's likely got it set up to split everything 3 ways between my 2 brothers and I. All of that said, I'm not counting on it at all. As I said, we expect he'll live at least 20-30+ years still, by which time I'm planning to have already become relatively wealthy & likely already retired (or semi-retired).

DW will almost certainly inherit little to nothing besides possessions & keepsakes from her parents.

[alliecat79]

My parents recently inherited money from my grandparents, I assume it was a nice amount but I'm not sure. They own property and both have pensions. I will inherit something as it will be split between myself and two siblings. I have NEVER factored that money into my planning. I currently hold a public pension but opened a 403b recently as I have serious concerns regarding the Illinois pension systems. As I pay into a public pension, I will never receive a full social security benefit, although I paid into the system as a young woman prior to starting my career. The pension is guaranteed under our state constitution so an amendment is needed to change benefits. I do see that being a possibility within my lifetime. Thus, I'm going to begin hammering into a private retirement account. Again, I don't want to plan based on any inheritance should it come my way.

[alliecat79]

We will receive mementos, but nothing of financial significance. We are currently on the opposite side of the equation, figuring out how much assistance we can/should give (already providing some).

This describes my husband's situation.