Experts say baby boomers will give more than $50 trillion to their heirs. But for many, health care costs will claim the bulk of that wealth.
The story goes that baby boomers are going to give tens of trillions of dollars to their heirs over the next few decades.
The “generational wealth transfer” has become a media fascination, both for its eye-popping size and because it might help younger generations as they face doubts about their financial security.
That shift is already in the works, and will continue for a couple of decades. According to wealth management firm Cerulli Associates, some $53 trillion will be passed down from boomers to their Gen X, millennial and Gen Z heirs, as well as to charities. That includes both gifts during their lifetimes and inheritances afterward.
But the overwhelming cost of health care for older people means most people in those later generations won’t inherit much, even if their elders seem well-off today.
That’s because the real wealth transfer has been to the billionaires and close to billionaires.
Nothing will fix that short of a cyclical historic repetition of the French Revolution.
100% this. Gentle reminder that Jeff Bezos now has 187 billion dollars. Billion!!
“Let them eat cake,” Bezos calmly sighed before a stray bullet from a sniper drilled him in the forehead, kicking off what would be the bloodiest revolution in US history in the past century.
Thank you every piece of shit asshole that bucks against the idea of universal healthcare. Fuck you a billion times over. Price gouging out of control capitalist bullshit
That has nothing to do with capitalism. Germany and UK are pretty capitalist (probably more capitalist than US) and yet they either have a functioning private medicine or a completely nationalised one.
Lol “it’s not capitalism, because a nationalized healthcare is capitalism”
The profit motive of capitalist controlled entities is completely capitalism; it’s basically a textbook case of capitalism. Don’t fool yourself by saying the countries with more socialized healthcare are somehow more capitalist to the one that doesn’t.
Wut?
Regulations are inefficiencies, because corporations with profit motive will of course make good decisions for everyone
They do it all the time.
On a scale from 1 to 10 how delusional are you?
69
Oh no, my milkshake!
Shit. Throw in a few reverse mortgages to pay for Meemaw and Pop pop’s cruise every 6 months, and we won’t even get that generational housing.
I’m Gen X with an adult daughter.
I have never received a penny from a deceased family member and have watched too many people getting into nasty fights over the crumbs left by their recently departed loved ones.
It’s become a life priority to leave my daughter a clean estate, with no debt encumbrance, and no possibility for any other person to get at it.
At present, if I were to take my leave from this mortal coil today, she would net roughly $300k.
Part of my plan is to get everything out of my estate and into her hands before healthcare takes it all. Fuck them.
The irony here is that she won’t need it. She’s done well for herself. I anticipate that when it’s my turn to shake hands with the devil, she’ll more likely than not use the proceeds for some charitable pursuit.
The point is that I want her to make that choice rather than giving some doctor his semi-annual Ferrari that he’ll drive for six months then dispose of.
I know two people now who’ve had their father leave everything to a new spouse of a few years (the biological mother had passed away in both cases already) thinking the new spouse will take care of his children with it.
One set of children didn’t fight it, and the other is considering fighting it as it’s recent.
One spouse didn’t help the children and one is acting like she won’t.
So thank you for ensuring your daughter will be taken care of.
Kick ass. I’m gen x with 2 young kids and this is pretty much my plan.
Gen X as well, and never expected an inheritance. That just seems so wrong to be looking forward to a loved one passing. When my Mom brought it up, my brothers and I each said individually that her savings are for her, not to leave us.
My teens may be too young to think in those terms but their best bet is for me to kick off now while they’re in college and I have huge life insurance to cover that. I’ve never talked in terms of leaving an inheritance and am certainly more worried about how to afford living out my retired years
Even ignoring the health care costs, the transfer isn’t going to save anything. The vast majority of wealth is concentrated in a small number of families, so only those few will benefit anyway. It was never a generational problem, it was always a problem of wealth concentration among the rich.
My mom was a boomer and died when I was a young adult.
Because she was wildly irresponsible with money, as many boomers were in the early internet days, and because of cancer, the only asset really left after she died was the house, which my step dad sold because they were upside down on it after the bubble burst. He didn’t really come out ahead on it.
I was left with nothing but her stuff to sell off. I made about $4k total on it, and it took months on eBay to even get that.
I hope it’s better for others, but I rather expect it won’t be unless they are already pretty well off -and- make a point to preserve as much as they can, which most won’t because “I earned it I’m going to spend it as I see fit”. (Which, you know, totally fair, but doesn’t help if you are banking on inheritance)
I grew up poor so wealth transfer wasn’t really a phrase spoken at our house. I always thought inheritances were just plot points on tv or for the rich to maintain their power.
Lol yeah, we always joked about inheriting debt!
The wealth the Boomers amassed decades ago was good enough to pay off a mortgage and pay for their retirement. It didn’t include passing anything to the next generation. The money itself became borderline worthless because their “Greed is good” and “I’ve got mine. Fuck you” mindset quite literally destroyed the world. The economy is just as fucked as the planet.
No transfer for me. My boomer dad already sold our family’s property to slumlords
Then they find out that a parent put a reverse mortgage on the family home…
for many, health care costs will claim the bulk of that wealth.
They system was designed that way. Save for retirement so corporate healthcare can get it.
One of my mothers boomer quotes , “I’m going to spend my kids inheritance”. She did too. She is now 84 and needs to sell and borrow. Good thing I believed her when she started saying this in 1988.
Thankfully, I’ve never imagined gaining anything from my mom when she passes some day. Thankfully her parents set up a trust so she isn’t homeless, but when she finally gives in to assisted living, those bills will eat whatever is left.
She’s always like, “but I’m leaving you the house!”
The house is full of worthless collectibles and smells terrible after decades of floods and cats. If she got hit by a bus tomorrow I’d probably sell it to one of those seedy We Buy Ugly Houses companies.
I’m fully aware my parents will die and leave me nothing, unless they leave me their debts. I have no children to burden.
