this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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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.

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[–] preppietechie@midwest.social 165 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Well, if Gen X and Millennials wanted their own fortunes they should have planned ahead like boomers and been born back when a house cost $7,500.

/sarcasm

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 93 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Lazy millennials can't even be born on time.

[–] Altofaltception@lemmy.world 35 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and travel back in time.

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[–] Endorkend@kbin.social 67 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Watching Married with Children and realizing this dude is working as a store clerk and supporting a family of 5 on that single wage without actually living paycheck to paycheck and then realizing this isn't a fictional representation of the timeperiod, is really goddamn depresssing.

In less than 40 years the inequality of wealth distribution and the cost of living has changed so drastically that then they could live on one paycheck and now you only get by with a minimum of two.

[–] Num10ck@lemmy.world 24 points 10 months ago

for those curious but lazy, married with children was started filming in 1987 and supposed to take place in schaumberg illinois, so historically those homes were 4x less expensive than today.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=historical+home+value+Schaumburg+Il+in+1987

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[–] rivermonster@lemmy.world 109 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] WatDabney@sopuli.xyz 97 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm GenX. I've spent my entire life watching the Boomers fuck things up, then having to wade through the debris they leave in their wake.

I'm not expecting that to change now.

[–] IHeartBadCode@kbin.social 37 points 10 months ago (1 children)

GenX here as well. My mother died horribly of cancer when I was 13 and my father left about two weeks after her death and I was legally transferred to the State's custody.

I've been told I'm "lucky" in that I'll never have to shoulder my parent's debt. So, you other people don't know how lucky it was to be an orphan! But no really, a finical planner literally indicated to me that, THAT was a positive. And somehow that's really colored my opinion on where we are as a society.

[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What do you mean by shoulder your parent's debt? Do you live somewhere that debts can transfer to children?

[–] IHeartBadCode@kbin.social 31 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Yeah here in Tennessee we have filial laws that puts some of that debt that parents rack up on the backs of the children. TCA § 71-5-115.

[–] errer@lemmy.world 27 points 10 months ago (2 children)
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[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] jumperalex@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Sounds like a great reason to GTFO of Tennessee

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[–] Fades@lemmy.world 91 points 10 months ago (15 children)

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

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[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 88 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Gen X here. I do not expect any inheritance at all.

And how much of this "fascination" with generational wealth transfer is actually companies salivating over potential profits?

[–] ashok36@lemmy.world 45 points 10 months ago (8 children)

Elder millenial here. I expect no inheritance from my mom or grandparents and no social security. I'm one of the lucky ones though. My dad died ten years ago and left me just enough to make a down payment on a house.

The moral of the story is, give your parents cigarettes and hope the cancer kills them quick before the bills can pile up.

[–] somethingsnappy@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Don't believe the social security scare tactics. It's always been a shell game. It isn't some pile of money that runs out if we don't pay into it. It is just another line item. Short of voting for it to die, it will be there.

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[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Chances are, corporations are already plotting how to get the boomers to spend as much as possible before they pass away.

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[–] crsu@lemmy.world 70 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 65 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Drusas@kbin.social 35 points 10 months ago (2 children)

There was a segment on NPR recently where they were talking about how many Boomers are selling their houses to pay for medical bills and long-term care, leaving little to nothing for their children.

[–] RainfallSonata@lemmy.world 57 points 10 months ago (5 children)

My Boomer parents had one of those "I'm spending my kids' inheritance" bumper stickers on one of their RVs and it was no joke. New RVs every couple of years, driving around the country part of each summer, new boats every couple of years, two timeshares, one in Branson, one on the gulf coast FL, two houses, one in the Adirondacks, one outside Orlando, flying back and forth twice a year, a new gold wing every couple of years. They don't believe they're rich.

My father worked his whole life as a telephone lineman, retired at 55. My mother worked swing shift in processing at Kodak. Neither started wealthy. My dad had to purchase my grandfather's farmhouse. My mother didn't inherit anything. And they didn't think one second about passing anything down.

Placing the blame on medical costs for the generation as a whole is letting them off the hook, again. Boomers are too selfish to pass anything down anyway.

[–] OpenStars@kbin.social 23 points 10 months ago

Not true. They voted, and THAT legacy will be with us for a LONG time...

And sadly, I don't even mean DT - there's Ted Cruz, Moscow Mitch, the whole cohort - along with all the international agreements that we've already pulled out of and so on.

See, they left us something after all?! :-P This economy, lack of access to healthcare, and so much more!?

Btw, I don't know about you, but I have a retirement plan for my old age. I plan to die. :-P

In fairness, it is less that they are "selfish" and more that they are "clueless" (to the point of obstinacy, outright refusing to open their eyes) - b/c as you said, your mother didn't inherit anything, and yet THEY are fine, so why wouldn't you be, with nothing left to you either? (remember as you think this through to remove all of the actual "facts" first, and add the layer of Faux News Nostalgia factor)

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[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 62 points 10 months ago (3 children)

lol…. Transfer. I was taken out of my father’s will because told him that Trump was a traitor to his country.

[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

My mom disowned me at 16 (my sister got everything) and my dad left all his money to his 5th wife.

Transfer happened, just not to me or my half-brother.

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[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That is sad. But also trying to blackmail children with not giving them one's money after one doesn't need them anymore is even more sad

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 17 points 10 months ago

Yeah. He’s pathetic. As you could guess… we do t talk anymore.

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[–] Got_Bent@lemmy.world 56 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] hark@lemmy.world 53 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 49 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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)

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[–] mriormro@lemmy.world 41 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] Nobody@lemmy.world 39 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] militaryintelligence@lemmy.world 37 points 10 months ago

No transfer for me. My boomer dad already sold our family's property to slumlords

[–] Chessmasterrex@lemmy.world 32 points 10 months ago

Then they find out that a parent put a reverse mortgage on the family home...

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 32 points 10 months ago

It's kind of ridiculous how rich people get everyone riled up about estate taxes that will barely impact them, if at all. It will impact the rich though, extensively if they're not careful with their arrangements.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 28 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I'm just about 40, my parents are in their early 60's. When they pass on, I'm most likely already hitting retirement age myself. I don't need extra cash when I'm old.

[–] militaryintelligence@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, you will. When my grandmother had to rely on Medicare and the shitty insurance she got through retirement her healthcare cleaned out her bank account and most of her retirement

[–] viking@infosec.pub 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Luckily I live in a country with universal healthcare.

[–] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

First of all, good for you. Genuinely.

Second of all, please do your part to keep it that way. I'm not saying this is your new life goal but if anyone even brings up the idea of privatizing your healthcare system you tell them to move to America instead of fucking up what you have.

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[–] JoJoGAH@lemmy.world 27 points 10 months ago

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.

[–] MisterNeon@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (5 children)

I'm fully aware my parents will die and leave me nothing, unless they leave me their debts. I have no children to burden.

[–] Kbin_space_program@kbin.social 18 points 10 months ago

I don't have kids because the world is already significantly worse than when I was a kid, and the dissolution of the ecosystem that sustains our species is only increasing.

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[–] rayyy@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago

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.

[–] xX_fnord_Xx@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

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.

[–] vexikron@lemmy.zip 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Oh neat, so our robust free market economy that is more meritocritous than anywhere else on earth is actually a giant sham, better hope you have rich parents!

All that stuff your parents told you your whole life about working hard studying hard and you'd be guaranteed to make it? Oops, they were wrong, now help them figure out how to access their Hulu account, again. What? You've barely eaten? Ah, pff, builds character!

If someone figures out a way to actually set up a business that soylent greens the boomers, I'll figure out how to do some exquisite cooking recipes with it.

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago

Our father locked up our property in legal hell to protect it from his evil siblings. But now we can do much of anything with it LOL other than keep paying taxes. That's generational debt lol.

Actually it's probably really smart because if you sell to slumlords, you are giving up your real wealth. Just let the properties gain momentum. One day for your kids to fight about. Just have 1 kid problem solved. But if he dies? Ok have two kids. Send one to the monstery or the convent. But what if they marry poor....hmm arrange marriages! What if they don't like that? ....teach them racism from the early moments in life....oh shit, this sounds like we are destined to recycle ♻️ hilter and his narzis. Yah maybe sell the house and go back to being poor. That's how we did it!

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