I got a nice starting package from my parents when I was young so my children will also get a little more than they need from me.
No need to start live with debts to feed greedy bankers.
Some money has been saved for
and
to enjoy live.
🍾😎💋💍🌈🎂🍹🍰🚘🛩⛩🍷🌞💃🏼🕺🏼👍🍾
It's a good philosophy Hannes.
Also my biggest dilemma right now. I got nothing financial from my parents to start me in life (except £70 off my Father to settle a gas bill when I left university - money he didn't really have). In return, I have the satisfaction that what I am fortunate to have is down to me.
At what age and stage do I pass money to the children to set them out on their journey, without robbing them of the necessity that drove me and the eventual fulfilment of succeeding on their own terms?
I think it was Warren Buffet who said he wanted to give his children enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.
We always tried to bring our kids up to have a real appreciation of the value of money; as teenagers, if they wanted cash for something, they were expected to do some work for it.
Both of them have now left University completely free of debt (the deal was that if they went to Uni and gave it their best shot, then we'd pay for everything; if they wanted to spend their uni years smoking dope, drinking & mucking about, that was up to them, but they'd be paying for it themselves). They are in good jobs in London, and are well equipped to succeed in life. We will contribute to their deposits when they decide to buy their first properties (how any first time buyer in the South East could manage this nowadays without some help is beyond me), and will no doubt help out on an ad hoc basis as the years go by, but I've told them not to expect much of an inheritance, as we're planning on spending it. Like Stewart, this isn't driven by meanness - it's so they can enjoy the satisfaction of succeeding for themselves.
With my own parents, about 12 years ago my siblings and I bought their house off them, to free up the capital tied up in it and make them financially more comfortable for their remaining years. I don't suppose there will be any left at the end, but that was the idea.
I do believe that inherited wealth, or the prospect of it, can have a corrupting moral influence on people, giving an unfortunate sense of entitlement which can make them lazy and complacent.
My brother in law is a shining example of the perils of being born with too big a silver spoon in one's mouth. He and his 2 siblings all had trust funds from their grandfather, which put them through public school and university, with enough left for them each to buy their first property; in my B.I.L's case a 2 bed flat in Hammersmith.
One (the youngest) is a very brilliant scientist with a stellar career in Nano Biotechnology in California. The other 2 are total wastrels whose entire life strategy seems to be waiting for their parents to die, when they should inherit a stack.
The B.I.L. is a charming and engaging chap in his forties, but he has never really held down a proper job. When my sister married him he had a part time job in an art gallery. Now he just works the odd shift in the local pub. He is deaf to my sister's entreaties to go out and get a full time job. She works hard and brings all the money into the household. When she asked her mother in law to talk to him about it as finances were tight, her response was to increase his allowance by £500 a month !!! Yep, you got that right; he's in his mid forties and still receives a monthly allowance from his mum (this doesn't go into the household account btw - it's his "spending money"!!)
