There Are Better Things Your Children Can Inherit From You Than Money
In a recent article on the Kiplinger website, Maurie Backman discusses seniors who have chosen not to leave inheritance money to their children, even though they can afford to do so. The top search results about estate planning tend to focus on whether your descendants should inherit vast sums of money from you through your estate or whether you should transfer it to them in installments through a trust, but this does not reflect the reality that most seniors live. Your goal should be to save enough money to get you through a long, healthy retirement or one characterized by ill health. What happens to your money after you are gone should not be your primary concern, even if helping your children and grandchildren is your priority. There are ways you can use your retirement savings, assuming that they even exist, to help your family that do not involve leaving an inheritance. For help facing reality about your retirement finances and planning for a retirement that is not financially burdensome to you or your family, contact a Tampa estate planning lawyer.
They Can Inherit Self-Sufficiency
The biggest financial boon you can give your children is to not depend on them financially. You don’t have to leave an inheritance to create generational wealth. Instead, you can simply let your children focus on their careers when they are in their 50s instead of being your full-time caregivers. To do this, you can buy long-term care insurance or a hybrid life insurance policy with long-term care benefits. Alternatively, you can sell your house when you can no longer live there independently and use the proceeds to pay your rent in an assisted living facility.
They Can Inherit Your Erudition
If you have more money than you could ever spend in a lifetime, use it to pay for your grandchildren’s education. You can do this by paying their tuition directly to the universities or by setting up a trust fund for your grandchildren’s education. In the rare event that you have so much money that every grandchild could afford to be a perennial student, and you only want the money to be used for education, you could donate it to an education-related charity, or you could set up the trust to fund the education of future generations of your family, too.
They Can Inherit Happy Family Memories
It is more fun to see the gratitude on your relatives’ faces when you are generous toward them than it is to lie in the grave while they inherit your money. Instead, give cash gifts every year for as long as you can afford it. The recipients can decide whether to save the money or spend it, but spending time with you at family gatherings will mean even more to them than getting the money.
Contact David Toback About Thinking Beyond Inheritance
A Central Florida estate planning lawyer can help you find better things to do with your money than letting your family inherit it. Contact David Toback in Tampa, Florida to set up a consultation.
Source:
kiplinger.com/retirement/estate-planning/holding-wealth-why-retirees-shouldnt-focus-on-leaving-an-inheritance#:~:text=The%20reality%20is%20that%20leaving,your%20heirs%20with%20less%20money.
