“Hard to talk about than sex” or… a private matter between family?
Positioning it as a “dirty secret” is another low of Guardian writing.
I talk with friends about inheritance on occasion. Rarely do I talk to them about sex…
“How did I have this amount of money for being such a talentless person?”
Understandable why it is hard to talk about.
Is it hard to talk about? I’ve had many conversations with my family about it.
Personally my stance on it is this, millennials are in for a shit enough time already (especially in old age) if a few of them can get a few measly pounds from their dead parents then let them have it. I don’t think anyone is rolling in it anymore, even middle class millennials are struggling to do the basics like buy houses or afford children (as this article mentions) so it’s not like they’re being spoiled. Taxing it off them just leaves more people in poverty, it’s not like our taxes are actually helping people, too busy bailing out reckless banks and cutting vital services.
I also don’t buy the great wealth transfer argument, having watched my grandparents die (who were not wealthy people, just had savings from being old and being from a generation with good pensions.) What happens is they get old enough to need assistance, either visits from carers or moving into a nursing home, then whatever money they have (even if it’s 6 figures) VERY quickly depletes as those places cost an eye watering amount. If they’re unlucky enough to have dementia, or to live in a care home for years then there will be little to nothing left to inherit. Also anything you do inherit from your 80-90 year old parents will be when you are in your 60-70s, so anything that money would have been good for is useless now – too late to have kids, too late to buy a house, too late for a career, you’ve basically just got a bit of retirement money and savings towards your own nursing home fees.
Are they trying to make it taboo? Almost as if people are getting too switched on so they must be shamed about it! How dare they learn ways to legally avoid inheritance taxes, trusts are only for the rich and wealthy! Not the lower classes!
I’m from a fairly middle class family but I don’t recognise this situation, yes me and my siblings might get a bit of money from my parents house when they die but they’re only 20 years older than me so I could well be in my 70s before I see anything, and that’s only if there’s anything left after any care has been paid for.
Neither my parents or me have large amounts of spare cash lying around to pay off our children’s debts while we’re alive.
I think the Guardian is stretching the definition of middle class here to really quite wealthy people.
It is quite interesting how inheritance talk in the Guardian is always framed around receiving but in the telegraph it is about giving. I wonder how many of these seething downwardly-mobile types have considered what they plan to do for their kids?
I am 40 now and thinking about the best way to help my kids but I imagine I am in the minority on this sub.
It’s just another form of privilege.
I’m privileged enough to have a family who were able to gift me our family home when I was 25 so that I was able to sell and buy a house with me and my wife. We are eternally grateful for this but we know not everyone has that opportunity,
Meanwhile i have a range of friends that have parents not in a financial position to do what mine did or flat out refuse to and without that financial help there is no way for our friends to get on the property ladder.
I always refer to privilege as
“How far you can fall and still be ok”
For me i could lose my job, my car, my house and have the support of my Dad to allow me a place to live, clothes and food.
Inheritance is one of the most human things we can do. It is completely normal to want to pass on your possessions and money to your children.
Anyone who opposes that is a nasty bugman and a jealous thief.
As somebody who hasn’t had a penny from my parents in adulthood, and will be lucky to recieve a penny when they eventually pass, what the fuck business is it of anybodies?
Some parents have more money than others, some people are better with the money they have, some are generous, some are tight – and it’ll be the same for my kids, and their kids.
It’s a private matter, and like anything in life, there will be winners and losers.
>and paid off her student loan when she was 22, so she could start saving for a pension
I don’t understand how those two things are connected. Having a student loan doesn’t prevent saving for a pension. Given the tax point at which both are taken, increasing pension contributions actually cuts down on student loan repayments.
probably a dirty secret amongst guardian writers. in less hypocritical circles, not so much.
What is missing from this piece is an analysis of long term potential results.
Moral relatativism aside, you simply cannot have a sizable minority of the population, ever increasing, that is somewhat insulated from the income-dependant drugery of the majority and expect things to all work out ok. You can perhaps manage 0.1%. Maybe even 5%. But start making it… not-uncommon, and there is going to be issues.
If more and more people are receiving inheritences, that is going to signifficantly change the makeup of society, the jobs people do, and the risks people take. I mean, you see it already in Media and Arts (with a signifficant backlash via minority-boosting policies), Law, and Medicine. Areas meritocracy already takes a backseat to Help from Above. How many more industries will be captured by it?
If you grew up in the generation receiving the education of ‘the world is your oyster if you just try hard enough and have a little luck’, it is quite the swing to have to tell your children ‘try as hard as you can, but don’t get ideas about chasing any specific industry or living near here, you’re not the right stock, as we won’t be able to help you’.
Already now too much of fortune is luck based. People are going to lose their motivation if that increases. That can only lead to political turmoil.
My kids bang on about what should be in my will all the time. My mates discuss inheritance often. We rarely discuss our sex lives. I’m calling bullshit on this one.
Yeah it is the middle classes that are at fault and they shouldn’t be allowed to inherit anything. Whereas the Duke of Westminster who inherited £8.3 billion and didn’t pay inheritance tax should be let off paying a single penny /s.
Well done Granuiad. Keep trying to stoke up a culture war.
I have benefitted massively from my parents sacrifices. It’s not like my dad just made his money by magic. He himself said he regrets working so much as he missed us growing up. That has led to them being able to help me with all manner of things growing up.
But i’m not ashamed – should I be? I am proud of my parents for their accomplishments, I don’t pretend I deserve the help I have had and I credit my parents when it comes up as a topic. I don’t see why I should feel bad. It’s not a race to the bottom. They want to help me now because it’s in their power to do so while alive but we have spoken about wills and inheritance and death. Everyone should at some point.
To try and make inheritance a taboo is just baffling. This is just another attempt at dividing and conquering. Most people’s inheritances will be zero anyway as the next changes are going to be to force more money from your estate for old age care.
Very confused after reading that.
We have had long conversations with children about inheritance. Practicle things like, where the wills are stored, letters of wishes, etc. We have spoken about the legacies they will receive, and how/why we took out a life time mortgage and what that does to their inheritance. Even talked about Living Wills (scotch and pills, kids, just scotch and pills).
So, whose not talking?
I treat inheritance like sex, I assume I’m not getting any.
During covid, a land developer approached my dad wanting to buy the house and land. After some back and forth, they agreed on a price. Planning permission is in, still waiting to be approved but once it does, my dad gets the money and 6 months to move out. My dad aims to get somewhere smaller so leaves a nice amount left. Ideally he wants to be able to start giving me and my 2 sisters some without being taxed so we can actually afford to live in the current crisis. He wants to know that when he and my mum go, that everything will be split 3 ways and we get as much as possible instead of the government getting a massive chunk…yet millionaires etc somehow can get away with handing large amounts of money to family without being taxed and get every penny if they die.
Just raise the threshold for inheritance tax massively and then very strictly enforce it and close any loopholes that exist for the ultra wealthy to avoid it.
We already have inheritance tax. Why should people talk about what they have inherited? It’s between them and the taxman.
God, is there anyone who hates the middle class as much as it hates itself?
Generational wealth is exactly as damaging as generation poverty. This is so self-evidently true that it’s almost a tautology.
23 comments
“Hard to talk about than sex” or… a private matter between family?
Positioning it as a “dirty secret” is another low of Guardian writing.
I talk with friends about inheritance on occasion. Rarely do I talk to them about sex…
“How did I have this amount of money for being such a talentless person?”
Understandable why it is hard to talk about.
Is it hard to talk about? I’ve had many conversations with my family about it.
Personally my stance on it is this, millennials are in for a shit enough time already (especially in old age) if a few of them can get a few measly pounds from their dead parents then let them have it. I don’t think anyone is rolling in it anymore, even middle class millennials are struggling to do the basics like buy houses or afford children (as this article mentions) so it’s not like they’re being spoiled. Taxing it off them just leaves more people in poverty, it’s not like our taxes are actually helping people, too busy bailing out reckless banks and cutting vital services.
I also don’t buy the great wealth transfer argument, having watched my grandparents die (who were not wealthy people, just had savings from being old and being from a generation with good pensions.) What happens is they get old enough to need assistance, either visits from carers or moving into a nursing home, then whatever money they have (even if it’s 6 figures) VERY quickly depletes as those places cost an eye watering amount. If they’re unlucky enough to have dementia, or to live in a care home for years then there will be little to nothing left to inherit. Also anything you do inherit from your 80-90 year old parents will be when you are in your 60-70s, so anything that money would have been good for is useless now – too late to have kids, too late to buy a house, too late for a career, you’ve basically just got a bit of retirement money and savings towards your own nursing home fees.
Are they trying to make it taboo? Almost as if people are getting too switched on so they must be shamed about it! How dare they learn ways to legally avoid inheritance taxes, trusts are only for the rich and wealthy! Not the lower classes!
I’m from a fairly middle class family but I don’t recognise this situation, yes me and my siblings might get a bit of money from my parents house when they die but they’re only 20 years older than me so I could well be in my 70s before I see anything, and that’s only if there’s anything left after any care has been paid for.
Neither my parents or me have large amounts of spare cash lying around to pay off our children’s debts while we’re alive.
I think the Guardian is stretching the definition of middle class here to really quite wealthy people.
It is quite interesting how inheritance talk in the Guardian is always framed around receiving but in the telegraph it is about giving. I wonder how many of these seething downwardly-mobile types have considered what they plan to do for their kids?
I am 40 now and thinking about the best way to help my kids but I imagine I am in the minority on this sub.
It’s just another form of privilege.
I’m privileged enough to have a family who were able to gift me our family home when I was 25 so that I was able to sell and buy a house with me and my wife. We are eternally grateful for this but we know not everyone has that opportunity,
Meanwhile i have a range of friends that have parents not in a financial position to do what mine did or flat out refuse to and without that financial help there is no way for our friends to get on the property ladder.
I always refer to privilege as
“How far you can fall and still be ok”
For me i could lose my job, my car, my house and have the support of my Dad to allow me a place to live, clothes and food.
Inheritance is one of the most human things we can do. It is completely normal to want to pass on your possessions and money to your children.
Anyone who opposes that is a nasty bugman and a jealous thief.
As somebody who hasn’t had a penny from my parents in adulthood, and will be lucky to recieve a penny when they eventually pass, what the fuck business is it of anybodies?
Some parents have more money than others, some people are better with the money they have, some are generous, some are tight – and it’ll be the same for my kids, and their kids.
It’s a private matter, and like anything in life, there will be winners and losers.
>and paid off her student loan when she was 22, so she could start saving for a pension
I don’t understand how those two things are connected. Having a student loan doesn’t prevent saving for a pension. Given the tax point at which both are taken, increasing pension contributions actually cuts down on student loan repayments.
probably a dirty secret amongst guardian writers. in less hypocritical circles, not so much.
What is missing from this piece is an analysis of long term potential results.
Moral relatativism aside, you simply cannot have a sizable minority of the population, ever increasing, that is somewhat insulated from the income-dependant drugery of the majority and expect things to all work out ok. You can perhaps manage 0.1%. Maybe even 5%. But start making it… not-uncommon, and there is going to be issues.
If more and more people are receiving inheritences, that is going to signifficantly change the makeup of society, the jobs people do, and the risks people take. I mean, you see it already in Media and Arts (with a signifficant backlash via minority-boosting policies), Law, and Medicine. Areas meritocracy already takes a backseat to Help from Above. How many more industries will be captured by it?
If you grew up in the generation receiving the education of ‘the world is your oyster if you just try hard enough and have a little luck’, it is quite the swing to have to tell your children ‘try as hard as you can, but don’t get ideas about chasing any specific industry or living near here, you’re not the right stock, as we won’t be able to help you’.
Already now too much of fortune is luck based. People are going to lose their motivation if that increases. That can only lead to political turmoil.
My kids bang on about what should be in my will all the time. My mates discuss inheritance often. We rarely discuss our sex lives. I’m calling bullshit on this one.
Yeah it is the middle classes that are at fault and they shouldn’t be allowed to inherit anything. Whereas the Duke of Westminster who inherited £8.3 billion and didn’t pay inheritance tax should be let off paying a single penny /s.
Well done Granuiad. Keep trying to stoke up a culture war.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/duke-of-westminster-son-avoids-inheritance-tax-billions-britains-richest-men-family-trusts-rules-gerald-cavendish-grosvenor-hugh-grosvenor-a7998246.html?amp
What a weirdly long article for a nothing burger.
I have benefitted massively from my parents sacrifices. It’s not like my dad just made his money by magic. He himself said he regrets working so much as he missed us growing up. That has led to them being able to help me with all manner of things growing up.
But i’m not ashamed – should I be? I am proud of my parents for their accomplishments, I don’t pretend I deserve the help I have had and I credit my parents when it comes up as a topic. I don’t see why I should feel bad. It’s not a race to the bottom. They want to help me now because it’s in their power to do so while alive but we have spoken about wills and inheritance and death. Everyone should at some point.
To try and make inheritance a taboo is just baffling. This is just another attempt at dividing and conquering. Most people’s inheritances will be zero anyway as the next changes are going to be to force more money from your estate for old age care.
Very confused after reading that.
We have had long conversations with children about inheritance. Practicle things like, where the wills are stored, letters of wishes, etc. We have spoken about the legacies they will receive, and how/why we took out a life time mortgage and what that does to their inheritance. Even talked about Living Wills (scotch and pills, kids, just scotch and pills).
So, whose not talking?
I treat inheritance like sex, I assume I’m not getting any.
During covid, a land developer approached my dad wanting to buy the house and land. After some back and forth, they agreed on a price. Planning permission is in, still waiting to be approved but once it does, my dad gets the money and 6 months to move out. My dad aims to get somewhere smaller so leaves a nice amount left. Ideally he wants to be able to start giving me and my 2 sisters some without being taxed so we can actually afford to live in the current crisis. He wants to know that when he and my mum go, that everything will be split 3 ways and we get as much as possible instead of the government getting a massive chunk…yet millionaires etc somehow can get away with handing large amounts of money to family without being taxed and get every penny if they die.
Just raise the threshold for inheritance tax massively and then very strictly enforce it and close any loopholes that exist for the ultra wealthy to avoid it.
We already have inheritance tax. Why should people talk about what they have inherited? It’s between them and the taxman.
God, is there anyone who hates the middle class as much as it hates itself?
Generational wealth is exactly as damaging as generation poverty. This is so self-evidently true that it’s almost a tautology.