{"id":616673,"date":"2026-08-02T13:19:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/616673\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T13:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:19:18","slug":"why-some-children-of-boomers-want-their-inheritance-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/616673\/","title":{"rendered":"Why some children of boomers want their inheritance now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the next 20 years the United States will see a massive transfer<\/a> of wealth as boomers leave trillions of dollars to their children as they pass away. A contingent of those children are asking, \u201cWhat if we got that money, now?\u201d Millennials and Gen Z want to be able to take advantage of the money they stand to inherit before their parents pass away. While a majority<\/a> of parents actually do help their kids, many with the means are surprisingly<\/a> reluctant.<\/p>\n

Bill Perkins argues that these parents should let it all go. Perkins is an entrepreneur and the author of the book Die with Zero<\/a>. He argues that the money would be better spent while your children are young adults rather than in their 60s when they may already be set up financially. Perkins joined Today, Explained co-host Noel King to explain the philosophy behind his book and why the best time to give is now.<\/p>\n

Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There\u2019s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Pandora<\/a>, and Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019re essentially saying is before you pass on from this earth and leave your kids a big inheritance, maybe instead give that inheritance away sooner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to leave money to your kids, you should be thinking about what\u2019s the right amount. That\u2019s probably the first thing that people think about. But one of the things that people don\u2019t think about is when is the right time? And I argue ferociously that it is not when you die. It is actually well before you die. So that gift makes the maximum impact on their lives.<\/p>\n

So you would be agreeing with the millennials who are feeling some kind of way about their parents sitting on the inheritance for now and waiting until they pass on. You think that the youths have a point?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah. I\u2019m their best friend. I am definitely their best friend. When you leave an inheritance to someone, you\u2019re trying to have maximum impact on their lives so that they may be able to enjoy it. And that time is not at 86 or 60. The time that they can convert that capital into meaningful experiences at the greatest rate without that much decay is between 28 and 33.<\/p>\n

Why is that? What\u2019s happening between 28 and 33?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sharpest and the biggest calculator you will ever be is at 28. And you reach physical maturity at 33 and then it plateaus and declines. And so what that means is that your mental acuity is declining and your physical abilities are declining at various rates, which means that your ability to convert that money into experiences that you enjoy or can do decline as you age. Most of your life is still ahead of you. At 60, most of your life is behind you.<\/p>\n

Are you literally advocating \u201cdie with nothing\u201d? Or are you saying, \u201cHey boomer, maybe have a responsible cushion and give your kids the rest.\u201d What are the mechanics of this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am arguing to get as close to zero as possible. Knowing that there are uncertainties in life, that\u2019s going to be probably an impossible goal \u2014 especially the biggest uncertainty, when you\u2019re going to die. The uncertainty around what things will you be doing later in life besides hanging out and maintaining yourself. But this is an iterative formula, and if you are not on autopilot and you deeply think about it, you can be more efficient with the allocation of your resources and how you split those things up.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a mathematical reality to some of this. If you\u2019re a boomer and you\u2019re sitting on money, you invest it. Having that money compound over 15 or 20 years, you could be giving your kid, when they are 60 or 65, just an enormous sum of money versus a much smaller sum based on how investment works when they are 33. What do you think about the argument that it\u2019s better math to wait?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would say that they\u2019re not truly understanding the purpose of the money. Would you give your kid who\u2019s 30 a rattle or a binky? So the understanding of the purpose of the money is for them to have a fulfilling life, not to have a bunch of zeros. And so what matters is how do they convert those zeros into a fulfilling life? And so because you decay \u2014 that\u2019s the unfortunate part of having a human body \u2014 and then you eventually die, the ability of you to convert that money into the adventurous life or fulfillment that you choose declines with age. And you could just have a thought experiment. How much would you pay of your net worth to be 30 again?<\/p>\n

Jesus. One hundred percent, and I\u2019m not 65.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exactly. And so you can easily see that I\u2019m not going to make enough capital to make up for the difference in age, right? Because that money helps make the life.<\/p>\n

We know that this is a very hard conversation to have. It\u2019s hard for parents to talk about not being here. It\u2019s hard for kids to approach this without seeming greedy. How do you suggest families broach this conversation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The one thing I don\u2019t tell people is whether you should be leaving an inheritance or not. That\u2019s up to you. There are some people who are just like, \u201cAll my money is for me. The kids, I gave them an education or gave them whatever they need, a shot in life, and they have to go make their own way.\u201d That\u2019s one. But those who intend to leave a gift, once they\u2019ve thought deeply about it, I think they will come to the logical conclusion that it\u2019s not a bequest. It\u2019s an inheritance and that there\u2019s a better time. And so in my mind, it\u2019s a gift of love. It\u2019s a gift of opportunity. It\u2019s like, \u201cHere you go. I\u2019ve been fortunate in my life to be able to pass on the gift of choice. And here\u2019s this capital and here\u2019s some wisdom that comes with that.\u201d But again, that\u2019s me, not you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the next 20 years the United States will see a massive transfer of wealth as boomers leave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,18,4864,19,17,3255,825,234,235,1113,2416],"class_list":["post-616673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-explained-podcast","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-life","tag-money","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-podcasts","tag-today"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}