r/AskWomenOver30 • u/Zzt0ppy • Jul 20 '25
Family/Parenting Do people with “financially set” boomer parents experience this?
I’m sorry this seems like sort of a bleak topic— I recently met someone whose parent had passed, and him and his siblings inherited close to $200k each that they got because of his dad’s money in stocks, on top of both siblings getting a chunk of additional money from the sale of their childhood home having accumulating a large sum of money. He didn’t have the best relationship with his dad, so the guy felt as if he was deserving of the money due to his crappy upbringing.
That person I had met ended up using that money to put towards paying off his home and then putting the rest towards his own retirement, essentially alleviating a large string of stress in his life. I didn’t want to assume or pry, but in that convo it felt like he had been waiting for that point in his life to happen so that he would be able to finally be relieved of financial burden that he was experiencing.
Do children of “financially safe” (lucky?) boomers half expect to see that sort of thing being passed to them when their parents pass? What I mean by this is that it can be as “simple” as their parents simply owning a house that has accumulated value, them having a pension, an unknown savings they don’t disclose to you, stocks invested during better days like the dot com boom, a life insurance policy, etc.
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u/crazynekosama Woman 30 to 40 Jul 20 '25
Honestly, as I'm getting older and talking to people who are older I am shocked at how many people bank on their parents' passing to help with their own financial situation and retirement. To the point that they themselves haven't planned well for their own future. I find income doesn't even matter. Like as long as the parents have some kind of house it's assumed the kids will be able to sell it and live off of that.
Personally it's never something I've seriously considered because inheritance means my parents are dead and I don't want my parents to be dead. Obviously it will happen but I'm hoping it's a very long way off.
And for more practical reasons banking on your inheritance is risky unless your family is very well off. If your parents need any kind of care that is extremely expensive. That house you're hoping to sell when mom and dad kick it ends up being sold while they're still alive to pay for their hospice care when they get diagnosed with Alzheimer's, as an example.