The Finance Blogger

Are you planning to leave an inheritance? Apparently 46% of boomers plan to leave an inheritance to their kids and other family members. This is a noble thing to do for many families. It is an excellent way to help your kids out. But the real questions is what do the parents need to sacrifice to enable them to leave the inheritance to them? What did they give up in their retirement years in terms of the things they like to or would like to do? What about health related issues. Did they receive the health care they needed during retirement or did they do with less in terms of health care to enable their retirement?

Are you planning to Leave an Inheritance – Personal Decision

This question is a very personal question. We know many people who say they plan to spend every cent they have and leave nothing for their families, the tax man or anyone else for that matter. Then there is the other extreme of consumer who will scrimp and save all of their lives so that they can leave a large inheritance to their children. Both parties are obviously happy with their decisions, however one wonders if something in the middle would not be better where they get to enjoy their savings and still leave something for the kids and other family members.

How to Decide on Your Inheritance

The basic rule of thumb is to add up all of your debts, all of your assets and determine if there will be money left over for your heirs. If you expect to live longer, then you also must take into account your income and expenses over the rest of your life along with any special expenses you may have for trips, health related costs and so on. The net result will be a basic budget that will tell you among other things, whether you have enough to live on during your retirement as well as whether you will have enough to leave your family an inheritance.

Emotionally this provides many people with a feel good feeling that they are leaving something to their families which they know will help them out in their lifetimes.

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