To think it’s unfair that some people get inheritance while others start with nothing?

My siblings and I, and our children, all inherited a lot of money when our parents died. My parents worked and saved hard their entire lives. They started with nothing. They weren’t interested in spending money on themselves (apart from on nice cars), what mattered to them was that we’d benefit from their house and savings when they died. And we did. And I’m very grateful.

You're right. I've got no intention of leaving my children any inheritance (unless I die very young). I'll pass on everything I can to them way before that, for house deposits etc so they can enjoy it whilst their are young.
There you go, does that sound fairer to you?

DH and I have a small 2 bed bungalow
We're in our 50s and still have another 13 years left on the mortgage. When we pop off it'll be left to our son. I hardly think this is keeping "wealth in the hands of the privileged!" Who else should have it? The government? Some random stranger??

Neither my 2 sets of grandparents, nor my own parents or in laws, could ever be called wealthy, but they all managed, by being very careful, to buy their own homes.

Legacies from their own parents were the foundation of what my parents managed to save and add to - they felt duty bound to pass it on.
My DM used to say (when we were urging her to treat herself) ‘I’m only saving it for you lot’ )
I feel much the same about passing on what Dh and I have, to dds and the Gdcs.

Apologies I absolutely didn't mean to sound smug.

DD isnt rich she has a nest egg which is growing, but only because we've focused on building a savings account for her, and her junior ISA has done well. We saw something about setting up a savings account where the compound interest does the hard work, we just put some money away for her each month.

DH and I are very aware of where every penny goes, we don't earn huge amounts, and are careful spenders - we're now in our 50's, so are focused on DD's future.

I lost my dad when I was 21. Unfair? Without a doubt. I inherited his money and I’ve spend a whole £0.00 of it and I’m now 38. I can’t get past that people consider me ‘lucky’ because I got dads money when in reality I earned everything I have and his money has sat untouched

Let me pose this scenario to you instead …..
Person A works hard during their life , buys a property , pays tax on their income . Retired . Gets ill and has to go into a care home . They have to fund their care home themself (including if necessary , selling their home )

Person B has been housed in social housing (subsidised by the tax payer ) has not worked and so not paid tax , but relied on welfare benefits . They get ill and have to go into a care home . Their care is paid for by the local authority .

Is THAT a fair system ?

before coming home to the UK to ask the government townhouse me as I'm elderly, poor and starting to decline in health.

Good luck with finding the workers to facilitate that! I guess that's why we have the upcoming assisted dying bill. I predict increases in DNARs too.

It’s just life OP. Dm died when I was a child so I got no inheritance. Probably never will.

However where would you prefer ones money to go when they pass? I’d much rather it went to folks children or whoever they wanted to leave it to rather than the government.

Some people are born healthy, some aren't. Some are intelligent, some aren't. Some are pretty, some aren't. Some have an inheritance, some don't. You can't stop people having privileges.

Also this sort of mindset will mean that people deliberately make sure they are below for benefits and so their kidsnare eligible for loans and grants

If parents don't help their kids the gov have to and it can't afford to.

This is exactly it. If I can't leave my house to my child without being taxed, I'll be selling it and travelling the world, putting mone into their economies before coming home to the UK to ask the government townhouse me as I'm elderly, poor and starting to decline in health.

Who wins?

Then tax any equity, fine. That's not what they do, though, is it? Doesn't matter if you end up in negative equity, you still pay stamp duty.

And we were talking about inheritance tax, anyhoo.

If you were the one with the inheritance you'd feel differently.

Nope

I do agree though that the 30 hours a week free childcare should be means tested. If you're above a certain earnings bracket you shouldn't get it

It is means tested but I think higher earners should get it too, some of the tax cliff edges are stupid.

2 of my colleagues have dc who are doctors that have gone abroad as they want better pay & to be able to afford a house.

So much bitterness and jealousy on this thread. And loads of made up shit about 'people in my area who live in million pound houses given to them by their parents' 🙄 Like you'd know how they came by that house or the inner workings of their finances! 😂

If you were the one with the inheritance you'd feel differently.

I do agree though that the 30 hours a week free childcare should be means tested. If you're above a certain earnings bracket you shouldn't get it. Nor should you if you're unemployed. It should only go to those families who are working and therefore need it.

We're increasingly becoming a society where many people without inheritance will never be able to buy a home.

And that's the problem.

With ageing populations becoming a problem for much of the West there are countries actively trying to attract young people with incentives eg Portugal. We will see a brain drain which isn't good for my dc.

Inheritance is already taxed quite a lot over a certain amount.

I fail to see how it is unfair that some have it and some not. That's just life. Some people have parents who will leave them money and/or a house, others don't or not very much. What's the big deal? If you had some assets you would want to leave them to your children, it's normal to do that.

You are imagining that anyone who inherits is wealthy and that is not necessarily the case, especially if an inheritance is divided amongst a few beneficiaries. The super-rich will have been paying a huge amount of tax during their lifetimes.

Don't be resentful of those better off, it's pointless.

How has it been shielded from the taxman? Unless it’s been given away more than 7 years before death it will subject to IHT.

I live in an expensive city. In my local friendship group we are all university educated, work and have mortgages. But there is zero correlation between our earnings and the value of our homes (have rough idea of earnings as most in professions like teacher, doctor etc). Two of the highest earning couples live in the most modest houses/cheaper area. The couple who live in a big house in the most expensive area - which we will never be able to afford despite our good incomes - probably earn about half what we do. But I think our mortgages are all in the same ballpark - the difference is the varying levels of inherited or gifted wealth which has allowed some to put down (very) big deposits. It's not 'fair' in that you don't choose whether or not to have wealthy parents/ancestors. But in one case the inheritance is due to a friend losing both parents very young - that's not 'fair' either. I feel the amount of inheritance should be capped. We're increasingly becoming a society where many people without inheritance will never be able to buy a home.

What people are wilfully blind to is that once you're dead, your assets then become a windfall for someone else. And windfalls should be taxed. Heavily. The dead aren't being taxed twice. They're not being taxed at all. Their beneficiaries are, and yes I think that inheritance tax should kick in at a punitive rate on anything above 200k. For most people this would be a lottery win. For those who think 200k is small fry, have a bloody word!

I have a friend who is about to inherit a very significant seven figure sum, the majority of which has been legally shielded from the taxman. It's wrong on so many levels.

No, life isn’t fair, but we live in a society where we have the freedom to do as we choose with our wealth.

You’re describing one of the key tenets of communism - all wealth goes to the state to be shared equally. We have never, as a country, voted for a communist government and the Communist Party of Great Britain disbanded in the 90s due to lack of interest. A smaller party still exists, but is on the fringes.

And for people who really want to help their dc 50k at 20 is far more beneficial than 400k at 50.

Wow. Such disdain and bitterness dripping through your post. I work hard for my fucking money thanks. No help whatsoever from them as they instilled the same work ethic me that they have. I didnt need it.

They aren't very wealthy. Comparably, to their very working class starts to their lives, they are. And any inheritance i may or may not get won't be huge.

But yeah. Great way to deflect from my point that not all wealth comes from privilege! Touched a nerve it seems.

I might be judging too harshly but that reads as quite a smug post about your rich child and ‘it’s taken loads of hard work’ @Sortalike. Think about all the people who struggle with cost of living on this website.

Life is fundamentally unfair and loads of people just can’t attain this. To tell ourselves otherwise is a delusion. Poverty is worse than it’s ever been in this country according to research from the Joseph Rowntree foundation just a couple of weeks ago. Inequality is dire, social mobility is stagnant and people generally just can’t work their way out of poverty anymore.

I speak as an incredibly fortunate person with high class problems by the way. We earn a stupid amount of money by luck. I work hard just like the woman serving me in Poundland does.