to be a bit bitter about inheritance

[ShagOBite]

I had a horrible childhood, and lived in poverty. I won't get an inheritance.

Friends of mine had lovely childhoods, the best education money could buy, and as many boosts as possible to their careers. They are already much more privileged. They don't need any more money now, as their careers are ticking along nicely, and still get parental help when they can't afford a new conservatory or whatever.

Soon enough, their parents will die and leave them with even more money. That they don't need. And so the cycle continues.

I know it is bitter of me, I don't like feeling like this, but it is so unfair. I've had to work so hard to make a success of my life, it is so frustrating when others get handouts for nothing. Some of my friends have hardly ever worked, safe in the knowledge that they will be fine and dandy in a few years.

I get the argument that you work hard to provide for your kids. But if it stops them from working hard, and especially if it's 'old money' (ie. the working hard bit was done generations ago) it seems so unfair.

AIBU?

Thing is op, if you were given an inheritance of say £100k, what would you do with it?

I know as you have said that this is unlikely to happen that you will probably come up with some twaddle very charitable ideas. But that is not what you would probably do with the money.

If I won the lottery, I always say that I would give x amount to various family members to help them out. But if I won a million, realistically I probably wouldn't give them as much as i think I would. If I paid off the family mortgages with the 1mill, we wouldn't be able to pay for all the family and we certainly wouldn't be able to pay off our own! (we do have a ridiculously large family though )

*I just don't understand why it's so hard to grasp that inheritance in inherently (see what I did there?!) unfair.

You have a privileged childhood.
You get a better education.
You are more likely to get a better job.
You then gain extra money.
And so on...*

Where do get these examples from?
I don't know anyone who has inherited substantial sums of money (not my friends and not their parents)
From my circle better jobs came from better education and the difference there was in the 1980s there were no univeristy fees. I don't know anyone of my peers at university who worked during term time - and none of us came from a wealthy background.

What is unfair imo, is not inheritance, but the introduction of university fees which means that studying is about having enough money and access to education should be about ability not wealth.

Probably not shag because of the trust funds allocated, some will squander, some will save, some will invest.

In a couple of generations, you will be back to rich families and poor families.

You can't legislate for good financial managment, and you shouldn't really penalise those who do.

I also think there is a reason that there isn't one country in the world that is utopia. don't you?

(apart from maybe switzerland )

Ah, but it's cold there. :)

I can live with the cold for the chocolate and I like snow and mountains and stuff.........

Shanghai, where do I get these examples?

Loads of people I know fit that example.

But I went to uni post-tuition fees, and that has made a massive difference. I have over 30K in loans (student loan and personal) because I strongly felt education was the way to get out of the vicious circle. It was the right thing to do, but will take me a long time to pay off.

They did an experiment like this I think.

Can't remember who or where but random people from all walks of like were given money (virtual although there were told if they won, they would get what they had accumulated, or had left).

Some spent, some saved, some invested.

Some came out rich through investment, ok, through 'safe as houses' approach to managing their cash, and some came out poor.

They all started with the same amount.

You are actually speaking of wanting a communist type state OP and it won't work.

I have spent years in University, got three degrees (parents never gave me a penny towards any of this and my first degree had fees because I did it abroad) and I would not be happy to find out that all I had worked for would be taken from me upon my death.

I would avoid this as much as a I could, to ensure my children got as much as possible.

That is not unreasonable behaviour and I have never been given anything by my parents. Not a bean.

100% inheritance tax would not be fair because there will still be people who do not have the intelligence or the support or the stability or the will to do anything worthwhile with this trust fund that you want everyone to get.

What is so wrong about people taking responsibility for themselves. Free healthcare and free education is enough for the state to provide, the state cannot provide the love and family support that is so important for many people to become successful. If people have become successful despite not having love and support, then that is a gift in itself because not everyone will be successful even if they have those things.

100% inheritance tax would encourage everyone that could to leave nothing for their dc. I may or may not be in a position to leave money for my children, it depends how the rest of my life goes, but if I knew that every penny would be taken from my family (instead of the already large inheritance tax) I would make sure there was nothing left. I would spend it on myself and my family before I die.

While we're here, tell me your thoughts on the masons. The very idea fills me with fury.

I lived in Switzerland for a couple of years when my DCs were little. It is not bloody utopia at all!

Or, you could respond the points that have already been put to you about your 100% inheritance tax idea first?

Agree with Lesley - bloody dull, in fact!

Good for the economy short term IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll and I would do exactly the same as you, and I bet there would be people who would spend it and more and leave someone else (the govt/companies/banks) to pay for it after their death. It would be living on credit again and this would send us further into recession further down the line one would expect.

That study referred to is also exampled by the thread that originally got this one started about 3 people having exactly the same amount of inheritance and how they treated it.

What have the masons got to do with your envy of people who receive an inheritance?

Um, which points?

What thread pooh

I think it is fair enough that people pass on inheritance to their children. It still makes me jealous though.

And posters keep saying they didn't get substantial handouts or inheritances. But I don't think they need to be substantial to make a difference. A couple of thousand would have meant that when DP and I were first together we wouldn't have had to live in a damp grotty bedsit that left me with health problems. A few thousand for a deposit would have made buying a house much easier, etc.

The masons are just the Rotary Club with rituals. I cant get worked up about them.

Ah, just a tangeant, thinking about how people are helped into better social situations. That's the idea of the mason's, isn't it?

Exactly Lesley and Shaghai, its not bloody utopia at all. It doesn't exist. Anywhere.

although surely the chocolate was quite nice? just a little bit nice? I still wouldn't want to live there for the long term though. I think it springs to mind only because it was one of the European Countries that was a haven during ww2 and didn't get involved. Which again makes it very un utopian (is that a word?) because it didn't have the bollocks to stand up for one side or the other and just sat on the fence. (OK I might be talking a bit of bollocks there........and have completely hijacked the thread )

Not just dull - Switzerland is so conformist and had so many rules. In the apartment blocvk there was a shared washing machine area - nobody had their own. I could only use it for my alloted hours once a week. Everything in life was like that - I hated bloody Switzerland. Lovely for a holiday, horrible to live there.

The points that indicate that 100% inheritance tax wouldn't work, obviously. There are posts that have explained to you why it wouldn't work.

Agree with you Pooh, credit would become an even bigger problem than it already is.