A generation waiting to inherit

[Okaydoklay]

With house prices being so high, are we creating a generation of people who home ownership is out of their grasp, and those who have wealthier parents , they are all waiting for their parents to pass to ever be able to afford their own home.

OP, you are not wrong, YADNBU. Even with the care fees issue, there will be many people who will benefit from inheritance and many who will not. This will create a completely two-tier society. It has been in the making for a long time now.

Those who laugh at Corbyn's original socialist ideals (normality on the continent) on the grounds that they were bringing back the 1970s need to consider that what has been created without is a return to the 1870s. The time built on an entirely rigid class system based on land ownership and reliance on inheritance from old male relatives. The time of squalor, poverty and desperation that Dickens and Marx both wrote about. The time that the public sector was slowly, gradually, built up to prevent from ever happening again.

My cousin (62 yoa) has a house worth approx £400k, all paid for. My aunt (her mother) is in alarmingly good health at 92 and still living independently in a huge 2-bed flat worth about the same. She also has significant savings and investments.

My cousin has no children, and is planning to leave everything to the Cats Protection League!

Care fees could mean home carers as well as care home fees.

Troels - This is what I would do If I could

On a postive note , when we have saved up enough to buy , our kids will have left home, so we will only need a one bed.

My sisters' in laws have just bought a new build 6 bed, and her and hubby are still renting. I just don't get it.

DarkAtEndOfTunnel
True, how can anyone think this is going to pan out ok?

My Opinion Is Valid, spot on.

Hmmm PIL inherited a lot of assets from their parents, no pensions and stopped work early so spent on living. Remainder now mostly gone on care home and carer fees, remainder will go on paying for MIL to go to a care home later this year.

Ironically they passed a large property to their eldest son early to avoid inheritance tax, he died unexpectedly young, leaving widow and kids with headache as it has been in the family for hundreds of years but kids don’t want to live there eventually.

My own mum lives in a park home, which will be worth fuck all. Stepfather in care home being funded by state and private pension.

So we will get nothing!

I think my mum will leave some money behind when she passes but I will have to give this straight to my two children as they can’t afford property and on minimum wage will probably never be able to. I always said I wouldn’t want to rely on others help to get by in life so I won’t miss it. It’s the way it is now I suppose. I wish she would start giving some away now but she likes to cling on to it!

I know a few people who are expecting inheritance, they've done bugger all to secure a decent job or a mortgage.

I'm a boomer, I've bought my son many a car, put him through 2 degrees and given him a deposit for mortgage.

I won't receive or have ever received inheritance from anyone

It's not just house deposits people get through inheritances. Every one of my dcs friends had their own car at 18, all from granny, either living or dead. My kids are the only ones without the benefit of any inheritances and they've no grandparents alive so they won't get a Thing.

@Londonmummy66 I agree. @SilverySurfer implies that everyone could afford to buy a property if only they got their priorities straight.

What a waste of a life to be waiting for an inheritance that is likely to never arrive!

This also implies that people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs, wasting money that could be invested. For many people, myself included, inheriting is the most likely way we will ever be able to afford to own a home. I am realistic in thinking that it may never happen due to care costs, and I don't believe my parents owe me anything and are entitled to spend all their money on cruises and caviar if they want to!

Accountant 22, do you have just one kid though? Life is cheaper with one.

Shall I just go and jump off a bridge??

DH and I both inherited from grandparents in our 30s and that’s the only way we could afford a house. Otherwise we’d still be renting. We were fortunate in the sense that they were fit and healthy until they passed and hadn’t required care, or we’d have had no inheritance and thus would never have been able to buy. It is absolutely unfair, but then life has never been fair and some have always had unearned advantages. Our particular advantage is relatively small compared to what some people inherit.

Both my parents were in their late 80's when they died and DH's DM is still alive and incredibly well at 91 and his DF died recently at 94. If genetics have anything to do with it then my DS will have a very long wait for any inheritance - he might be able to buy a house for his retirement as long as we haven't gone spent it on care homes!

ssd - same here. Lots of gp paying off student loans, too.

Neither dh or I have inherited anything. All we have is what we have earned. Certainly no 18th birthday cars sitting in my drive!!

I know no one waiting to inherit. Everyone I know has just got on with life all by themselves, funnily enough.

I inherited in my early 20s and bought a house. No chance otherwise.

In my family, it's accepted practice that inheritance skips a generation. Certainly by the time my parents or in laws die (hopefully) we'll probably be almost retired ourselves. Certainly we expect them to spend most of their money on themselves, whether that's fun or care fees. Anything left, even if willed to us, will pass to our children, or indeed theirs if they have any by then and life still exists on this planet

I don't want my parents to deprive themselves to be able to pass money on to anyway, least of all me!

I appreciate I was lucky (DF is an only child so his whole families wealth was passed down to my siblings and I) and I do my best to save what I can each month to give them a lump sum in the future, so I'm not relying on an inheritance for them either.

God, the privilege reeks somewhat, doesn't it?

MyOpinionIsValid Wed 10-Jul-19 16:44:37
That is unlikely to happen now - that money will go to fund care homes

Mine won't be spent funding a care home, I'll be cared for at home as will my husband if we need it. We've both decided on that and there will be sufficient money to facilitate professional care. The only exception is if either of us become demented, go out at night in night clothes, are out of control, etc, then a specialist care home might be necessary but we sincerely hope not.

Our son stands to inherit quite a lot but I know he wants us to stay alive as long as possible. He's also quite OK financially (at the moment) and has a fulfilling career. So no rush for us to pop our clogs.

He'll have to pay inheritance tax of course. Hopefully we can organise things so that it isn't a huge amount.

MyOpinionisValid:- speaks about people being "...financially savvy enough not to all into any inheritance tax traps." I don't know much about it but my husband and his accountant probably do, hope so anyway. Who wants to give the government more than they have to?

SilverySurfer:- "...being jealous of people who do get money from parents is not going to do you much good is it?"

Quite agree, I hate resentment about any issue. People don't realise that those who are reasonably well off were often extremely hard up when younger. We were, we had a terrible struggle; I admit we were sometimes quite naive about financial matters and didn't always manage as well as we could. I certainly never resented anyone better off. However that is in the past. I appreciate being comfortable now, am not in any way flash and am always happy to give a helping hand, discreetly, where needed.

We're both pleased to have been able to help our child avoid some of the pitfalls we fell into when we were younger. At least money will be one thing he doesn't have to worry about - but he has had and will have other worrying concerns with which we cannot help, except for being there and offering moral support. So being resentful of those who have or are likely to have, money, is a pointless waste of emotion (as well as being quite unpleasant).

LOL at all the individual examples of the past and present. Which have nothing to do with where the UK is heading.

Rent controls.
Wealth taxes.
Revolution in cancer rates.
State pension becomes means tested.
Growth in single occupancy.
Compulsory pensions.
Fluid careers.

If I were 20, I would be more confident of owning property, but less fixated on traditional means of doing so.

@LauderSyme - it's a tricky one. I have lunch with DF at the weekend - he and DM benefited from a massive (2k to 400k) increase in the value of their house and a similar growth in the value of my DGMs house. They have been very generous with us (gave us our deposit) and are now funding higher education for their grandchildren. I am extremely grateful. However, when DF started complaining that he will have to pay for his TV licence in future I did seethe a bit, for a number of reasons.

First he has a gold-plated, index-linked, final salary government pension which puts him well into the higher rate tax bracket. Millenials will not be so lucky (and I wonder when they are going to be able to afford to pay for a pension between student loans, housing and childcare costs).

Secondly, the house price inflation benefit they have reaped is effectively being funded by the high housing costs (in terms of rent or mortgage interest) of younger generations - plus the child care they have to pay out to get two incomes to meet those housing costs.

I suggested that in the light of this he might like to donate his free TV license money and winter fuel allowance to a food bank to help struggling families and he probably will but it was quite an argument to get him to see how far the economics are skewed against millenials and young families.

The only exception is if either of us become demented, go out at night in night clothes, are out of control, etc, then a specialist care home might be necessary but we sincerely hope not.

Well, everyone hopes not, but with people living so much longer it is increasingly likely to be the way you may end your days - sorry. I know many people whose parents made it to very late 80s, even early 90s with decent quality of life, but the last 2 or 3 years of their lives were purgatory and totally beyond being cared for at home. That is the price of medical advances in cancer and heart disease - more likely to die of dementia. Yay.

And its not fair that those who inherit can buy and those that don't can't.

My parents started married life skint and stayed that way until their late 30s. My dad worked abroad for 3 years leaving mum at home working and looking after 3 young children. When he returned he started his own business and worked all hours, as did mum. We all had to muck in and made sacrifices over the years. Their house and business will be passed on to my siblings and I. I can’t see how that is unfair.

Depends where you live. Quite easy to buy a home round here. My son and all of his friends have bought their own homes.

I won't get anything because I cut out abusive relatives. They were so bad, I decided I needed to keep my sanity rather than worry about money. As long as I have a roof over my head, it doesn't matter if I own it or not.