do you worry about your mortgage/finances if you know you'll inherit?

[malkeot]

Of course anything could happen etc etc but if you’re largely sure you’ll have enough to pay off your mortgage and then some, are you more relaxed about finances? Would you be bothered about overpaying mortgage or just enjoy life, in the knowledge it will be paid eventually?

Very silly to put someone elses money into your plans.
I've seen many people either removed from the will, scammed by siblings or the money ends up going into care home fees.
It's not yours anyway until after the person has died.

I am far too risk averse to count on the inheritance that is likely coming my way. I am planning for my future, mostly my retirement, under the assumption that there will be no inheritance. If I actually end up with money, it will mean a more comfortable future with more opportunities.

I may inherit money from my parents. They may spend it before they go, it may all be swallowed up in care home fees. One may die and the other marry a gold digger. They may die in the next few years or 20 or more years away. As a result I will never rely on inheriting anything from them.

If it is not yours you cannot count on it.
plan your life according to your finances and see any inheritance as a bonus payment

Hmm tricky - you'll get loads of people on here quite rightly (but also a bit sanctimoniously) saying you shouldn't factor inheritance in to long term financial planning. But... I think if you are in a very fortunate position of knowing your parents/other relatives are well off to such an extent that care home costs would not wipe out all their wealth then it's not completely unreasonable to consider it when you make financial decisions.

I think it's fairly gross to sit there waiting for other people to die and counting their money as your own.

We will probably inherit, eventually, hopefully a long time hence. But we are not banking on it. We overpay the mortgage and have good pensions. Foolish to plan on inheritance for retirement - anything could happen.

Yes. Because although my parents have assets/money, there’s a strong chance they’ll need it for their care at some point (they’re divorced).
Equally, my mum was always relying on inheritance to pay off her mortgage. She’s now 65 and will probably have to work until she’s 70 to pay her mortgage as my grandma is still alive and well!

This

Yes and no. I am financially a very risk averse person. I plan to cover our retirement and paying off our house etc from savings while we work, and we spend within our means.

However, I am saving "enough" for our retirement, while spending on my kids education now. I do this in the knowledge that we will likely inherit enough from our parents to make retirement more comfortable than "enough". If our parents were unlikely to leave anything, I think I would save more towards my retirement now.

I absolutely plan to cover the necessities of life myself though! If we do inherit, it will fund nice things in addition.

Both my grandmothers lived until they were 90. On that basis I'm unlikely to inherit anything until I'm in my 60s. If I was banking on it, and then it didn't happen, that's a bit late to reassess retirement plans!

Can’t rely on inheritance, anything could happen! My parents do plan to leave their asset’s split between us 3 children but it wouldn’t be a life changing sum anyway, one or both could need care or they could go on another 20 years!

DH has retired, I have a way to go but am Saving religiously so I can cut back on work massively in a few years. Anything from my parents would be a bonus, nothing more.

I won't have a mortgage when I inherit (overpaid to get rid of it quicker), but I know what I'll be inheriting so it would be unusual to pretend I didn't make plans for it. The fact is their house is already signed over to me, and that would have been a large chunk of the estate.

I don’t expect to inherit anything, but even if I did I wouldn’t count on it - there are too many ways (as others have said) for it to go wrong.

Also, if I was lucky to inherit from my parents (I wish!) then I’d feel some responsibility to pass that luck onto my own children rather than using it all to fund my mortgage/retirement.

But then perhaps my attitude is different because I know I won’t inherit anything, and have never had any kind of financial safety net, so taking responsibility for my own finances has always been a priority.

Both DH and I are reasonably likely to have considerable inheritances. We’ve not factored them in to our financial planning at all. Too many chances for it not to happen.

Not something I have to consider.

and would rather have my parents here than their money

I dont factor the idea of inheriting into my plans at all. I don’t like to think about when family members are no longer with us, never mind look forward to it.

Not to say my financial planning is good by any stretch but this is not something I factor in.

This! My parents and in laws were in their seventies when they inherited!

I don’t think you can ever be ‘largely sure’ that you’ll inherit. My DH and I have had 1 parent each die, and both spent substantial sums in their final years on cancer treatment. Don’t begrudge any of that spending whatsoever. Of our remaining parents, care costs are certainly a distinct possibility, and some extremely unexpected (& expensive!) things have come up that could never have been predicted. I’m taking nothing for granted but what I can control.

I know I absolutely won't inherit and have planned accordingly. Ex's new family have bleed his parents dry so the kids won't get anything there either if he dies first. Given generational wealth really is one's only chance of getting a head it's rubbish.

Potentially we could inherit an awful lot of money, but all our financial planning is built around paying everything off independently. Nothing in this life is guaranteed.

My parents have a huge house worth £££ and there is just my brother and me. Parents are late 70s .

There is absolutely no way I'd factor.that into my plans. I'm planning retirement to be fully sufficient on my savings and pension.

If there was any money left that hadn't been eaten up care home fees after they pass I'd set it aside anyway for my kids for their future.

I want my parents to enjoy themselves and not worry about what they have to pass on to us.

Christ what a way to live, waiting for your relative to die!!

I don't think you can ever know that inheritance is coming your way.

I might inherit £100k from DGM age 78. However she's very likely in the early stages of dementia and may need full time care, especially as she lives nowhere near any of the rest of the family. I'd rather have her well taken care of than have £100k.

The answer is no. My expectation is I’ll get zero. My DP probably will get a decent inheritance but at no point is it factored into our future plans.