To ask if you’re likely to inherit much?

[WimblesThimbles]

Anyone else not really got any generational wealth to speak of?

I have £30k in savings for a house deposit, currently rent and I’m nearly 40. Not much likelihood of a lottery win and no generational wealth to come into.

I feel like all my friends have had a financial head start through some type of either financial gift or inheritance.

Anyone else like me, and just going it alone?!

I do plan to leave my nieces / nephews a little nest egg when I pass though as I have zero kids / partner and a tidy income. I also have a number of “spinster” aunts who are very high earners and have a wealth of assets so will be interesting to see what they do with their wealth.

Isn't the median amount people inherit in the UK <£20K ?

So the stories of people on here talking about significant inheritances are generally very much above the median.

It does put the complaining of people having to organise a few skips for a clear out in order for them to get their mere £200K or so very much in context though. I think a great many people would be glad to have the trouble.

About 200k

Why did your father allow his wife to throw out his 16 year old daughter?!

I know there'll be something from my mum (assuming it doesn't all go on care), her house will be split 3 ways so if it doesn't get sold for care fees then about 100k there, but hopefully by the time that happens we will be much older and won't 'need' it

There'll be something from my grandparents, but I have no idea how much

The only thing I could inherit would be half of my mom's house, but I will probably be old myself when it happens, so there is no point thinking about it now.

I will inherit my house but probably not be able to afford to keep living there. I really don't want to have to leave and just the thought of losing mum makes me so sad I feel like I'd rather have nothing and for her to live healthily for longer. I always said I'd rather we died at the same time! Not very healthy thought really. But losing dad as a young kid suddenly was just too traumatising.

I received enough to help move to my current home and live on the extra for the last 9 years which was useful. My parents both died in hospital, no care home fees but they had savings. The kids were given deposits towards their homes too and dd emigrated to America to get married on her share.

Re-marriages in my grandparents and parents generations (post death of original spouse) wiped out all generational wealth to blood relatives, so no.
In all instances my grandparents and parents thought their surviving new spouse would ‘do the right thing’ when they died, but didn’t make direct provisions in their wills.

I can remember my mum being so unhappy that her dad and his second wife had done this, and then she ended up remarrying and died before making a new will, and the same mistake happened again.

I was angry at the time, but I’ve learnt from their mistakes and have made sure my dd gets absolutely everything when I go ❤️

He loved her more than me, because she hated my existence, because I was a cuckoo in their nest, maybe he was fed up of looking after me... who knows.
I think it's because he is/was a weak and spineless man!

This is us. We are broke. We run out of money before pay day every month. Both heading towards 60, our parents are still alive, but we’ll both inherit something. That something will go towards our care home costs and anything left will be passed on to our children because I don’t want them scrimping like we have. Our lifestyle won’t change. I think our children will need it more than we do because their start in life, think, is even harder than ours was.

Yeah as above- we will inheritance some after care home fees etc, but its likely we will be in our 60s before that happens after working, scrimping and saving to pay off mortgage etc. My kids will be in their 30s by that point, and if that's the case, I will be throwing them a financial lifeline for when they need it most. If there is a time when you need money, its your 30s and 40s.

Nothing. We're fine, so both sets of parents have left our shares to our DC directly.

Exactly this. This is from my side. My dad is showing early signs of dementia though so I imagine a lot will go on care home fees.
DH’s dad has a lot of money but is busy spending it on holidays and fast cars - having his mid life crisis in his 80s. He has recently remarried a (narcissistic, manipulative) woman he just met and has just this week sold his house and given the proceeds to her children. And ‘they’ (she speaks for him now) told BIL not to expect anything from ‘them’. So nothing from that side!

I hate them because they are so divisive. There is nothing you can do if you don’t have parents/family who are willing and able to leave you something and there is equally nothing you can do if they are - unless people who can look forward to such an inheritance in their 50/60’s are supposed to self flagellate under the huge guilt they seem required to feel? It’s no more useful than discussing why some people have musical talent, are beautiful, or highly intelligent - is it? You hold the cards life/genetics/society hands you and you do your best with those.

Missed this earlier but you explain it better than I tried to. By the time most people inherit these days, given health care is keeping parents alive into their 80s and 90s, we are all generally retired having already made our way in the world through effort [or not].

The Agatha Christie novel depiction of 21 year old nieces inheriting millions from their tycoon uncle/godparent/grandparent is mainly the stuff of fiction.

I’ve had the same reaction from British friends who see money as you do. A lot of my friends in their 50s and 60s are helping their 20-something kids financially (I don’t have kids).

Both my parents were born into poor families. Both were the first in their family to go to university, get a white-collar job, own a house and drive a car. I think there’s something in both of them about being terrified of losing what they’ve worked for - they cling to money in ways I don’t understand.

Yes, they spend on holidays but they never have lunch or coffee out, or buy something frivolous like a lipstick or some hand cream. Money is for big things they can talk about (holidays, cars, redecorating), not for the kind of little things that give my life pleasure.

If inheritance were due tomorrow then yes it would mean a 50% share of c£2m estate. Parents are both in their 80's and in OKish health so will hopefully be around quite a while yet but who knows what the future holds. Both my parents received inheritances of a few hundred thousand each side so probably not unreasonable to think we might end up with similar but not something we're budgeting for. We don't get handouts & are on relatively low wages in an expensive part of the world so live quite frugally & don't have much in the way of savings/pension.

I won't lie, we are hoping something might come our way to help us in retirement .

I inherited about £130k from my mum ten years ago (lost both parents by the time I was 44) after she was killed in a car accident. DH inherited about £250k when FIL died two years ago. MIL is now in care but the interest on her savings and investments means that despite £4k a month fees the value of her assets each month is actually slightly going up! If she passed tomorrow he currently stands to inherit another £270k. His sister the same.
We both retiring this year at 55 and starting to spend and drip feed it away to DC when they need it most.

Everybody in my family seems to live well into their nineties so even if I do inherit anything, I'll be in my seventies and it will be far too late to do anything substantial with it (like paying off the mortgage, or helping DC with Uni/getting on the ladder.) I've had three wealthy-ish grandparents die in the last eight years and there has been no mention of inheritance - I suspect everything was left to my parents.

MIL had an inheritance from her own mother of about £20k, and very kindly bought (desperately needed) new cars for our family and DSiLs. She didn't keep a penny for herself. I suspect my own parents are sitting on about £500k inheritance, but they would never dream of helping us out. As is their right, but it does feel shit sometimes.

Yes probably, but hopefully not for a long time. All parents in good health currently.
If no care fees needed (unlikely!) then it would look rightly like £200k from my mum, £300k from my dad and potentially about £300k from in laws. I am an only child due to my sibling dying in his 20s, so just me to inherit on my side.
Obviously no one knows what will happen though, and even if we do inherit we have a severely disabled child so it would go mainly towards providing for him after our deaths (we are of course making provision for that ourselves too).

Oh absolutely nothing from my side, my dad struggled financially as a single parent so I saved for my own house deposit which I bought at 23 to climb up the property ladder, no financial help with anything along the way and certainly not in the future. I don’t mind in the slightest, he would’ve given me every penny he had but there just wasn’t much of it. I’m fortunate to be in a very different situation myself with my own children, they already have a substantial amount put away at two and 8 months which will grow as they get older, plus money in premium bonds which will hopefully top them up over the next 16 years. Of course as a parent I want to do all I can but growing up I just remember being given a lot of love and care and I much prefer it that way

I'm 61. I husband's parents are both dead - he inherited about £35k. If my mum died today I would probably get around £200k, but no sign of that happening. I would definitely put a chunk of that aside for my son to buy property when and if he wanted to (he is 25 now and flat sharing in London).

Yes,

A shit load actually but we need to sort out alot.

Dad owns a very profitable business that myself and my siblings work in/co own.

We need to sort out shares though and probaly start transfering them out of his name into ours.

Money wise probably well over a million split 3 ways.

BUT my mum and dad are living their best life right now as they should so there might not be much left at the end plus im hoping they are here for at LEAST another 30 years which means ill be well into my 70s and they cold be skint lol.

I fully expect any assets my divorced parents have will be spent on their care as I have a fragile relationship with one of them and a shitty relationship with the other one. I won’t be providing any care and it’s their money. If they leave it elsewhere so be it.