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?!

Nothing. My mother passed when I was a teenager, my dad remarried and has since passed. His wife has sold the house and moved on, so wont see any inheritance.

I do think it’s mostly a mindset, and you can often see the difference between Eastern European and Western perspectives, especially in that generation.I think in Eastern European families, security comes first. Owning things outright, staying out of debt, and feeling financially stable are what bring peace of mind. Pleasure isn’t about spending more — it’s about not owing anyone anything.
I don’t deny myself or my family anything. We go out, we eat at restaurants, we travel and go on holidays. We enjoy life, and we are happy to spend money on experiences and quality time together.I guess I could get a bigger house, a fancier car, and expensive handbags to try to impress people I don’t even like, using money I don’t have. But for me, real pleasure isn’t buying things I don’t need — it’s feeling secure and being able to support my children at every stage of life, whether they’re 8 months old or 80 years old.

That’s awful. Are you on contact with your mum?

Both my parents were dead by the time I was 21, didn't get a bean from them, I'm 58 now.

Possibly about £20-30k from my dad but that’s it. I’m lucky my DH was able to buy a small Property and I’m hoping to purchase one myself next year. Nothing special, he owns a 2 bed flat and I’m hoping to get something similar. We are in the nw so pretty cheap. But other than possibly inheriting a bit of my dad, nobody has helped us at all.

Yep. On track to get nothing.

My dad is leaving his share of his house to his wife who is 18 years his junior. She’s got no kids and in theory will leave something to me and my siblings, or our kids if she survives us. Nothing to compel her to do that though, she could change her will when my dad dies. Also she might need care so that will be any assets gone.

My mum has a flat as her only asset, but also remarried someone younger and has no will. So it will go to him unless she does something about it but she won’t. Her mum is 92 and probably has a £500k estate that she will leave to my mum and aunty. Don’t expect to see any of that, which is a shame as my great grandmother did recognize her grandchildren but my grandma has chosen not to. Their choices and I know that mumsnet is very much hands off, theirs to do what they want, but I think it’s sad that they don’t want to pass on gain to their kids.

My parents have been selfish all my life, so I am not surprised but I can still feel disappointed. Luckily DH and I are on the same page re our kids and plan to pass as much as we can to them to ease their lives constructively. Like debt free university, leg up on the property ladder etc. and make sure that we have the right provisions in our wills to ensure we are ok but our kids are well set up too.

I 'gave' mine away to my kids, got parents to cut me out when they started talking about wills and poa. Then a distant cousin left me his house & money which was very unexpected.

Some of these posts are heartbreaking - to hear so much family strife and grief. Just heartbreaking. I'm luckily (privileged it feels like) to both get on with all my family and I'm going to inherit from my dad too (shared with my sister, to whom I'm close). I think it'll be circa £250k each (me and sis) and I'll use that to help with my retirement and then it'll go to my 3 kids.. I was married but my wife died last year (I'm in my 50's) so it's all still raw and the focus is on the kids. Her share of her parents inheritance is going directly to the 3 children and is held in 3 trusts. It's all about the kids now. I consider myself to be extremely lucky money wise, not so lucky love-wise. V proud of the kids however. But life is hard.

Nope nada 👎🏻

Nothing at all. DF died recently with a couple of £hundred to his name. DM is going to struggle without his pension so will be dipping into her savings now.
She is in a council house, so no property to pass on/sell either.

I am fine with this and I never expected anything anyway.

Yes probably. I’m an only child and my dad did well in his line of work after I left home. If they died suddenly in the next decade it would be quite significant amount, but it’s far more likely that a large amount of their savings will be spent on care before they pass - as it rightfully should. But I have to admit my pension is terrible for my age (forties; I’m working on it!) due to working in a low paid industry so I am hoping that there is something to boost my own retirement fund.

To be fair on Agatha Christie, one of her inheritance plots revolves around a middle aged woman pulling off the murder of a rich relation for a very small sum - because she wanted to start her own modest coffee shop. The other family are outraged that she would kill for so little when they were all bickering over who got the fancy furniture!

This is part of the mindset I was trying to explain up thread.

I think every family should be able to afford to set up their kids lives so that life isn't a struggle and they don't owe anyone.

Mind you, I also want to ensure that they don't sweat about the little luxuries. But if I set my son up with a good start to his pension, funding for his education and early career, and his first house, I'm happy.

Nope. Parents in social housing. MIL in care home.
Not a pot to piss in between them!
I have £10k savings in the bank...

I received £13k when my GM died in my late 30's however when my DH became ill in my early 40's I gifted it to him so he could bequeath some money to our children, nieces & nephew's for their 18 birthdays at the time we didnt have any other savings. Subsequently when my DH passed my Mum gave me a significant amount (very much needed & appreciated) so I won't receive much there & my Dad had passed earlier.
My children will inherit significantly directly from their paternal GP's who are currently mid & late 80's & still in their home so hopefully won't be eaten away by care home fees as their Dad only had one sibling & the estate will be split 50/50 between the sibling & my children, but who knows really they could have changed their minds. All i can do is be responsible for what I can do for my own security & that of my children

Not a clue, it will probably depend on how much, if any care they require in the coming years. House is worth a fair bit (£500k+) but I've no idea what they have in investments etc.

We inherited from both our mothers, split with siblings, and have passed the money down a generation to our DC.

We will likely inherit a fairly decent amount, more from my side than OH's.

My intention is to basically have the money skip a generation and have it all be used to help my kids get own properties when they are older.

My parents didn't have anything to leave. Council house and minimal savings.

How awful for a father to treat his own child like that, I’m sorry it happened to you.

I’ve had three modest inheritances - first two as a direct result of my mum dying when I was a child otherwise they would have gone to her (her aunt and her mum/my great aunt and my nan). Both around £15K (worth more in today’s money). Then £7K when my dad died fairly recently. There won’t be more and I am 52. I had no parental help from age 18 (including no where I could go home to in uni holidays) so the first inheritance helped compensate for that a lot - it basically paid for uni (I did a 5 year degree). Second one came after I bought my first home and I used that to help furnish it and buy a car. With the money from my dad I bought a new front door.

Being 52 I am well aware of how fortunate my generation had it with low student loans paid off in five years, the ability to buy property young with a small deposit and good pensions. That is worth hundreds of thousands. Our main focus trying to bridge that gap for our DC now rather than waiting until we die. DH hasn’t had any inheritances yet (if he does it could be more substantial than mine (max £200K) but could of course be nothing. If he does inherit he has already decided to do a DOV to the DC get it direct so it does not enter our estate).

I’m an only child and my Dad died in 2024. My mum is 78 and so far is doing OK although we did pay for a carer an hour a day for a period of time last year after she broke her wrist. I live around the corner and we speak 2 x per day and I sort her shopping, outings etc.

My parents have through gifts, trusts and inherited pension pot made sure that I am mortgage free, a landlord of a mortgage free rental and have a decent if not huge pension and investment portfolio. They have also paid in advance for DS school fees.
I am very lucky, I know.
I still work 2 days a week, my parents gave me a work ethic.

Nothing from either side here ... My in-laws are long dead and didn't have anything, my very elderly parents live in social housing and we help them out with money. It doesn't matter though. We should be able to leave property and some savings to my DSC if we swerve the care home.

Nope - parents in social housing, no money or pensions etc. My uncle has no children so I think there's a chance I may potentially inherit from him, if there's anything to inherit, but 'only' be in the low tens of thousands if anything. Which would still be very helpful of course, but not generational wealth. DH's parents have not/will not pass anything on respectively, but he did get a chunk from his paternal grandma when she died, which he used as our house deposit. It was about £50k and changed the trajectory of our lives, and we are both extremely grateful!

Nothing. I made my first £100k savings in my 20s and used it for a house deposit and now in my 30s I have built my savings up to £100k again. Many of my friends have had help but my family has always lived hand to mouth really.

I was determined not to be the same.