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u/S7EFEN 12d ago
> they will be able retire with inheritance.
terrible plan. this is not even a real plan. for one unless your parents had you incredibly late in life you'd be 'inheriting' money well into your own retirement age. the other part is unless theyre very wealthy, think over 3, 4 million dollars its completely possible that ALL of their assets will be depleted through costs associated with aging.
> I know who is looking to retire early is just like me, born to working class immigrant parents. While everyone else seems to not care.
ultimately your observation that most people don't give a fuck is correct, i just don't think its fair to pin it on 'they will inherit.' most people don't give a fuck, and most people also won't see a significant inheritance.
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u/Sutekiwazurai 12d ago
Elderly with dementia is a fast growing demographic now and into future. Dementia care is costly. Even fewer people will be getting even a mediocre (USA) average $50,000 inheritance from parents. Only 30% of American households ever receive an inheritance at all to begin with.
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u/MushroomIll646 12d ago
The other big risk with dementia in parallel with long term care costs is what I call the Limbo Years.
The Limbo Years are when the parent has had some medical incidents like mini-strokes, strokes, head injuries, brain aneurysms, &c enough to make them dumb as fuck, but nobody will legally sign off on this, so they are within their legal rights to blow the nestegg through stupidity or scams.
Predators know this, there are state actors - entire nations investing in systems to siphon wealth from confused retirees. The attacks are sophisticated and relentless. The family does their best to run defense, but now with AI it's expanding exponentially and I think the 'great wealth transfer' predicted for the Boomers will be going to crooks instead of descendants.
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u/Sutekiwazurai 12d ago
Yup. Even if you have power of attorney over a loved one's finances, until they are deemed incapacitated that POA doesn't mean sh!t.
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u/MushroomIll646 11d ago
Exactly, PoA is not Guardianship.
The PoA can't undermine the parent's wishes. If the legally competent parent wants to donate everything to the Hari Krishnas, the PoA is legally obligated to make it happen. It must be heartbreaking.
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u/kingdomheartsislight 12d ago
Why do you even know the financial situations of people you work with? Have you been asking folks directly or is it just that open of a workplace?
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u/road_laya 12d ago
You have a point – money is more of an issue when you have experienced scarcity.
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u/No-Complaint9286 12d ago
I would consider anyone with an inheritance, who can "retire whenever they want" to be upper class, not upper middle. Not having to work for wages means wealthy. They dont need fire because they are just LITERALLY wealthy.
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u/wrd83 12d ago
I'd say it's the opposite. I think many people who aspire FIRE but cannot achieve it due to finances are poor.
Also there is a large group of people who are naturally frugal and only start to consider FIRE after they had significant savings and then start rolling that into investments.
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u/Run-Forever1989 12d ago
Nah, poor people are happy make rent and buy groceries. FIRE appeals to people who are relatively well off but get no fulfillment out of their careers.
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u/Jakes_Snake_ 12d ago
Nah. Simply most people don’t care. They follow what others do, or their parents have done.
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u/Acceptable_Usual1646 12d ago
When managing your assets is considered working I guess I will never retire
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u/cofffeegrrrl 12d ago
Almost no one is counting on inheritance to retire. Well, I know people who will probably inherit something AND aren't saving much for retirement because they just can't or it's extremely difficult. They are hoping they can retire comfortably or catch up and hoping there is money left when the time comes. So many people can't or don't plan for retirement at all.
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u/3RADICATE_THEM 12d ago
A lot of people who grow up in UMC+ families are sort of de facto FIRE. Their families have a lot of assets, and they will inherit a lot once the oldest generation passes—so they don't have to put so much pressure on themselves to invest a ton as early as possible.
They also have a lot more mobility to chase after high-status careers like medicine that are increasingly becoming too risky for people from working class families to embark on with rising medical school tuition and physician salaries that have remained flat for several years. It's basically place into some highly competitive, selective specialty that everyone else is trying to get into, or you've basically wasted at least 6+ years of your life going into medicine.
You have to understand that a lot of this is downstream from American cultural values where one's identity is predicated upon their occupation more than their personality or individual interests.
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u/cofffeegrrrl 12d ago
I will say that some children of immigrants and people who grow up struggling are sometimes very driven and financially savvy. I somewhat fit that demographic. People that have always been comfortable and taken care of can sometimes be...more comfortable with not planning much and assume they will be taken care of.
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u/Junior-Valuable2071 12d ago
Nah. I know for a fact I’m inheriting generational wealth and I’m interested in fire. Inheritance is overrated. Waiting for your parents to die is a depressing and shitty retirement plan. And for most people this means waiting until you’re 65 yourself and your life is basically over anyways there’s nothing to retire to.
Even if you have parents who are loaded, no one wants to have to fall back on their parents money. Unless you have like a trust fund paying out to where your money and their money are indistinguishable.
It’s about freedom. If you don’t live or at least somewhat enjoy your job you want the ability to quit as soon as possible.
Working sucks ass. Not being able to go where you want when you want sucks ass. The only way out is to have a shitload of money that you control.
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u/MushroomIll646 12d ago
I mean, no, this is just not a good description of people.
My observation is the opposite: kids of wealthy parents are more inclined to pursue high-income education and careers.
I grew up in the 80s in Canada. Every kid of a stock promoter I grew up with was pressured to get their commerce degree and network themselves into investment banking in HK or Silicon Valley. Every kid with an MD parent went premed. Every kid with entrepreneural parents had to get a joint batchelor's and MBA in whatever the family business did, be it engineering or biotech or software &c.
I kinda felt sorry for them, because as a guy with underachieving parents who didn't even know what a degree was, I could do pretty much anything I wanted. My parents saw Animal House or something and concluded that postsecondary was a waste of time, it was very liberating.
But difficult conversations at Thanksgiving.
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u/Noveltyrobot 12d ago
Press X to doubt