whoatherebigfella
41833
824
57
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2025/04/17/baby-boomers-embrace-die-with-zero-passing-on-less-money-to-their-kids/
Apr 23, 2025 12:01 PM
whoatherebigfella
41833
824
57
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2025/04/17/baby-boomers-embrace-die-with-zero-passing-on-less-money-to-their-kids/
ragazzino
Goatfer
My dad wanted to do this. He was going to sell the farm for a loss, just to keep my brother from getting it, until the financial advisor told him he would be responsible for the extra taxes for selling below market value. Of course he ignored that his parents gave him the farm and my mom's dad gave him the loan to build his large equipment repair shop out there. Just another "self-built" jackass.
WhatSayYouCitizen
"You would like to believe that your wonderful Baby Boomer parents would live their lives financially conservatively. Then, after decades of earnings, they’d have a substantial fortune to pass onto their children." - lol entitlement
WillWasThere
annielalala
It seems they don't have much to pass on in any case. If the Fed Res numbers are accurate, the average retirement acct for those 65-74 is about 200K (I've read higher, say 250K too) and this doesn't factor home equity, but a lot of that will be liquidated for health care in the final years of life. Bleak regardless.
peosratta
Still not getting into the kingdom of god
landofbob
Please, I've seen what the system has been doing to my parents/grandparents. They are going to die with zero to pass down because it has all been taken from them. Promised a nice pension? Somehow it is magically cut in half through legal loopholes. Promised social security? That is going away and they find ways to penalize people who have accepted any kind of disability. They aren't embracing shit, they are having it thrust upon them because we are all the same on this end of the shit stick.
Nivvi
Well thats great, if they go out and spend it all. The money will go back into the system instead of rotting in offshore bank account.
backrideup9
I wish my parents would die and leave me with nothing. They will, in fact, leave me with a fucking huge tax bill and inheritance issues.
PaladinWiggles
I believe this about as much as I believe every article that starts with "Millenials are now !!"
Nexus297
I've heard that before. That your last check should bounce.
NightOwlRally
This is just "Millenials Are Killing X Industry" but from the opposite side of the same coin.
Keep focused on the real enemy people, don't let these fools decide for you - every single retirement age person I know is struggling. They certainly are not going to be sipping brandy on a Caribbean getaway, but I do know who will be!
Spoiler alert, it isn't the boomers you're thinking of. It's the oligarchs.
NomNomNeutron
My baby boomer parents just watched all their parents die within 18 months of each other. Dealing with wills, trusts, and the drama has been a nightmare. They are also trying to "die with zero," but only because they want to give it away to their kids and charity first. They know we won't need it when we're 50, but most of their kids (including me) are having financial trouble right now, so they started giving it out while they're still alive and they aim to run out by the time they die.
pixelsnader
They can also avoid a lot of taxes if they give yearly amounts up to a limit. They can also look in to giving you the house right now (or in a trust) so you only get taxed on current value instead of after 10 more years of housing price hikes.
They should however NOT sell the house and give you cash, because it'll move the house to the capitalist class AND they'll pay high taxes.
djangojazz
Most asshole generation of all time does this? Next you will tell me the only generation in history that was given everything burned down unions, pensions, and work conditions to help rich people do whatever. Then berate Gen X, Millennials, then Z like every one but them sucks. Every time you hear them complain about ridding college kids of debt, smack them and ask them when they got their first house and how much it cost versus what they made. Just a complete generation of brats.
Whoisthisdoctorwho2000
This is not new, the great inheritance theory was dispelled years ago... the money is just gone.
neospor1n
My in laws inherited about 1.6 million in the last 10 years, we fully expect them to have negative money at death
ary1985
"but have more kids!", says capitslism. "i want grandkids!", say boomers
moonshadowkati
Yeah, why build generational wealth when you can have it all siphoned off by the medical system? "Embracing" my ass.
eion85
I want my parents to enjoy their retirement and I don't want them to feel obligated to defer fun and health needs to leave me an inheritance.
I don't want to feel in any way eager for my parent's deaths so I can get money from them.
GeneralPrower
Just when I thought they couldn't embrace the "fuck you I got mine" mindset any harder.
tsterling00
Sorry kids. I bought some eggs.
pilomotor
At least eggs can be produced domestically. Imagine how much avocado toast is going to cost now.
MaximilianShade
New title: "The middle class has lost the class war to the oligarchs and has accepted unconditional surrender of all of their money, leaving only lower class and oligarchs as the remaining teams in play."
EmanNiemThcin
Uhu, remember how annoyed you got by the "millenials kill X industry" shit? Yeah, this is the same level of journalism. Congratulations, you stayed alive for long enough to become the more relevant target audience, and like said boomers before you you're getting just at enraged at nothing.
MountainPsycho
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlM3B0b3R5eGR1Ynd3amptanMxbnZzOGFuZGppZTQ3Z2htdDdyYmtpZCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/1QffP8E6nk4gKYZO5S/giphy.mp4
DocTanner
Yay! I'm old enough to be considered relevant enough to be propogandaed at!
taez555
So does that mean my generation will be the "die with massive debt" generation?
stoots24
Lol you won't live long enough to accrue massive debt.
taez555
If what I have now, and the past 20+ years, isn't massive debt, then I'm scared to know what real debt looks like. :-/
FallingStar7669
The first of many! They just have to figure out how to pass on all your debt to your beneficiaries, and the cycle of debt will go on forever. Not for me, though; I have no beneficiaries, I'll die alone, and I'll liquidate all my assets and donate it in cash to schools and charities the moment I'm hit a medical complication.
Shaodyn
Basically every generation through all of history: "We must make the world better for our kids."
Boomers: "Eat a dick, you entitled brats!"
whoatherebigfella
Your comment is making me laugh way more than it should be. I’m my eyes, you’ve won the internet today. https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlaHE2ZWY2ZTA4eW80c2t0b25oZG4yZXU5enN4d3BtanQ1bWczdHV5eiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/gpdOU6OmsaKHMqwDDG/giphy.mp4
RooGryphon
Its i got mine, fuck you
ElBivo
I get its "nice" when parents leave something but do folks out there think they ought to get (deserve?) a big nut from their parents' estate? Honestly I will be thrilled if my parents have enough money left to cover their funeral costs. And more power to them, its their money, I did nothing to help them earn it, bloody enjoy it. If I needed their money, that says more about me, not them, unlike the implied selfishness of the title.
pixelsnader
Let me put it this way: it should be the goal of everyone to make things better for the next generation. Parents for their children. Workers for their union fellows. It's called progress.
It doesn't have to be in the form of wealth (though it can), it can also be a better political climate. It can be a more caring society. I am glad my father was more emotionally open than his father was, and I aim to repeat that. It can be a fairer economy, less work hours, better healthcare, etcetera.
M34665
The only thing I hope my parents pass on is the house as they had it built so it has only been in our family (I wouldn't turn down anything else, I just don't expect it)
lightfoot2
Health care industry will make sure there is nothing left. When my dad was dying the hospital sued for guardianship so they could keep "treating" him instead of letting him go home to mom to die.
override367
you can usually settle before you take the estate with health care debtors for substantially less than the total, they don't want to like, have to auction a house or whatever
thrashingcows
What the actual FUCK! https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlZ2N4ejUyM29kM3JxOThoZ3p5ODR3ZG0yMHo4cmppdG1jYzZtMTB5ZCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/QjrrSbYaqgi1q/giphy.mp4
lightfoot2
Dad was inoperable, dying, and wanted to go home. Mom got home set up for him with hospice. Thedacare brought in one of their psychologists who talked to him for 30 minutes, declared him "unfit to make decisions" and hospital filed for guardianship. In the 2 weeks it took us to get a Judge to review he died there. Yes, they basically enslaved him. Error was mom didn't have a DPOA/AMD naming her as the sole person to decide care. Marriage meant nothing in WI.
IgnoreMeImProbablyDrunk
Oh the same Thedacare that tried to sue its employees so they couldn't leave rather than try and pay them more? Shocked. Sorry for your loss.
lightfoot2
Yeah my sister got goat-fucked with that. Thank you for the sympathy to be honest I tried to tell my dad not to answer the questions but he didn't trust me, he trusted the nice psychologist. So yeah he dug his own grave there. Ah well.....
nobodybutnobody
That and god forbid our rents proposals get stuck into assist lived or skilled nursing facility. Everything will be drained to keep a person alive enough for the facility to continue collecting checks.
barstr7
This. Facilities will ask how much a person makes instead of quoting a price for care to you. Because no matter how high or low a patient's savings are they want it all. Always get power of attorney and don't let them get their greedy paws on a paycheck or it's gone.
nobodybutnobody
I hate this country sometimes
AngelBunny8888
Find someone in charge and settle the earth over them, bury them deep, alive if you wish, send a message.
Nalianna
Be the Luigi you want to see in the world.
Zalm
We need more Luigi
pilomotor
If the hospital successfully sues for guardianship of a sick person, that means the hospital has to pay for any and all medical expenses going forward, right?
nobodybutnobody
You so silly
socraticmeathead
I'd be hard pressed to find a more effective way of preventing middle class intergenerational wealth transfers than the US healthcare system.
carlsagansghost
My grandma gave us our inheritance while she was alive. Always took us out to eat, took us shopping whenever we wanted / needed something. Helped us with bills if we needed it. Gave us tons of stuff for Christmas and birthday. She basically died with zero, but made our lives together when she was alive super fun all the time. Wouldn’t have it any other way.
jgjgjgjgjgjgjg
This is the best thing I've read in this thread. :) Thank you. :)
carlsagansghost
Thank you. :). I loved my grandma. She was amazing.
Mithi
German saying: „Mit warmer Hand schenken ist besser, als mit kalter Hand“. It is better to give gifts with a warm hand than with a cold hand
carlsagansghost
I love that!
Bondsmith10
I'm also kinda confused by the logic being used here. Don't we WANT the people with money to not hoard it? To keep it in circulation? The whole issue with rich people is taking all of the money out of circulation and hoarding it.
ConradPerson
Great philosophy! I do all I can for my kids now so I can actually enjoy seeing them benefit.
phovos
I wish my grandma was like yours.
carlsagansghost
I realize I was very lucky. My grandma was my favorite person I’ve ever known.
ItWasMeIWasTheTurkeyAllAlong
I’m actually fine with this, just stop voting in asshole who want to mess with my life.
ProppaGanda
Yes, the generation that voted in Clinton
ConradPerson
I was at the anti Trump demonstration and older folks definitely outnumbered the under 50s.
Sanzanna
Right? Go buy your jacuzzies and spend the rest of your days on world-wide cruises, just stop voting.
Ircy
No, you see they're voting those people to save your future. /s (but really there's people who had to hear that from their brainwashed parents)
jkoudys
They can die with 0 of their own money, but it's taking both our wealth and planet with them I have a problem with. Hell, a non-negligible % of Americans literally think Jesus is coming to end the world so it doesn't matter.
SnakuPlisskin
Ugh! That's my dad. He finally admitted that man-made climate change is real but he doesn't want' us to do anything about it because it would be too much of a hardship and it'll get sorted out when Jesus comes back.
LogicalLimes
Tell me about it. I have conversations with my mother that ends with her saying “Well Jesus can decide.” and my response is “Well some of us don’t have time to wait around for him to show up.” 🤣
getadogupya
Best they can do is both...
Copperbrat
Boomers are split about 50/50, leaning slightly more blue. Millennials and genZ voted more conservatively in the last presidential election than boomers. So, yeah. If you think conservative "values" will die off with the olds, you're in for a very rude awakening.
Geistbar
The first part is true, the second part is not. https://apnews.com/article/ap-votecast-trump-harris-election-president-voters-86225516e8424431ab1d19e57a74f198
Millennials and Gen Z were the leftmost voting generations of 2024. I think you mixed up a sub-group: I cannot find the data again but I saw a chart saying boomer men voted to the left of Gen Z men (but not millennial men). I also suspect (but again didn't find confirmation) that Gen Z & millennials moved more rightward relative to 2020.
lightfoot2
Oh no, they want to leave something to their kids. A monument of Trump
electrajet
And their kids voted for Trump by a greater margin than they did. But you don't want to believe that because propaganda works on you, too.
lightfoot2
That's Gen X and I don't know what the fuck happened to us. My bad.
doodlydoofus
Well yeah, the older Trump voter population took a serious hit due to the "China Virus".
Jimthebutler
Most entitled generation does something entitled? Never.
kirbalessence
Hopefully your savings will cover your nursing home after that little nugget
ontarioOT
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1cWRwdXhhZWE1Y2Z2eDRhZHRobHB1NXBjeW4wY2xrdjBmcnRhYjQ0OCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/NBBpZ1MFgP0u4UlcXT/200w.webp
SuperFerret
Ha! You think you're getting pearls to clutch?
MAN9000
My dad recently died and we just found a brand new DeWalt wood planer in a collapsed shed. Hoping it still works. It's worth about $700 new, so I'll have that to live on. Suck it Bezos!
hildr
If everyone did that, it would be a huge favor to the generation after. Inheritance is the most bullshit "I get stuff without working" capitalism created, and the reason you have such discrepancy in wealth. Unfortunately, that's not the good baby boomer that will do that.
ThongsAreFootwear
How is someone spending their own money seen as entitled?
Ladeduh
Oh, the irony here!
afterdarkart
Here's the funny thing, the older you get, if you're not going to pass anything on to me, the more I'm going to just put you in a hole. Crazy Boomer family trying to die with their money? Oh you're dying but I promise you that it wont be rich.
WhatTheHellIsGoingOnBob
Don't forget it's a select few, not an entire generation, not all boomers did well.
jonnnney
80% of American Boomers own their own home. It ain't a few, it is a vast majority.
Karma1970
Of course it's not all...I bet you say "All lives matter", when someone says "Black lives matter". Piss off.
KilroyLichking
Millennials and Gen Z combined hold just over nine percent of US total house hold wealth, while baby boomers control 52 percent. https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/wealth-by-generation
Atlasguitar
Yeah both of my parents filed for bankruptcy
SlyMrFox
A lot of the poor ones feel they are displaced billionaires.
SuperFerret
Considering that generational labels are slightly less bullshit than horoscopes, Boomer is a state of mind. Specifically this state of mind.
IjustsaywhatIthink
Right. But we like to generalize here on Imgur whenever it suits the party line.
ImAGrower
The vast majority did well for themselves. Maybe not weathly, but a large percentage of them were able to get a home and pay it off with a lot less of thier wages and they got to go to college a lot cheaper than later generations and their degrees were worth more as they made getting jobs and better pay easier than it does now.
modis
In Canada, 75% of boomers own a home, and 64% of them are mortgage free. I’d say they did pretty well overall.
InkyBlinkyPinkyAndClyde
My parents meet that criteria, and have been broke my entire life. They're still broke, just eking out a living. There will be nothing to inherit except the house, which is run-down and in a dying town and won't be worth much, especially split five ways. I guess at least a house is something, although it's in so much disrepair I don't think they should be living there. But my mom won't leave it because she can't sell it for enough to live anywhere else.
thespaceghetto
Yeah this is the real thing. Of course there's a spectrum of financial success across the generation but they had access to cheap education and housing that later gens had decreasing levels of
darbythemiddle
But the vast majority voted us into these problems time and time again.
Ardilla05
Perhaps in previous elections but younger generations didn’t particularly cover themselves jn glory these past elections tbh
xlr82xs
You could make fairly strong arguments that the outcomes of those previous elections directly contributed to the undereducated racist wankers voting in the current elections. World wide with the pervasive "back our dumb shit or we'll bring democracy to you" american foreign policy stance.
majorPUFFEN2
So yes blame the people who actually vote instead of the dumb fucks who choose not too, good lord what a bunch of entitled cunts
CoqRoq
"Not choosing is worse than voting for a bad guy" wow what a dumb cunt you are.
majorPUFFEN2
Ardilla05
Looking at so may downvores tou are getting makes me think that Trumpy should be perfectly fine running 2028. He won thanks to abstention. Twice. Yet saying it is a sin it seems.
majorPUFFEN2
AngryBisexualWithAKeyboard
So... Not All Boomers. OK Boomer.
WhatTheHellIsGoingOnBob
I'm gen x you daft twat
Inyourmomsasscot
Ok boomer.
AngryBisexualWithAKeyboard
So a Boomer Apologist.
WhatTheHellIsGoingOnBob
Must be a whiney little millennial. Sad and angry at everything and everyone .
CommodusLeitdorf
Grew up at the height of the American Empire and burned it all down around them
putcleverusernamehere
For the last several election cycles there have been plenty of post boomer voters to push this country in a progressive direction. Instead huge numbers of younger voters, women, minorities and other disenfranchised groups decided it was cool being in a cult and that fascism was a good way to go
Inyourmomsasscot
Boomers overwhelmingly back Trump, and so do gen X-bois.
putcleverusernamehere
That's only true (by 23%) of boomer men. Otherwise the remaining demographics could *easily* outvote boomers and control the outcome, but chose to vote in a dictator. Which was my point. So the blame goes the group that could have made a difference. No doubt many boomers have made very bad choices in the past, but they no longer are the deciding factor yet here we are. Example: 18-44 men supported trump 52-44%, that alone could have been decisive
Inyourmomsasscot
Share the data so I can confirm your numbers, because I call "bullshit!"
4etherling
But you have to consider that boomers raised children and groomed them with their ideals. Its still the boomers fault.
IndependenceHallPhiladelphiaPA
its better that they spend their money than pass on generational wealth.
pixelsnader
Nah it isn't, because those that are the problem, won't spend it all.
The rich will sell one of their 10 houses to a real estate company owned by their rich kids, so they can afford twice as many trips to Hawaii.
The poor will sell their only house to that same real estate company, so they can afford making twice as many trips to the doctor.
In the end, the percentage of houses held by the rich will grow.
IndependenceHallPhiladelphiaPA
it would be *better* if those assholes spent their money as well, rather than passing on generational wealth.
pixelsnader
It would be *better* if those with one house pass on their house while those with multiple houses pass on fewer than they own.
If you want those with one house to sell that house, congratulations, you've now reduced home ownership rates for the children's generation, turning them into renters, and made them poorer. Everyone should have A home, and a good way to do that is if they get A home from their parents.
IndependenceHallPhiladelphiaPA
sorry bud, selling the house puts more houses on the market, driving prices down, making housing more affordable, and making it easier for their children to afford a home. you really need to stay out of the conversation if you think generational wealth is a good thing.
PirateRubberDuck
Why? The rich assholes won't be single this.
IndependenceHallPhiladelphiaPA
because it makes fewer rich assholes.
Badprenup
I wouldn't say that very many baby boomers are "rich". Better off than most, sure. But very few of them escape the "One bad illness or accident away from being homeless" thing that the rest of us face.
With the median net worth of about 200k and say... 3 surviving kids (3.6 children average but assuming some have died before their parents), they aren't exactly making their descendants millionaires.
Inyourmomsasscot
They are rich as fuck compared to gen Y & Z...
NeoNeanderthal
You do realize if they meant the rich they wouldn't just write down a generation, correct? They'd write millionaires, billionaires or something similar. They just mean grandpa sold his mortgage free house and lived on a cruise ship while his children drown in debt and his grandchildren make their landlord rich. The great-grandchildren are mostly theoretical.
IndependenceHallPhiladelphiaPA
im not the one who specified "rich." i specified generational wealth.