Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Today's Random Thought

I just read this article, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-tycoons-who-won-t-leave-their-fortunes-to-their-kids-195610442.html?page=1, about millionaires and billionaires not leaving an inheritance, or leaving very little, to their kids.  

I think if I were in their position I would donate quite a bit to charity, and a small amount to the kids right after my death.  But I would also set up trusts or something for the kids that they will inherit when they turn 50.  And I wouldn't tell them about the trusts.  This way they would still have to learn the value of hard work and they would have to earn their own money.  But still receive the inheritance as a sort of reward, so to speak, for all the hard work they had already done.  

There could even be stipulations on the trusts like, if they are an addict they must be sober for at least 2 years, or they have to hold down a job for at least 3 years or more.  I wouldn't put a stipulation on it that they have to be married by a certain age or that they have to have kids, that's just not logical.

One would hope that if you teach your kids about hard work and the value of money then they will be hard workers anyway and may not "need" the inheritance money.  But I think it would also be nice to leave them a large amount for later in life.

What would you do if you had large sums of money to leave behind?

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