Have you started to give out your money to family now you're older ?

[Snowflakey]

No. Do I do things for my two adult daughters and their families, sure. I've struggled most of my life. Moved out at age 17, put myself through college, working every day since age 16 many years 2-3 jobs. I'm proud of where I am now. The years of raising our 2 kids were tight! Wow! Racked up lots of credit card debt but never, ever did I have a late payment or bad credit!

Now, DH and I are mid 50's I'm debt free and we own a few rental properties. It's so much fun now being able to bring our DD's and grandbabies on fun adventures. We treat them every year to a week on the ocean and a week in the mountains. So much fun, so many memories being made.

And then there is Christmas, oh how I love this time! Snowmobiles, motorcycles, electric bikes, anything motorized and fun Santa leaves it by the tree

 

[NYCgrrl]

who knows if social security will be around in a decade let alone decades from now when retirement looms?

I worried about that in the ‘80s, it’s still here and I’m almost ready to collect.
Just have a financial plan that makes sense and you should be fine

 

[WEDWDW]

Yes. My in-laws were quite generous to their children, and it was very helpful to have that extra money when we were raising 3 kids. They also paid a lot toward their grandchildren's college. We are at a stage in life where we have been giving larger amounts to our kids. Better they have it when they are younger than wait for an inheritance. We realize it is a luxury to be able to gift, not everyone can.


Its up to $18,000 a year now

But more than that can be given-the amount over $18,000 would need to be subtracted from the current 13.61 million dollars Lifetime Gift Tax Exemption on an IRS form.

 

[barkley]

I worried about that in the ‘80s, it’s still here and I’m almost ready to collect.
Just have a financial plan that makes sense and you should be fine

i get it, and i've already been collecting for awhile. where i get concerned with younger folks, heck even folks my age is it's not always possible with the best laid financial plan to meet actual later in life financial needs. rent goes up, up, up. many homeowners are facing astrinomical increases in homeowner's insurance. the major local utility provider near us (thankfully NOT ours) just got approval to do a 2 year plan which will increase consumer costs by 20.4%. i see too many retirees re-employed due to need vs. desire, too many of my peers delaying retirement due to need vs. desire, too many younger folks struggling to meet current basic needs let alone set much of anything aside for their later years.

 

[Nancyg56]

Not really. We have added my daughter to all of our accounts so that is all set. We also give a little money on a monthly basis to our DGD so that as she begins her new life after college. The two younger ones get money periodically, and we tend to cover some of the extras that they woudl like but that are not in the family budget.

We are not ready to part with our savings yet, tomorrow has not arrived and we dont know what it may bring.

 

[goofyernmost]

I have already stated my situation, but to just add, I daydream about winning a modest jackpot in the lottery. I'm not greedy. I don't need Billions all I need is to win about $12,000,000. I'd take the cash payout so now I'm down to about $5 mil. after taxes. Than $1mil to each of my daughters, $250,000 to each of my grandkids leaving me with a Million for myself. Being that I am 76 now that should easily take me through to the end and if I don't spend it all, the rest will go 50/50 to St. Jude Hospital for Children and the Shriners Hospital for Children. Now all I have to do is figure out how to win it since I don't buy any lottery tickets. That is the conundrum.

 

[disykat]

We helped our kids through college (up to cost of our state flagship) without debt. If we'd been unable to do so, we'd probably be helping them pay down debt. Since we only have two kids, we were also able to coordinate getting new vehicles so that they each "inherited" something to drive by the time they needed them in college to get to work, internships, etc. and did the maintenance etc. on those vehicles until they graduated from college and we switched the titles to their names. Other than that, some (NOT all!) wedding money, and maybe inviting them on a vacation or giving some occasional help if needed for an emergency etc., we don't plan on gifting unless our assets get high enough that inheritance taxes would be an issue or something - not likely to happen! Our hope is to cover all our costs (both of my parents have required memory care so we know this could be an expensive proposition!) and leave some money behind.

However, we have been trying to work on our plans and want to do something that will essentially "pay" any child or children who might be helping us (by helping arrange care, managing our affairs, etc.) in our senior years. That could either involve payment or may involve some tax free gifting to those individuals. The remainder of the estate would be split equally upon our deaths. We want to avoid some of the resentment that could come up when one adult child does the caregiving but everyone gets equal money.

 

[Darcy03231]

No. While it's no guaranty, both sides of my family tend to be long-lived. My mother is 88 and dad is 93. They still live in a huge New England farmhouse with barn on 3 acres and maintain everything themselves. Both still drive. I tried to call my mother earlier this week and she was out every night (2 different social clubs, 4th of July committee meetings, historical society committee meeting, and her Game Girls club). Dad gives talks at the community hub at least once a month on town history, and mans the historical society rail station pretty much every weekend. Last two days he's been rototilling for their garden. This is not unusual on either side. I want to make sure I have enough to live on until I die. Having said that, we did fund first (and in some cases second) cars, college, weddings, and money toward a down payment on a house.

 

[dizneegirl]

I wouldn't expect anything from my grandparents or parents, and I would hope no one would expect anything from us.

 

[cvjw]

Yes. We give to both boys. We give about $10,000 a year now. We also pay for vacations. And just random things. We will give them more as they get older and more trustworthy with money. My parents have also started to gift them money every year.

My in laws gift us thousands every year. Has been a blessing over the years.

 

[disneychrista]

No. I don't really "give money" to anyone.

 

[Smee]

Yes, my financial gifts have increased. My DS and his family will benefit either way and it's nice to think DH and I have made their lives a little easier along the way.

There is a good book out about this called Die With Zero. It doesn't advocate to actually have nothing left, just the positives of giving while still alive.

 

[cvjw]

We are actually thinking about increasing our gifts to our kids every year. Housing has gotten so expensive, we are toying with the idea of giving them an extra $1000 a month to help with mortgages.

 

[Dan Murphy]

You can give up to 14k a year that your family member will not have to claim on taxed as income.

Gifts typically are not taxed as income.

 

[barkley]

Gifts typically are not taxed as income.

correct-it is the person who gifts over the irs limit that gets taxed (which has never made sense to me).

 

[disykat]

If you give over the annual gifting amount (currently 18K in 2024) to any one person you have to file a gift tax form with the IRS. I assume the IRS then tracks that and start adding it up towards the lifetime amount. I think it's more of a paperwork issue than a "you can't do that" issue. Financial people really tend to emphasize this rule so I'm guessing a lot of people don't do the appropriate paperwork and face issues. I manage my parent's estate and I never disperse more than the set amount to any individual as a gift at the advice of the people (lawyer, accountant, financial advisor) that helped me get the trust running appropriately when they became incapacitated. They said if we need to disperse more as a gift to let them know so they can make sure I follow correct procedures.