Parents and children, focus on the person not the money, and then the money doesn’t matter.

My wife has 2 other sisters and the relationship with their parents are tough for 2 of the three, and because of it we can already see issues with dealing with the estate. It is too bad, because with all the generosity of the parnets, its still going to end in a fight, because no one has a healthy relationship with ‘Dad’.

With a healthy relationship, no one would even care about the money. It is sad. Love each other and don’t worry about the money.

Blessings to all and their families.

Brian

Sorry, dude. But your audience is going to shrink and shrink unless you start giving canasta lessons and double wide decorating tips because that’s about as affluent as the new Americans are going to get.

It’s called ‘wealth distribution’ courtesy of the Obamamaniacs.

My advice is to zip it, less’n ‘they’come to your home and start divying up your assets. Watch ‘Dr Zhaviago’ and you’ll understand.

I just discovered your website/blog, and I take it for what it’s worth: a place where you write and share YOUR experiences with pre-retirement. Your articles are not going to reflect every person’s situation in pre-retirement, any more than all the gloom and doom articles reflect every person’s situation.

I have enjoyed what you’ve written, and as with any other site, take what I need and leave the rest.

Whatever our varied financial situations, we all face a variety of issues and concerns as we approach retirement — a status that, for some of us, has come sooner in this economy.

I appreciate what you write and what you share. Thank you.

I also read that article which you cite in your own blog, and I saw what you, and the article, were getting at.

I agree with your reader that whatever our parents do with their money is their own business and an inheritance is not an entitlement; however, I also have seen firsthand that some people who have modest funds to last them throughout their own retirement years may be squandering their funds, with their own entitlement mentality: that their kids, or the government, are going to take care of them.

I suppose that’s why long-term care insurance and annuities are becoming so popular.

At the bottom of all this, is, I guess, the sad fact that parents and kids may not spend enough time with each other, and parents can use money either to bribe the kids to come around or to ‘buy’ the companionship they don’t otherwise obtain.

I read about 10% of the articles you send to my email. The rest of them I delete after reading the first paragraph since they have absolutely no bearing on my life, my financial situation, or my future retirement. I have to admit that in the 10% I do read, I have found some useful and helpful information. I save these articles, and thank you for them. But the rest of it, for me, is completely worthless. I don’t have a lake house AND a condo (and frankly, I’m getting a little tired of hearing about yours). I have just a house, and the bank owns 90% of it. My retirement plan is to hope and pray I can sell my house for at least as much as I owe on it, and then move to a “55+ community in Florida,” which is what we in the Midwest call a trailer park. My husband and I hope in the very near future to be living in a double-wide with a screened in porch and the washer and dryer in a shed outside, in a park with a clubhouse where we can play bingo, attend potluck dinners, and re-learn canasta, and a pool we can use whenever we feel like it, with the whole thing being within shouting distance of the ocean. If our wishes come true, we will be truly grateful and feel lucky to have achieved our small dream.

When I became a single mom with two teenage girls 13 years ago, I cleaned out my 401k 3 or 4 times so I could, you know, feed and clothe my kids and keep a roof over their heads. It seemed important at the time. I have worked full-time since I was 19 years old, but those paychecks stretched only so far. In January 2009, I was “downsized” from my job of 21 years and am now collecting unemployment and working part-time as a clerk for $10/hour. I have a small 401k that I am desperately trying to hold on to, because this is what we plan to buy our trailer with!

So I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that, for me, your website and newsletters would be much more relevant and enjoyable if you could only come down a few pegs from your lofty perch and try to relate to those of us out here (and there are a lot of us, you can bet on it) who don’t have a “vacation home” and stocks and bonds and plans for annuities and millions saved for our retirement.

Although I do appreciate your efforts and your free newsletter, a lot of what you write just plain irritates me. But today’s article titled “Squandering Your Kids’ Inheritance” really took the cake. I have to agree with one of the posters who commented on the CNN article: “… this article is simply another example of the new “entitlement generation” which believes that the entire world, including parents, owes them money. I find this truly deplorable.” What on earth makes you think that my parents OWE me anything, or that I OWE my kids anything? That money is MINE. My parents’ money was THEIRS. If I want to spend MY money, that I earned MYSELF, playing Bingo three times a week, I have every right to do so. If my kids, or you, or anyone else thinks that’s “wasting it away,” tough. Your statement “The scary part of having elderly parents with money is that they will waste it away” just floors me. So what if they DO? It’s THEIR money. NOT yours. You are not ENTITLED to it. Your later statement that “I’m not suggesting that treating your parents well should be financially motivated” is false – that’s exactly what you’re suggesting.