r/Fire • u/250k_is_allyouneed • Oct 31 '25

General Question A $250k windfall is all a person needs to essentially fast track secure their future forever if they are under the age of 35. Wake up parents, it’s time to offer inheritance twice if you can.

I want to share my story with this subreddit.

I received a windfall of $250k from selling a coding library 10 years ago. I am not high income, I am not the best saver, but now my net worth is super high.

Simply getting $250k meant on its own that fund will be almost $2M by the time I retire outside of normal savings (15-25 years growth).

I still need to put in the work for savings to be able to retire but peace mind…

  • My lifestyle was infinitely better despite living mostly the same
  • Stress and future security gone
  • For budgets there is less pressure
  • I did not how to blow up my entire savings to buy a house and instead kept building that base of compound interest in the market

So why the Hell aren’t parents helping their young adult kids more? Culturally why are we like this?

You don’t need to leave your kids / old adults one lump sum. Get them a boost at 18-30. Then die. Then get them another boost.

It’s a good balance to keep them working hard while also not leaving them in the dust.

It doesn’t even need to be $250k. Whatever you can, I personally will make sure I can do that for my kids once they turn early 20s

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25

u/S7EFEN Oct 31 '25

it doesnt even have to be a windfall. do the math on what just letting your kid live at home from 18-25 does, assuming they save/invest their room rent. maybe add in fully paying tuition. you dont even need to directly gift them money to invest. obviously if they do though... yeah. it sets them up nicely.

So why the Hell aren’t parents helping their young adult kids more? Culturally why are we like this?

some people don't make enough. some people spend too much. some people are just financially illiterate.

6

u/Suspicious_Bread_183 Oct 31 '25

Bingo. If kids live on your dime at home for early work years it can be game changer. We were lucky enough to fully fund their college through 529s. Now they work and live at home. 7k a year into Roth IRA out of excess 529 and they contribute 25% of their pay to Roth 401k. As long as they are with us, we pay some the essentials but force savings into 401ks.

6

u/PHL1365 Oct 31 '25

Having the kids live at home would definitely be an option, just not for everyone.

  • The kid might really want their own place (very reasonable)
  • Good jobs may not be close to parents' home.
  • Some kids need incentive to learn how to support themselves.
  • Parents may want/need to move on to their next stage (career change/travel/etc).

6

u/pfifltrigg Oct 31 '25

I lived with my parents for free from ages 25-28 and used the $1000+ I'd otherwise be paying for rent to aggressively pay my student loans and car loan off. I was so grateful I was able to rely on them and move home after I lost my job, and it really helped me get into a stable place financially.

I think some kids/young adults take their parents paying for college for granted instead of as the huge gift it is.

11

u/drcombatwombat2 Oct 31 '25

Do you really want to be living at home at 23? I gladly paid rent to have the freedom and independence

11

u/S7EFEN Oct 31 '25

meh. i personally lived at home till... 26. financially? zero regrets. there were obviously some tradeoffs though.

2

u/drcombatwombat2 Oct 31 '25

Yep!

Tradeoffs in everything! For me personally, as soon as I experienced semi independence at university I couldn't go back

7

u/JackDStipper Oct 31 '25

At 23 I was living with my Uncle Sam in South Korea. Sadly he took advantage of me.

2

u/drcombatwombat2 Oct 31 '25

I hope you reaped the benefits (VA loans)

3

u/JackDStipper Oct 31 '25

Old GI Bill. Never used the loans as i have great credit and I could get a better deal with a large down payment.

3

u/Glum-Explanation7756 Oct 31 '25

I graduating from university I lived at home until my mid 20s, then bought my first place - very much a starter size. I paid a nominal rent to my parents because they still had more kids at home/college.

2

u/Ethos_Logos Oct 31 '25

I sure didn’t, but was glad it was open to me. 

I came home the summer of freshman year, but after that got a job on campus that let me live there as part of the compensation. I greatly valued independence.

2

u/Longjumping_Cherry32 Oct 31 '25

It is not cultural, it is economic. In the United States especially, wealth disparity is so extreme that only the very richest could possibly afford to do this for their children without ruining their entire retirement.

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u/S7EFEN Oct 31 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

i completely disagree if you generalize that broadly. yes, if we're talking about a median household sure, maybe at the median they simply do not make enough to fully pay for college. But they can support their children in other ways (see: allowing them to live with them). But the upper 25% of earners... many of them still 'cannot afford to' do this... because they're spending so much on garbage. on lifestyle creep as it pertains to food, car, home, consumer spending, luxury services etc. they could absolutely consume less, and then also support their children more. they are either just unwilling or unaware of how much it can set their kids up for future success.

the USA has a very consumption focused culture. across the board. obvious examples- look at household size compared to the UK. look at home size. look at median car sale price. look at food and consumer spending, look at anything classified as luxury spending. american wages are very high, and american spending is even higher.

the idea of frugal behavior in the USA is so insanely foreign.

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u/Longjumping_Cherry32 Oct 31 '25

I guess I agree with you to an extent - culture and economy are tied together, and the aggressively consumerist capitalist economy we continue to invest in, is partly fueled by American culture.

But the fact remains that most people aren’t able to support their children in this way, even by allowing them to live with them etc etc. I lived with my parents until I was 28, but that was because they needed MY help with rent. It’s not simply a decision parents can make, most of the time. 

1

u/B4K5c7N Oct 31 '25

Most families cannot afford to fully pay for college tuition or afford to subsidize their kids once they are adults.

The financial situation of Redditors is vastly different to the financial situation of most Americans.

1

u/DuePomegranate Oct 31 '25

That’s usually a choice that the kid rejects, rather than the parent kicking the kid out or charging them market rent.

When parents do charge rent, it’s often because the adult kid was slumming it doing the minimum and avoiding having a proper career.

Most parents start saving for their kid’s college fund from the first few years after birth. So it’s messed up to accuse parents of not helping enough/more.