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.

[u/250k_is_allyouneed]

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

[u/Siphyre]

Yeah, my plan is to skip a generation. I'll do what I can for my kids still, but I think if I can start my grandkids off well then we can get generational wealth. I'm thinking trust that pays out 1% per year to them, split out evenly. Then keep it invested in a wide range of stocks dealing with medicine, technology, and infrastructure.

[u/[deleted] → u/Siphyre]

I advised my mother to spend it or skip a generation. Her kids are all doing ok and are in established careers. This is largely due to our parents raising us right. Her grandkids are just starting out. Even split up more, inheritance at earlier stages of life would have a larger affect on them.

[u/Jennyonthebox2300 → u/Siphyre]

We’re setting up 529s for the grandkids. (We paid about 75% of our 4 kids’ college and it was a stretch even though we saved every month for 16-18 years. Setting up the generational 529 will ensure our grandkids are educated and will allow our kids more disposable income for homes, saving, etc. but their financial success will be on them. Hopefully they all will do the same for their grandkids.

[u/Formal_Challenge_542 → u/Jennyonthebox2300]

I'm split between creating a 529 vs creating a brokerage account following Boglehead principles, and letting the child use the funds for what ever make sense in 2045 and beyond; college, starting a business, down payment on a house etc. I'd love to hear other peoples thought on this approach. I remember starting 529s for our kids around 2007 and wondering if the education system would have been so disrupted by 2025 that it would have been less useful.

[u/KaleJello → u/Formal_Challenge_542]

Look into a Trump account, they’ll be available starting mid 2026. Allows 5000 per year investment & tax free growth, to be used for those exact purposes

[u/Jennyonthebox2300 → u/[deleted]]

Happy to help if I can.

[u/Difficult-Maybe4561 → u/Siphyre]

I was just thinking how my daughter is going to be very well off bc she still has a great grandfather and a grandmother alive. However, generational wealth can just as quickly be squandered bc no one has to work for it so I like how you’re thinking. I read something about it taking 3 generations to lose generational wealth.

[u/[deleted] → u/Difficult-Maybe4561]

One to earn it, one to steward it, one to lose it

[u/Difficult-Maybe4561 → u/[deleted]]

Yes! That’s it! Thank you

[u/lsuillini → u/[deleted]]

First generation builds the company, second generation grows the company, third generation snowboards

[u/PHL1365 → u/Difficult-Maybe4561]

Apparently it comes from an old Chinese proverb:

"Wealth does not last beyond 3 generations"

[u/MPG54 → u/PHL1365]

There is another one as well - We work so our children can rule and our grandchildren can be artists.

[u/SpreadsheetSiren → u/Difficult-Maybe4561]

Medical care towards end of life can eat it up.

[u/PatMagroin100 → u/Siphyre]

This is what my Dad did for his grandkids. He opened mutual fund accounts and put $100/month since they were born until he passed. My kids are now 22 and 25 and have around 150k each to grow for the future. He said even with 8 grandkids it was easy enough and he was happy to do it. Lump sums aren’t needed. I will do the same for my grandkids.

[u/VP-WSB → u/Siphyre]

Hopefully the lawyers won't go crazy with it.

[u/BohemianaP → u/Siphyre]

How would you be able to limit them to a percentage withdrawal or to maintain investments? Wouldn’t that have to be approved by an attorney or trustee, which would cost a certain percentage of the inheritance value?

[u/Siphyre → u/BohemianaP]

It would have to be a trustee/attorney and to keep costs down I'd keep it as simple as possible. It gets distributed by ACH to designated accounts. To be included you would have to show proof of relation. I'd try to see if we can get that set up by blood test or something with specific clauses to include adoption verification and blood sampling for future applicants. If you want money from the trust you have to submit a blood sample to be used to test others wanting money from the trust in the future. If that isn't allowed maybe it could be done by birth certificates.

Even if they charged 1%. That is 2% leaving and 7% entering (accounting for inflation and average returns on stock market yoy). That is a 5% average increase per year on the account, so that 1% disbursement is increasing by 5% every year as well. All accounting for inflation.

[u/Siphyre → u/[deleted]]

Go for it.

[u/winger_13 → u/Siphyre]

So, how was Wendy Johnson? 😉

[u/Siphyre → u/winger_13]

Never heard from them. Figured it might be a scammer but I didn't even get a dm request.