Willl You Inherit?
What do you expect to inherit from your grandparents or parents? The number of Americans who will inherit money is quite small and will most likely continue to decrease in the coming years.
In fact, nearly 92 percent of the American population will receive nothing at all. That means about 8 percent will inherit money, but about 4 percent of that will inherit less than $25,000. Only 1.7 percent of the population will inherit more than $50,000.
Why is this trend happening? First, inherited wealth in the U.S. is concentrated among a tiny percentage of America’s population. Meaning, although the total annual inheritance has more than doubled since 1985, only the privileged upper one percent of American households inherit money. Most Americans inherit less money than two decades ago, inheriting about $29,200 today. However, more often they inherit nothing, or even debt.
Another reason for this trend is because millions of senior citizens liquidate their assets in order to live. Most retirees don’t save enough money or have enough in investments to live on, because they are living longer than planned. Since most Americans have little in savings or retirement funds, this trend will likely continue.
Thus, the most that many Americans can hope to inherit is some old china and knick knacks. The least you can probably do is find a china replacement piece for your missing pieces of inherited china. Whatever you inherit, be thankful for what you did get. And don’t be part of the 40% statistic, if you are part of the 4% that inherit money, take more than a week to decide how to spend it.