My Sister And I Could Inherit $10m, But My Family Is Strange With Money

A Reddit user is facing a really difficult situation right now when it comes to his finances. The original poster (OP) said that his family is wealthy, but also very frugal, and they generally don’t tend to spend much money. The poster and his sister, however, aren’t big fans of the concept of letting money just sit around growing when they have immediate needs today, and the poster is a little bit resentful that his parents have not provided them with much help despite being in a financial position to do so.

Things have come to a head now, though, because he and his sister talked with their grandmother about what she plans to do with her large estate when she passes. Grandma, who is 94, indicated it would be split 50/50 between her two kids because she trusts her sons to take care of everyone. The problem is, while one of those sons is the OP’s dad, the OP does not trust his father to take care of him. He’s now left wondering if he should have an awkward conversation with his dad or grandma — and other Reddit users are not necessarily on his side. 

Redditor is frustrated with family members not sharing assets

The Reddit poster is very concerned that he and his sister are not going to end up getting much, if any, of their grandmother’s money for a very long time.

There are a few reasons for that, including the fact that his millionaire parents don’t really provide them with generous presents for birthdays and holidays, and his parents did not pay for his sister to go to grad school but instead made her borrow and left her with a large student loan debt. When his great aunt passed away, she also left most of the money to her stepdaughter except for $300K given to his dad — and his dad didn’t share any of that cash, although the OP did end up with $50K of the money through a complex series of transactions.

Ultimately, while the OP explained that his dad did say that the money he has will eventually be split between the OP and the OP’s sister, the Redditor doesn’t want to struggle for decades only to end up inheriting in his 60s when he may not need the money since he has financial needs now. He’s also worried for his sister and her kids, because he wants her children to be able to grow up with some inheritance from grandma. So, he’s thinking about asking his dad to provide that money sooner rather than later.

Is the Redditor entitled to his inheritance early?

While the OP seems pretty convinced that his family is acting “strangely,” as he put it in the thread, other Redditors did not necessarily agree.

Many people who responded to the thread said that he was not entitled to an early inheritance, that he shouldn’t count on money he didn’t earn, and that he has already received $50,000 and he should be greatly for it. And, while the OP did say he understands the funds belong to his relatives, who can do what they like with them, he certainly seems to have a somewhat entitled attitude towards when he gets the cash. 

Ultimately, those other Reddit posters are right. His grandmother isn’t even dead yet, and he’s already worried about claiming a chunk of her estate. He also seemed to suggest in his post that his great aunt was wrong to leave her assets to her stepdaughter instead of to “the family,” although obviously she must have considered her stepdaughter to be family. 

The reality is, he’s an adult who has already gotten a lot of financial help, and the fact that he seems to think he is entitled to more from the estate of a person who is very much alive suggests he’s focused on the wrong things indeed.

Instead of trying to get his hands on other people’s cash early, the poster should work with a financial advisor to get on stable financial footing for himself. He should try to grow his own wealth so that if and when an inheritance does come, it will be a nice bonus and not central to his plan for financial security. If he doesn’t do that and keeps demanding cash from his parents while being ungrateful for the gifts they do give him, he may just find he ends up getting less than expected when his parents get tired of his demands.