One of the biggest challenges is knowing when to leave the workforce once and for all. For some people, the answer is never, potentially because they need income or just because they love what they do so much they can’t envision stopping.
However, every once in a while, you run into a Reddit post like this one in r/Rich about someone who is set to inherit millions and is unsure how to plan the rest of their life. The person has a steady and good-paying job, but also knows that the inheritance or knowledge of it may be holding them back.
This leads directly to the question of what they do now, and it’s a really interesting question as there is no easy answer.
The Inheritance
We quickly learn from the Redditor that their parents had them later in life and are entering their mid-70s. Unfortunately, the parents have declining health, and as a result, the Redditor has been made aware they will be inheriting the sum of “a few million” by the time they turn 40, if not closer to 50.
The challenge here is that although the Redditor has been doing well for themselves, they are concerned that the understanding they will inherit money may be holding them back. Now that they are older, having just turned 33 and having children of their own, they question whether it’s worth sacrificing their time and happiness for additional work hours every week when retirement is a real possibility.
The challenge here is that they are not sure if they have reached their full potential, but the other voice in their head says, “What’s the point?” when you have all of this money coming.
How to Move Forward
Everyone’s situation is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Of course, it’s even more difficult to answer this question without knowing more about someone’s life. How much do they spend annually? Do their kids have 529 accounts already established? What have the grandparents set up, if anything, for the grandchildren as far as their own trusts?
The thing is that until this money is the Redditors’, it isn’t theirs, so they can’t act like this money is a sure thing. If they are in their 30s now, a lot can happen that can reduce the amount of money that will be coming. All it takes is one medical emergency and years of long-term care to drain any account, even one with millions of dollars.
We know the Redditor is involved in the family business, so they will know about how the business is performing, but business isn’t the only thing that can affect the size of the inheritance.
Ultimately, this Redditor really needs to focus on the here and now and get ahead while they are young enough to do so. Nothing in life is guaranteed, not tomorrow, and certainly not millions of dollars, so they shouldn’t act as if they just need to wait around until the parents pass away and the money becomes theirs.
Reddit Feedback
In a not-at-all surprising development, Reddit was all over the map with its advice. Plenty of individuals went through similar experiences and recommend just sitting back and waiting. On the flip side, there is also the question of why you wouldn’t try to make your own little world better if you could do it right now.
This person’s children don’t want to remember their dad just lying around; they want to see him doing something, even if it’s just a temporary thing until the real inheritance arrives. One Redditor sums it up best by saying that “getting a lot of money didn’t change my work ethic.” It shouldn’t be this way for the Redditor either, as you keep going until you well and truly want or need to stop.
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