Retirement?

I'm going to start posting photos on Facebook of me paying my bills or transferring money into my kids' college savings.

Wonder how many "likes" those would be worth.

 

I know of some examples of this in my life.
People I know who are relatively similar in income bracket as us but seem to spend much more lavishly. In some cases, I suspect they are riddled with debt and in others I beleive they are under-written by wealthier parents.
I also know people who make significantly less than me yet seem to have more lavish DirecTV and sports packages, dine out more, get a new car every few years, have a much larger TV, etc.

I guess I'm just a miser.
I'm about to turn 47 and I've never owned an actual new car. It seems like an extravagance to me.

 

I understood if you gave it to moms. Otherwise, I don't understand that at all.

Your dad, at one point, wrote your names on a piece of paper, and paid some coin, for you to be a beneficiary when he died.

I plan to leave a decent amount of coin to our kids when we die. I would love for them to use it.

 

That is awesome. I know exactly where you are coming from.

 

Ultimately we accepted it, and it wasn't a long conversation. It just felt strange. My dad wasn't the spoiling type. I remember him having a meltdown at the mall when I wanted a $20 Nike shirt.

 

My long term care insurance is a shovel.

 

Making sure your family is taken care of when you die isn't exactly "spoiling."

 

My dad passed away in 2010, and my mom in November. No assets to speak of, except for a house they bought in 1985, which still has $128k mortgage(!).

My brother and I demo'd the house (a little us, mostly a contractor) and from november to now, been working like demons to get it on the market.

We didn't have a functional relationship with our parents. Me and my 3 siblings will each get ~$80k upon sale of house. Literally life changing money to my two sisters. If combined, they had $5k in cash before this, I'd be surprised.

This money will be the BEST thing that the family has ever provided to my sisters. Hell, me too.

 

I know.

That was just my thought process at the time. It was tough, at first blush, for me to imagine him giving us a penny that we didn't bleed, sweat, or cry for.

 

You did. Your whole childhood. You earned the 10 grand, over however many years.

 

The point is that I find it difficult to fathom parents lavishing expensive cars and vacations on their adult children annually. It's too far removed from life as I know it. Hell, they made me pay rent as I was getting back on my feet after college. I was even working full time.

 

My parents owned timeshares that they'd give to us if they couldn't use them. Everything else came out of our pockets, but a week's vacation was entirely doable without any hotel expense.