What does “financially stable” mean to you?

[Twilghtsprkle]

Sadly where I live we are seeing many family businesses sold or more likely just shut down because the next generation doesn’t want to work that hard to sustain it. One of our favorite restaurants shut down a few years after the owner died. The children cut the menu drastically. They made all of their children servers and they had no work ethic at all.

Why should someone work hard to sustain something they have no passion about? And running a restaurant sucks and does not pay well for the most part. Truthfully it’s better to get a regular 9-5 that pays decent than rely on the whims of customers.

True, not everyone sets up their will to pass on wealth, and even when they do, things can get messy. But the real value of generational wealth lies in building a financial foundation that spans generations. When it works, it does more than provide money—it offers stability and opportunities, giving the next generation a significant advantage in life. Generational wealth is the best kind of reliable stable wealth.

I will most likely get decent amount from my mother whenever she passes. But we don’t need it, my husband has a good job. I definitely would’ve prefer her to have spent that money on stuff when I was younger and we did without things. She definitely had OCD in regards to saving for retirement. When she started working she pretty much put her entire paycheck into a 401K and we lived off only dad’s paycheck. Now she’s retired and between SS and her very good pension, she doesn’t even have to touch that 401k money. Now she puts money into accounts for my kids each year and gives money to my sister and I each year.

 

[Dakota731]

Why should someone work hard to sustain something they have no passion about? And running a restaurant sucks and does not pay well for the most part. Truthfully it’s better to get a regular 9-5 that pays decent than rely on the whims of customers.


I will most likely get decent amount from my mother whenever she passes. But we don’t need it, my husband has a good job. I definitely would’ve prefer her to have spent that money on stuff when I was younger and we did without things. She definitely had OCD in regards to saving for retirement. When she started working she pretty much put her entire paycheck into a 401K and we lived off only dad’s paycheck. Now she’s retired and between SS and her very good pension, she doesn’t even have to touch that 401k money. Now she puts money into accounts for my kids each year and gives money to my sister and I each year.

You are very blessed by your mother’s fiscal responsibility. I have several friends who are supporting their parents during their old age because they didn’t plan for the future.

 

[Dakota731]

Paying cheap for labor.

Portugal's minimum wage is 750 euros/month.
Spain is 1050 euros/month.

160 hours of work/month = 4.70/hr for Portugal and 6.56/hr for Spain.

That’s correct. Fast food restaurants in our area have to pay $18-20 an hour, and even then they never get enough help to be fully staffed. So of course they have to raise prices. They can’t continue to be in business if they are losing money.

 

[starry_solo]

That’s correct. Fast food restaurants in our area have to pay $18-20 an hour, and even then they never get enough help to be fully staffed. So of course they have to raise prices. They can’t continue to be in business if they are losing money.

So do the ones in our area. Our state also requires regular restaurants to pay minimum wage, not the ridiculous $2/hr for the server to make up the rest in tips

 

[barkley]

You are very blessed by your mother’s fiscal responsibility. I have several friends who are supporting their parents during their old age because they didn’t plan for the future.

i know of some whose children don't realize this will likely become a reality in the next decade. me knowing roughly what the parent(s) income was over the years, what their spending habits were and how that realisticly plays out in retirement. i think about these households and how financialy it will impact them esp. at a point where they will still be raising their minor children (and i imagine planning to help their then college age ones). some have just in the last handful of years managed to become first time homeowners who i suspect plan in part for their OWN later years based on their incomes being sufficient to meet only their nuclear household's needs/save for THEIR futures. the grandparents are not only impacting their children they are likely impacting their grandkids decades down the line when they may be in the same situation

 

[gmi3804]

Our family's manufacturing business was started in 1950. We're at a crossroads now, because imports are much cheaper, even including shipping costs, than manufacturing. What's more, the four acres of land on which our plant is situated, being just outside of downtown Chicago, is worth way more in the commercial/retail/mixed use development market than many times our ANNUAL profits (even after paying our substantial salaries), so the buildings and property have effectively become functionally obsolete to manufacturing. So it's not always a question of not wanting to "work hard." And let's face it, the family's jobs don't really involve much, if any, "hard work" (unless you count walking popular DVC reservations at the 11-month window hard work.) There are just forces here in 2024 that weren't at play when the business was formed in 1950, things that no amount of work or desire can reasonably overcome.

 

[tvguy]

Agree in this day and age people can no longer rely on inheritance. My grandparents had a good amount of money that they left to my parents. My father is not that much older than my husband. Not only could he outlive us but if he requires long term care he could lose everything. It is not a good idea to plan on an inheritance

Too bad he doesn't have Long Term Care Insurance. Sounds like he can afford it. To each his own I guess. Another issue is sometimes there can be issues in settling an estate or an executor is taking their time. The size of the estate can shrink as the estate has to pay ongoing bills We are still waiting for my wife's step mother's estate to be settled two years after she passed. Nothing complicated, the executor is just taking her rime while having to pay property taxes and insurance on a house.
A friend is executor of an estate that wasn't properly set up. Took two years to get court approval to sell a car, the cost of insurance and upkeep ended up costing the estate more than the car was worth.

 

[barkley]

A friend is executor of an estate that wasn't properly set up. Took two years to get court approval to sell a car, the cost of insurance and upkeep ended up costing the estate more than the car was worth.

one of the biggest pains in dealing with mil's estate was the car. california makes you wait something like 40 days (absent probate) BUT you can't tranfer it unless it's currently insured BUT no insurance company will insure a dead owner so we had to store it and just put off telling her insurance company that she had passed until a couple of months after the fact. everything with her will was set up fine, it was just the dmv's process that made it difficult.

after dealing with the administration of 2 estates, both set up properly (one a trust/one not), i would not wish it on my worst enemy.

 

[tvguy]

one of the biggest pains in dealing with mil's estate was the car. california makes you wait something like 40 days (absent probate) BUT you can't tranfer it unless it's currently insured BUT no insurance company will insure a dead owner so we had to store it and just put off telling her insurance company that she had passed until a couple of months after the fact. everything with her will was set up fine, it was just the dmv's process that made it difficult.

after dealing with the administration of 2 estates, both set up properly (one a trust/one not), i would not wish it on my worst enemy.

I'm in California and had no issues selling my mom's car. Sold it 4 days after she passed. But she had everything set up properly. I was co-owner, had been for 38 years, from the time I turned 18. Everything but the house was set up that way. House was in a trust to preserve her Prop 13 property tax level if I elected to keep the house. I did check with the insurance company because she stopped driving and moved into a care home the last year of her life, and the insurance company said there was no issue with me operating the car to conduct her business.
Texas is nuts with cars. My wife's father died, and her step mother's car was in his name only. In Texas, a blood relative has rights to vehicles over a step parent. My wife had to sign a notarized form releasing interest in the car before her step mother could register it in her name. I guess cars can only be in one name in Texas, because her step mom was the only one on her father's truck title, and she had no problems selling it.

 

[barkley]

I'm in California and had no issues selling my mom's car. Sold it 4 days after she passed. But she had everything set up properly. I was co-owner, had been for 38 years, from the time I turned 18. Everything but the house was set up that way. House was in a trust to preserve her Prop 13 property tax level if I elected to keep the house. I did check with the insurance company because she stopped driving and moved into a care home the last year of her life, and the insurance company said there was no issue with me operating the car to conduct her business.
Texas is nuts with cars. My wife's father died, and her step mother's car was in his name only. In Texas, a blood relative has rights to vehicles over a step parent. My wife had to sign a notarized form releasing interest in the car before her step mother could register it in her name. I guess cars can only be in one name in Texas, because her step mom was the only one on her father's truck title, and she had no problems selling it.

that is the ideal way with a car (at least in california) but what can be a simple way to pre-arrange for this situation if there's a sole heir can be complicated tremendously when there are-

multiple heirs
no heirs that live in state (gets complex being listed as a co-owner on a vehicle in a state separate from your residency).

 

[dpswift]

Our family's manufacturing business was started in 1950. We're at a crossroads now, because imports are much cheaper, even including shipping costs, than manufacturing. What's more, the four acres of land on which our plant is situated, being just outside of downtown Chicago, is worth way more in the commercial/retail/mixed use development market than many times our ANNUAL profits (even after paying our substantial salaries), so the buildings and property have effectively become functionally obsolete to manufacturing. So it's not always a question of not wanting to "work hard." And let's face it, the family's jobs don't really involve much, if any, "hard work" (unless you count walking popular DVC reservations at the 11-month window hard work.) There are just forces here in 2024 that weren't at play when the business was formed in 1950, things that no amount of work or desire can reasonably overcome.

That is similar to what happened with my families business. My great grandfather started it in the early 1900s. He did very well and both his sons worked there as well. When my father asked to join the business in the late 1960s my grandfather turned him down because he could see the business dropping off.

 

[jo-jo]

Now she’s retired and between SS and her very good pension, she doesn’t even have to touch that 401k money. Now she puts money into accounts for my kids each year and gives money to my sister and I each year.

Your mom is smart with giving money now. I took care of my sisters will. She had no spouse or children. Shock to me what the inheritance tax was. I had no idea. And she had very little. Not like an extra tax over 3 million.