Done! (I’d also delete your comment and mindy’s but it looks like as a moderator, I can only delete comments that have been flagged.)
We retired early to travel and aren’t leaving our kids an inheritance
Odd ideas in this piece. Aside from the wealth that enables this form of “slow travel” (and the author’s apparent blindness to or disregard about those who lack it), there seems to be no plan for the more distant future.
What will this couple do when they need elderly care after running out of money? I doubt they’d be satisfied with some sort of state-funded nursing home, and also that any of the six kids they’ve decided to abandon financially would jump at the chance to take them in.
I read it differently. It reads to me like they have planned for their financial future, what with the financial advisor, but I do share your thoughts about their spending when they get older. They write that they plan to reduce spending, which is currently a whopping $6K/mo, not including their house payment and related expenses. That seems high to me. At least, it wouldn’t be sustainable for me. And I’d expect that number to go up, not down, when they’re older.
I’m less troubled by their ideas about inheritance. I definitely don’t see their decision as “abandoning their (adult) children financially.”
I’ve always found the stuff that comes up around familial financial inheritances to be pretty yucky, and I wish more people would stop supporting this narrative that kids will get a payout when their parents pass on.
But the lifestyle choice, to see the world if you can, in this nice slow way of getting to know a place instead of racing through places with a list of tourist activities to check off - I fully support that.
Some are not planning to continue after reaching an age where they need care. 
Most of these profiles published by financial institutions about people taking alternative paths are still low-key promoting their preferred narrative that workers are not only failing at saving enough, but also should spend a lot of money on housing, leisure, etc… How else will they convince folks to get in over their heads so the threat of loan repayment, foreclosure, or other calamity can keep them on the “work until you drop” treadmill?
Same here. There are plenty of blogs and non-corporate sources out there with tales of people who did just that. I’ve learned a lot from them over the years, and discovered a lot of pitfalls to avoid from folks who shared their struggles when things didn’t go as planned.
Yes, I do too! It’s the larger framework of their idea that I question, especially what to do near the end of life (presuming one will actually still be alive).
True, that word was an overstatement. Still, I can imagine some of their kids thinking, “You spent all of your money, and now you expect me to take you in?” But maybe the spending couple do have so much moola that they also have some socked away for an acceptable nursing home.
I get your good point, but this woman retired at 53…
While I agree in principle that it should not be necessary to try to provide a hand-up to the next generation, I think there are at least a couple things in play:
- Housing prices have been increasing in many parts of the US.
- Tuition for College is Too Damn High.
There is absolutely an idea (in the US) that our children should be better off than us. Two of the implied criteria for success are owning a home and having a college education. When we see that their challenges are greater than ours, I think it’s only natural that we (as parents) want to help them overcome these challenges if we are able to. This isn’t a solution to generational poverty, but neither is owning a car a solution to mass transit.
A more pragmatic approach to this immediate problem, if it can be achieved, is not to wait until death to transfer assets to your children, but to transfer them over time starting earlier. When I am at retirement age (65), my daughter will be 32. If I don’t beat the average and die at 79, she’ll be 46. I expect any real financial benefit will be much lower at 46 than it would be at 20. The gift tax is entirely toothless for any but the very wealthy, so that’s not a barrier, and if it is there are ways around that anyway.
This is what my husband’s grandfather did. He lived to 90 but starting at 70, he began distributing his wealth among his children and grandchildren. Gifts under the gift-tax yearly. This is how we hope to do it, if we have enough money.
My husband and I could be saving more for retirement. But we’ve placed saving for our kid’s college expenses on the same priority level. It will make such a huge difference in her life to have as much of her college expenses covered as possible. Much more than giving her a wad of cash when we die. If she chooses not to go to college, then she’ll have that nest egg after a few years (mid 20s or at 30?).
I hope to be able to travel like that someday. Spend a month or 6 months somewhere. I don’t know that we’ll have that kind of money or if it would be worth giving up being continually owned by cats.
This is based on one anecdote (& perhaps better-than-acceptable), but I’m told that’s $12k/month, today in TX. Presumably higher on the coasts. 
My first semester at UT-Austin (late 1980s), I paid about $700, which included some one-time fees I never paid again. That was not expensive, even back then. I’m sure I could check some calculator, & perhaps I’m wrong, but I don’t/won’t believe $700 then is (otherwise) equivalent to $4000 today.
Same - was funneling into the retirement fund as much as I could, but what we’d put away for college turned out to be not nearly as helpful as I’d hoped.
College has gotten really expensive. Even state schools. Any trip we plan, we keep that in mind. She’s 8 and we have about 30k saved for her so far.
The kid is dying to go to Hawaii for some reason. It’ll probably be cheaper than when we went to Disney World.
There is a difference between a skilled nursing facility and an assisted living place. They are often called “the nursing home” but there’s quite a bit of difference.
For assisted living, in the rural midwest, it’s more like $4000 to $6000 a month for a decent place. If you can deal with podunk Tennessee, it’s at the low end of that for everything but medications, medical costs and incidentals.
I would not ever say this in earshot of my client company (senior care) but I’d walk into the sea before I moved into any of these homes in a permanent way. In theory it’s trained staff providing hands on care, in reality, residents are at the mercy of the lowest paid (and highest turnover) people in the company, which means you’re rolling the dice every shift. Good luck, grandma, I hope the new caregiver is nice!
Now, rehab after surgery or injury? That’s different and I totally would move in for that, even at $300 a day, as long as I could actually afford that.
Confirmed, especially if you like doing things like hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, and going to the beach that are easily DIY and get a place with a kitchen in order to mostly cook your own meals. Where it gets expensive is guided activities and touristy stuff. If you get your food from farmers’ markets and the fish market, along with going to local places like somen (like ramen) shops, you significantly reduce the expense.
That is good to know.
Renting a place, cooking our own food, and hiking, snorkeling, etc. sounds like my spouse’s ideal vacation.
Maybe a tour on a boat and some guided scuba adventure. Mine would involve a luxury hotel or old-school BnB instead of a rented place.
This is absolutely true. And for ALMOST ALL people in the U.S., it’s easy to do quite legally, as most people do not have anywhere near just under $14M (individual) or $28M (married couple) to give their children. You can just give money to them as they need it, although there is a tax form to file (but no cost) if it’s a large enough chunk.
Also, you can give an annual gift amount of up to $19,000/$38,000 (applies against the lifetime amount) to each of your children starting from birth. The only tax is if they invest it in an interest-bearing bank account or investment account, then the gains are added to their annual tax form. Which, by definition, is usually when their own income is still very low, so there might be no tax consequence at all.
The “Death Tax” hits virtually no family in the U.S., because almost no family is worth that much. No, not even family farms, contrary to popular claims!
And while I’m at it: a parent or grandparent can pay unlimited medical and educational expenses – which are not part of the annual or lifetime gift rules – as long as those expenses are paid directly. Two of the most expensive things in a young adult’s life, so this is really helpful.
From the IRS website:
Gift tax limit 2025
The IRS recently announced increases in gift and estate tax exemptions for 2025. The annual gift tax exclusion will rise to $19,000 per recipient, up $1,000 from the 2024 limit. (These are the numbers you’ll refer to when planning your 2025 tax liability, returns typically filed in early 2026.)
- Individuals can give up to $19,000 to any number of people in 2025 without triggering gift tax reporting requirements.
- Married couples can effectively double this amount to $38,000 per recipient.
Additionally, the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption will increase] to $13.99 million per individual for 2025, up from $13.61 million in 2024.
This allows a married couple to shield up to $27.98 million from federal estate and gift taxes. However, it’s important to note that under current law, this expanded exemption is set to expire at the end of 2025. So, if Congress doesn’t act, it could potentially revert to roughly half this amount in 2026.
What are the odds that 47 will allow this higher exemption amount to retire at the end of the next year? Yeah.
Yep. By lead poisoning if a more civilized option isn’t available in my state by then.