Quote from Ricter:
I hear you, and that's a great attitude. So... don't deny your wife and kids learning that lesson with free money from you!
It's socialism, and we all know that's no good.
; )
Not sure if you were kidding or not, but since you guys seem to be carrying on a decent conversation, including emoticons, I thought I might just add a bit.
You build a family in the same way you build a business. By working with your kids while alive to understand money and work, and all the ramifications of both, your family has a better chance of long term success.
Warren Buffet, I know everyone likes to quote him, but he said this well. Leave them enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they would do nothing.
I don't think estate taxes are right, especially at such high rates. You have already paid taxes on that money. And I believe in super estate planning where you can limit the amounts if need be. Since wealth is a subjective term, each would decide how much to leave their kids or grandkids. Some may think a lump sum of $250K is good, some may say $2mil, some may say only $2k per month, again depending on circumstances.
However, I don't think any of this is socialism per my education in that regard.
c