Today I'm posting Proverbs 20:21, a verse that talks about what happens when a person gets rich quickly. From the NIV:
An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end.
And from the Contemporary English Version:
Getting rich quick may turn out to be a curse.
We see people who get rich quick and are "cursed" all the time: lottery winners, professional athletes, personalities, and the like. They go from having nothing to (seemingly) having everything. And when they find out that you certainly can spend it all (and more), many say they wish they had never seen the money in the first place.
The same could be true with kids inheriting their parents' fortune. If the children haven't been taught to handle money, a large lump sum could be a disaster for them.
Here's what we are doing to avoid this situation:
1. We are teaching our kids about how to handle money while they are growing up.
2. We plan to do most of our giving while we are alive, so there won't be a huge windfall of any kind.
3. If we die unexpectedly, our estate is set to be given to our kids in three separate allotments, starting when the oldest is 30, and separated by a few years for each distribution.
How about you? What are your estate plans concerning the transfer of your wealth?
Our will also has 3 allotments at 25/30/35 years old to keep from dropping a large windfall on a 20 year old kid.
Posted by: Apex | March 17, 2013 at 02:33 PM