Why You Should Wait to Let Your Children Inherit

There are many good reasons to make your child wait to inherit instead of helping them out with allowances and aid.

The most compelling of which is that this is perfect time to teach your children the value of money. If you provide everything for them from food and housing to college tuition money, they won't know what it's like to save and be frugal. You can tell your kids about this kind of stuff and hope that it sinks in, but there's no better way to teach it than to make them experience it on their own.

If your child is accustomed to spending without truly knowing the value of a dollar, when your assistance is no longer there, your children will suffer in the long run. This is a concept referred to as premature affluence. When you're young, everything is paid for. You don't have any expenses and everything you earn is extra cash that you can use for anything. If you keep up this irresponsible spending when you do have bills to pay and rent or mortgage, you can get into a lot of debt.

If your teen works summer jobs and has to figure out their own way to pay for college, they will be more responsible with money than if you just give them what they need. There is no better way to explain how you should not spend more than you earn and that you should plan for the future than to let them do it on their own while they still have you as a safety net in case they fail.

The biggest problem with this is that if you offer your children regular financial aid and they get into that spending mode, when that money runs out, they have nothing to fall back on. If there is still any left to inherit, they will squander that money or worse, might need it to pay back their debts. It's very hard to learn to save money when you're older and have been recklessly spending your entire life.

On the other hand, if your child has taken out loans and works summers and even during the school year to pay for their education, an inheritance can be a good bonus that might even pay back all their loans. They will be better equipped to handle this large sum of money. They might even want to invest it and make it grow or save it for a rainy day.

For the benefit of your children's future, you should wait to let them inherit so that they learn how to handle money. They might complain about it, but they will thank you later.