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She Doesn’t Get It – Redux

tumblr_nurz73kQrz1unv2fuo1_250A young writer recently wrote a web piece titled “If You Have Savings in Your 20’s, You’re Doing Something Wrong.” The article contained the following gems:

  • People who are saving in their 20s are people who don’t set their sights high. They’ve already dropped out of the game and settled for the minor leagues.
  • Your 20s are not the time to save; they’re the time to gamble. $200 a month isn’t going to make the dent that a $60,000 pay raise will after spending all those nights out networking.
  • We don’t have kids. We’ll be renting for the foreseeable future, and we have no problem eating McDonald’s when we’re skint.

Several quick points:

1.  If this advice was from a 40 year old looking back on life, it would be less laugh
able that it is coming from a 20 something trying to justify her lifestyle.

2.  I am not sure I know anyone who received a $60K annual raise but she seems to think they are plentiful.

3.  The value of the monthly $200 expenditure she mocks is $1 million after 45 years.

4.  If she continues to spend what she makes, she will rent forever, not just the foreseeable future.

5.  The writer and the 2 million plus people who liked her article on Facebook are likely constituents of Bernie Sanders because they are counting on others to provide for their retirement.

 

Who Wants to Make (or Receive) This Phone Call?

From today’s Dear Prudence column on Slate:

Q. Death Around the Holidays: A man I work with and with whom I’ve had an affair the last two months died suddenly over the weekend. I am pregnant with his child. He didn’t know. His current wife, now widow, doesn’t either. How do I broach this subject? His estate is rather large.

A: I’d say I’m sorry for your loss, but since apparently you aren’t, I won’t bother. For your financial interests, contact a lawyer specializing in family law. I don’t have any advice on where you go to get help for your lack of morals—or heart.

Several points:

1.  If the man left all of his assets to his wife, I do not think that there will be much available for the child other than Social Security because the widow is not obligated to leave assets to the child.

2.  If the man did not have a will, in Ohio the child would essentially share in 2/3 of the probate assets with the other children.

3.  If  the man left assets in a trust for his wife and children, which ultimately are to be distributed to his children, the child from the affair will likely inherit the same share as his other children because children are usually defined generically in wills and trusts not as “children from my relationship with my wife.”

4.  I doubt Ann Landers and Dear Abby would have answered as tersely as Prudie did.

5.  Giving the woman the benefit of the doubt, which Prudie did not, the writer might have adapted her writing style to the 21st century blog post/Internet style and left out all perceived unnecessary adjectives (and emotion).  Or, she could be a Hemingway fan.

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I am an attorney located in Cincinnati, Ohio who practices in the areas of estate planning, probate, asset protection, and small business advice. I make a difficult and bewildering process as simple as possible. Most importantly, I provide "more for less" for my clients.