By generation
18-34 51-69
An opportunity for everyone to have clarity about the choices that should be made 69% 57% 75%
A way to empower the individual facing these decisions 51% 43% 54%
None of my/their business 24% 32% 22%
Only people who are interested in inheriting money/wealth bring this up 15% 42% 8%
It is disrespectful 8% 20% 4%
Other 3% 3% 2%
* The example is a true story from one of the author's experiences with a family a handful of years ago. The ending is a happy one: Father and daughter decided to turn the tension into an opportunity for a broader articulation of values and aligning financial decisions to those values. Their experience served as the inspiration for this research.
1 Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. "The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice," Science, 1981. Latest available data.
2 Of a $100 million legacy gift to one child, $63 million was considered too much and $26 million too little. These amounts can provide anchor points and may dramatically affect the final decision: You may give more if $63 million was your anchor point versus $26 million. (Reframing wealth: From disempowering burden to extraordinary opportunity, referred to as “Reframing Wealth Study”, 2015.)
3 Eileen Gallo, Ph.D., and Jon J. Gallo, Silver Spoon Kids: How Successful Parents Raise Responsible Children, McGraw-Hill Education, 2002. Latest available data.