‘We make £300k but the children aren’t getting any of it’

“My wife and I are both in our mid 40s and work full time,” Rodger shared to Reddit. “We have three children.”

They have two daughters – one who is 20, and the other is 17 – and one son who is eleven years old.

“We’ve both worked hard to get where we are in our careers, and thankfully that means we’re able to provide a good life for our kids,” said Rodger.

“We aren’t rich, and we don’t live beyond our means, but combined we make about 300K per year.”

Rodger is disgruntled by the “traditional” way of the world – to save money, work for another 25 years, retire and leave a sizeable inheritance to the children.

“The thing is that we don’t want that for us or them,” Rodger revealed. “We worked hard to get where we are, and we intend to enjoy the rewards of that before we’re elderly.”

Rodger added: “We also don’t want our kids to be counting down the days until we die so they can get our money and never work again.”

Instead, Rodger and Clarissa plan on retiring in seven years’ time, when their youngest son is old enough to look after himself.

“We’ll have enough saved up to live comfortably and travel more,” Rodger beamed. “And we intend to use all our money.”

If there’s any money left over, the children could have it when they pass away, but at the rate they intend to spend, spend, spend, their children “shouldn’t expect anything”.

Rodger said: “We’ve never really brought this up with any of the kids. For one it’s our money and our business, and for another they never asked.

“We did however explain that we aren’t giving them handouts as adults. We pay half of whatever their school ends up costing, and that’ll be the last major money we ever give them..”

When Rodger had a recent health scare (thankfully, the mole didn’t turn out to be cancerous), he disclosed to his eldest what the financial plans were when they go.

“I explained the money situation,” said Rodger. “This really upset her, she accused us of caring more about partying than her and her siblings wellbeing.”

Rodger went on: “I explained that we’d rather them make their own way in life like we did, not wait for a handout.

“She told her sister, and now they’re both upset with my wife and I, not just for the inheritance, but for not telling them sooner.”

Admittedly, Rodger told the Reddit community that he is “open to being wrong”, but surely “it isn’t their business what happens to other people’s money?”.

*Names have been changed.