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To be quite honest, I wish that this category had an option for "A little bit
now and a little bit later". However, because it is posed to debate, with only
two opposing sides, I will have to chose the wait option.

The only reason I opted for the "wait" side is due to the fact that I AM still
around, and because I really can't say how much longer I will be here. I have

no way of knowing for certain. I may just live to the ripe old age of 90 or 100.
I'm sure I will need what finances I have now to keep me living within my means
and therefore, not needing to become a burden to either my children or society
later in life. It would seem ridiculous to give my children their inheritance
now.

For this very reason, I would have chosen to sit on the fence on this issue,
neither for the wait side, nor the now side, but the in between side of "a
little now, a little later on".

Thinking back to my own youth, I remember quite well the financial struggles my
husband and I had to endure, paying a mortgage, raising two children, keeping
up with the bills and expenses. We would have loved to have had a little
financial assistance in the beginning, to help with some of the bills and maybe
to be able to have a few extras a lot sooner. But, it was not to be in our
instance.

It seems that life is run a bit in reverse.... when you really need some help,
and those extra few dollars, is when you ARE young and starting off with nothing.
When you're older and the expenses are fewer, is when you do find your finances
are in better shape and there is a little more cash to spare.

When our children need the most help in life, is when they are just starting off
on their own. Things can become quite an expense for them, and they haven't yet
had a chance to build up a large bank account or assets. Especially in this day
and age of rising costs in housing and gas and all the necessities in running
a young family and household. It would be sad to see them struggling through life
while the parents appear to be sitting on a nice sized nest egg, with few expenses
of their own. It's very hard as a parent to have to say "wait, you'll get this
all when you're much older". By then, hopefully, they will have established
themselves and will probably not need the inheritance at all.

However, there is an advantage as well in making them wait. To give them most
of their inheritance now, would give them less incentive to push themselves
towards their own goals in life. To have life, and money come too easily handed
to them, would give them less motivation to strive for better things in their
own lives. Needless to say, this is what my husband and I too discovered as we
managed to pull through the hard years. This is probably something that all
parents need to consider, and allow their children a few struggles here and
there. It makes them better and more responsible adults in the long run.

I suppose a parent can always still give a little now and then, to give them a
bit of a boost in life. There is also the fact that aging people still need their
finances to be in order as well. Aging does not come cheap, if you're fortunate
enough to reach your later senior years.... as I find myself not quite sitting
on the fence on this issue after all! We may just need some of those inheritance
dollars for our own expenses.

Learn more about this author, Penny B.
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