Well I have a love of reality TV. Don't ask me why. IT's my vice I guess. Hehe.
But I was watching "Real Housewives of Orange county" last night. There is always something interesting related to personal finance though; on the show. Seems to be.
BUT there is one family on the show that used to be insanely rich and then lost most of it. The parents divorced. I guess growing up the dad told his kids that they would never have to work. Then, he remarried, and suddenly died with no will. His wife apparently got everything.
One of the kids was very bitter. Who could blame her. I think she is 20; she was going to be taken care of, and now she has nothing.
The other one sucked it up and was working and taking care of herself. I think she was a little misguided as she sais, "I don't care if I have to work 4 jobs; I will maintain this lifestyle." But I have to hand it to her, she sucked it up and did what she had to do for herself. She will probably fare much better.
It just struck me as sad though. Very, very very sad. A simple will and who knows, maybe they never would have had to work again.
Sure they are spoiled kids and all that. But their dad really let them down. I can just imagine how we would feel knowing his wife didn't give them a dime. Obviously was not his wishes.
Well, if you remarry and you want your kids to see a dime. You better get your will done. ASAP. That is my PSA for the day.
As for them, in the long run. What doesn't kill them will make them stronger. It will make them stronger/nicer/better people. In the meantime it will be a hard road though. I am sure. But yeah. More along the lines of not counting on inheritances... Dangerous ground for many reasons.
Do Your Wills
December 19th, 2007 at 03:21 pm
December 19th, 2007 at 03:34 pm 1198078449
Anyway, yeah, I still need a will.
December 19th, 2007 at 06:02 pm 1198087342
Hehehe. I was thinking that too.
Besides, why would you tell your spoiled kids that? They're spoiled! Even WITH a will in place, (which I agree is still a good idea) I don't know if it's actually doing the kids any favors.
By the way, I know nothing about the wife. Maybe she's just as spoiled and callous about the kids, which is terrible. Or maybe she knows better and is "teaching" the kids to learn to take care of themselves before she actually shares her father's fortune with them. In which case, I think that's a very good thing!
I have always made it clear to my kids that they're going to have to learn to take care of themselves. It's not that I help whenever I can and when it makes sense to, but I think to fool your children into thinking that "you'll never to work", for example, is extremely bad parenting.
December 19th, 2007 at 06:12 pm 1198087955
December 19th, 2007 at 09:40 pm 1198100443
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December 19th, 2007 at 11:57 pm 1198108639