A few responses. Its not coming from the boomer but rather the boomers parents. Its a trend that will continue for 20 years or more. Around here those arent big numbers. An old house in CM owned free and clear in a nice location is already 400 to 500K. I know my mother who is turning 80 next week has never owned a stock in her life. Its all CD’s and Bonds for her and always has been. These assets are very liquid and while the returns havent been good lately the principal is intact.
One example was a big house but they got rid of a 700K mortgage which has got to be at least $4K per month. That will pay for alot more than monthly maintennace on a big property. The other was a late boomer who bought conservatively (under $800K) what he could have afforded without the inheritance. The inheritance gave him the ability to pay cash and to retire in a few years.
Lastly $1M is not alot these days for elderly parents to have accumulated particularly if they owned a home in SoCal. Many are much bigger than $1M. The biggest issue is how many siblings there are. Both of these were only children. The pot gets smaller when its split 3 or 4 ways.
