[quote=njtosd][quote=FlyerInHi]Other issues having to with be wealth gap are
Assortive mating
Delayed child bearing among the more educated and wealthier classes, so their kids start off with more advantages.
Better health and higher life expectancy at the top.
All that translate to higher inheritances over generations.[/quote]
Higher life expectancy would tend to cause a diminution of resources, wouldn’t it? More years of car payments (or purchases), electricity and food – and generally during the non-earning years.
Assertive mating has always occurred.[/quote]I agree with the italicized part. A long, long life (past 90 years) frequently leads to long term care which families can’t easily provide themselves. In SD County, these “Memory Care Centers” and other decent long term care centers cost $7500 – $9500 month, which can easily deplete the elder’s cash resources of $1M or more in 7-10 years (with some annual price hikes) due to poor interest rates over the past decade for CDs and money-market accounts.
And those who “think” they’re going to quitclaim their RE to their children immediately before checking into long-term care in order to put it on Medi-Cal/Medicaid’s tab (or check in as self-pay to “get accepted” and a few months later, attempt to go on the public dole) better think again. Medicaid uses a 5-year “lookback period” for RE transfers and if any of them occurred less than 5 years before the elder’s Medicaid application, the transfer is considered “fraudulent” and the app will be denied.
In any case, the “better” facilities usually don’t accept Med-Cal/Medicaid.
Round the clock home companions don’t come cheap, either. I have two neighbors with elderly parents still living in their homes (same neighborhood) who are paying 2 separate caregivers to provide round-the-clock care and companionship for their elderly parent. Of course, just two caregivers have to cover 7 days per week so they get room and board as well on their shifts and trade off with one another.
In SD County, “poor” elders with zero assets who rent or own only their residence and no other real property can avail themselves of IHSS if they do not need nursing services, which will NOT lien their property for services provided to them.
These workers can be the elder’s own relatives or someone else but the program does NOT pay enough to a non-relative for round-the-clock care. In this case, a nearby relative of a low-income elder needing round-the-clock care would have to be willing to serve as caregiver a couple of days per week and overnights and some errands for “free” as a supplement to the IHSS worker.
Living until 95 or older will most certainly deplete anyone’s resources (“rich,” middle class, or poor). A “prospective heir” just needs to be appreciative that their remaining parent lived a long life, especially if they were able to stay in their own home until the end and had the funds available to pay caregivers. That’s all many people can really hope for. No one is entitled to an inheritance.
