Even in the unlikely event that your parents have specifically set aside money for you for after they’re gone, you don’t know how things will go. They might run into serious financial trouble and have to delve into your funds.

More importantly, you should be responsible for your own retirement. If money comes your way, terrific. But I think it’s silly to count on anything in the future (except, as they say, death and taxes).

For me it’s also a selfish thing. If your parents leave you money, it’s money they’re not spending. And most people in retirement aren’t living as well as they could, in general. So if your parents are pinching pennies now to leave you money later, what kind of life is that?!

As far as I’m concerned, my mom only needs to leave enough (hopefully) to deal with her funeral costs. Anything else will mean that she denied herself money she could be spending while she’s alive. And right now, she’s already helping my husband and I more than I would like. (We both have chronic health conditions.)

That said, allegedly I’ll get a couple hundred a month from her pension after she passes. But I keep insisting to her that that sounds fishy. Is she sure it’s not based whether she draws for a certain length of time? And how could it possibly be for as long as I’m alive? There has to be some sort of limit… So I’m not going to count on it. Besides which, she only turned 51 this December. So, she has quite a lot of years ahead of her. (I’ve demanded she live to a ripe old age.)

I think people just don’t think about things when they are so confident that their parents will leave them money. On the off chance that your parents saved well enough to live comfortably and still give you money, terrific! But don’t count the proverbial chickens…