None of us wants to see the wealth we have accumulated over our lifetime go to waste after we die. But adopting the default “I will leave it all to the children when I am gone” approach can mean that family money that could have been a real force for good often goes to waste.
If you have the surplus cash to do so, making significant gifts before you die can be of considerably more benefit to your loved ones than passing on assets through your estate. Rising life expectancy means wealth is increasingly being passed down when it is too late to be of any real use to the next generation.
The number of Britons over the age of 90 has almost tripled since the early Eighties – in the same way that the Prince of Wales is still waiting to take his mother’s crown at 67, so more people are waiting until their 50s, 60s and even 70s before they inherit their parents’ wealth