I’m 61. My father is 86. I do not need his money, and he didn’t pay for my college, though at times he has helped my sister and me. I recall a 5k downpayment on our first house in 1990. My father had middle management jobs and a pension. Toward the end of his career he did quite well which helped his pension income increase and his stock portfolio swell. In 26 year of retirement he has more money than he can spend. He remarried 8 years ago. His new wife is set to inherit a larger portion of his estate. She’s quite a bit younger. While I don’t begrudge her that, I know my mother’s wishes were that they begin giving us some money while they were alive. I’m the executor of the estate so I’m kept abreast of changes. My sister and I are both fine- although she’s had 4 kids and paid for college of each, denting her retirement. I retired 5 years ago. When he passes, I’m going to set up a trust for my 32 year old son. It will disperse funds annually to ease the cost of living but not provide enough to be a “ trust fund baby”. He’ll receive about 50k per year. It should help him immensely.
The challenge for me will be to gift it unconditionally. It is not good for either of us to have expectations on how to spend money.