I have a friend at work who seems to have holes in his pockets!  He is always broke and deep into credit card debt and doesn’t have any equity in his house after paying into his mortgage for over ten years (he keeps refinancing, taking the equity out).

Just this year, he’s bought brand new leather living room furniture, a new expensive washer and dryer, a new zero turn riding lawn mower (so now he has 2 of them in total),a full house backup generator, and well over $1,000 in paintball guns and equipment.  Oh, I forgot that he remodeled his master bedroom, buying hard wood floors and had someone come out to rebuild his deck, oh and bought expensive new bikes for him and his wife.  This is just that stuff that I’ve heard about!

My friend is a clever guy and a peer, so I wondered how we could be so different…  So one day, after his incessant complaining to me about his lack of savings, I asked him why he always spend so much money on new expensive things all the time.

He leaned in close and told me that he plans on inheriting a good chuck of money from both his parents and his wife’s parents.  In fact, he mentioned that his wife’s parents are really loaded.  I hope the expression that reflexively popped on my face didn’t reveal my feeling on his line of thinking…

I think that it’s risky and horrible to overspend today while waiting to receive a future inheritance for these reasons:

• The parents could give the bulk of the money to charity, leaving my friend a much smaller amount.
• Some financial disaster could happen and that money could evaporate (think Bernie Madoff or Enron)
• Some medical problems could eat away at their parent’s money too.
• Perhaps their parents aren’t as rich as they appear to be.
• It’s a sucky way to live life waiting for your parent to die to get money, very sad really…
• Their parents could decide to spend the money, going out in style as they age.
• You risk becoming your parent’s pets the entire time they are alive.
• You miss out on trying to establish your own financial empire (lol).
• You begin to view your parents as an investment instead of your parents.
• You might be stressed whenever they spend money.

I admit, I envy his lifestyle, and I’m a bit disappointed that I’ll never catch up to him or surpass him financially since he has huge advantages.  That said, I do feel that I’m accomplishing my own financial future by living more within my means and my by financial planning over the years.

So should I hate my friend because he’s overspending today because of a future inheritance?

Naw, I hope the best for him, after all he is a friend first.  I just wish deep down inside I wouldn’t think he was such cold-hearted reptile.  I wonder how long it will take them to blow through their inheritance once the do receive it?

Do you know anyone similar to my friend?  What is their deal?

MR