Being Handed a “Copper Spoon ” In Your 30’s & What To Do With It
I come from a prototypical middle class family of the 1980’s and 90's. We checked all the boxes with two working parents, two kids and a dog living on modest salaries at the time. My parents helped a bit with my college but much of the burden was placed on me. Like most young adults fresh out of college in their 20’s, I struggled mightily with gaining traction on my finances. I had student loans to deal with after moving to one of the most expensive urban areas in the country. Sure, I limited my expenses by finding roommates to live with but a starting salary in an industry that is severely underpaid like education made it all that much harder to get a leg up.
And then there was the credit card debt I was carrying from college. Ohhhh, the credit card debt! How naïve I was opening three pieces of plastic in college as they peddled them endlessly in front of my face on campus. There would be tables set up in the lobbies of the dining halls, I’m almost certain the college got a kick back for every student these companies were able to reel in. It’s one of the only things I’m upset with my alma mater about, why they allowed this to happen in the name of the almighty dollar I’ll never quite understand.
My debt lingered into my 30’s, delaying both marriage and buying a house. It wasn’t until age 35 that I was able to officially get my life started. If it wasn’t for Great Aunt Wilma, that may have been delayed even further. This is where the title of the article comes in as I received my first “Copper Spoon” through an inheritance. You see, Aunt Wilma never had children, a Salt of the Earth English teacher from the suburbs of Philadelphia. She was once married but lost her husband 10 years prior. None of us had any idea that we were in her will. Between her husband’s family and her own, she split the entire estate equally with thirteen of us. We caught the upside of a hot real estate market where she lived. After reviewing records from the 1950's, her house from the time it was purchased until it was sold by our agent, the return was 2000%.
So there I was, absolutely floored to receive my first Copper Spoon bequeathment. Not enough money to call it a *Silver* Spoon but ample enough to wipe out college related debt, pay for a wedding and put a down payment on our first house. I know I was lucky and often wonder where we would be if I never received an injection of cash. I am also hyper-aware that not everyone has the same dumb luck as I did.
According to a 2019 LA Times article, 20% of those in the United States have received some sort of inheritance, to the tune of about $55,000. There is also a generational shift of wealth that is about to occur. $36 TRILLION DOLLARS will be changing hands over the next 30 years! That is an incredibly staggering number to ponder. Thankfully, I still have both of my parents while I’m in my 40’s but have thought about what my sibling and I may do with their house and other valuables once they are sadly no longer with us. The pandemic also made this an unfortunate reality far too soon for many families.
There will be readers of this article that will soon receive a Copper Spoon of their own, a modest sum of money to get parts of their life started. Some of you may even make it to Silver or Gold levels of inheritance. If there is a crisis that looms large over Millennials and some Gen X’ers, this could lead to a piece of the solution puzzle for retirement savings. I am personally still a bit behind on my 401k/IRA goals, but the house we were able to secure with the gift from my Aunt has now turned into a honey pot approaching $250,000, so at some point that money can also be used post-career. This equity on paper is strictly due to increasing home prices where we live, a 5–6x increase from the down payment we put in from that generational wealth transfer. Again, we are lucky living in an extremely hot real estate market. Part of that added equity will end up in a larger home some day. As our family grows, so too will our abode.
We heard the stories about Donald Trump receiving a “small” loan from his father of a million dollars to get his real estate ventures off the ground. That story has stuck with me because I understand the struggle of starting your life without some form of help, whether it be a business loan from the bank or your own dad. So many people in this country don’t have access to this for multiple reasons. Donald Trump received much more than a Copper Spoon, and it just goes to show you how wealth inequality continues to be an issue in America. Some people are happy to take home just a few thousand dollars after the last will and testament is read.
It’ll be exciting to see how this transfer of funds in my peer group effects generations over the next several decades. It’s sad that you usually have to lose a grandparent, aunt, uncle or even your parents for it to happen. But start thinking about that Copper Spoon you may receive and how best to utilize that money. Will you dump a portion into an IRA? Pay for your children’s college? Buy a larger, or even second home? Start that restaurant you have always dreamed of?
It might be best to hold that extremely difficult conversation with your parents to understand what will happen when they pass on. I have a copy of my parent’s will in my possession, even though we never really had an in-depth talk about it or the contents, this was Step #1. My Aunt will never know how she kickstarted my new life with my spouse and two young boys. If she was around today, I’d want her to know that it was put to great use and propelled us into a new echelon of home ownership, part of that elusive American Dream so many people struggle to enter. And I hope it happens for millions of other families too.
We love you, Great Aunt Wilma, I don’t know where we would be without you. Cocoa Pebbles may not taste all that good using a Copper Spoon, but the roof over our heads because of said Spoon is what was ultimately most important.
