Originally Posted By: Teunis
It is mine to spend, getting bits of gear I want makes me feel better.


Abso-frickin'-lutey bro! I have always, and will always, think that worrying about being the richest corpse in the graveyard is extremely stupid.

That being said, I get the concept of being concerned about a medical emergency that is not covered by insurance and the potential for that wiping out a bank account. However, being a disabled veteran I have the VA for my medical care. Most recent was removal of cataracts from both eyes, 4 weeks apart, which resulted in my no longer needing glasses. I also get shots in my eyeballs every 12 weeks to try and slow the diabetic retinopathy down, and those would cost $5000 per visit. If I had to pay that out of pocket, I just couldn't get them.

So my situation is not like everyone else's. Particularly those who pay 100% of their own medical insurance. I'd still be working if not for the blessing that is the VA.

As far as the kids inheritance, I figure that by the time I die my kids will be 50. If they are not established in their own life by then it is not my problem.

When my father died I was just short of 40. I went to see my mother soon after and sat her down and had a chat about this topic. I told her that this was HER time to finally do whatever she wanted without a grouchy old man making her life miserable (yeah, it runs in the Y chromosome side of the family). That the guilt trips were over, and if she felt like going to Vegas 3 times a year and Atlantic City as often as she cared that she should NOT be concerned about things like leaving the 2 of us money when she went to meet dad. And she did exactly that! She lived until she passed at 79 on HER terms, and was on about the 3rd trip through her bucket list when she passed. And THAT is why I have all these guitars I barely play and am rebuilding my studio with racks of synth modules and such. Once I am gone, I have designated specific things to go to specific people, and the rest can be sold at an estate sale and any profits are to be donated to the animal shelters that my last 4 dogs came from.

In my case my children were never a part of my life, as I divorced their mother when they were very young. Thus there is a line in my will that specifies "2 children (and their names) have been intentionally excluded from this document." SKI baby!!!