Thank you for your comment. I have been investigating my own money script for nearly fifteen years now, trying to figure out what makes me save, spend, or worry about money. Now I’m working to break those molds. I’ve read a lot of interesting research on generosity based on income levels. I hope to impart my wisdom on my children so that they become abundant minded adults with generous hearts and wallets.

Kudos for your generosity. I find so many stingy people lately that it’s good to know people are still willing to share their success with those in need. But you raise an interesting point. Sometimes the people in our lives depend on us, but it would be nice if they would show their concern for us too. I’ve had friends like this in my life. They always need something and I’m happy to help, but in return they never seem to know what I need or check in on me to make sure I’m ok. I hope that you find people who are as concerned about you as you are about them. They don’t need to give you money or stuff. They just need to show they care.

What got me thinking nowadays is that, during this pandemic period, I never heard from those people. I know that we shouldn’t expect anything in return when we help others. However, it just got me into thinking why no one asked me how I was doing or if I need help or something.

Anyway, maybe generosity should have its limits? Maybe we should always keep something for ourselves. I don’t know the answer. I’m just experiencing this now and I’m quite confused with what to feel towards those who I thought were very close to me.

I better stop myself now, before this comment become a blogpost in itself 🙂

I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea that you get the final say because you’ll live longer. That’s hilarious! Yeah, I don’t think leaving enough money for private jets is a good idea either 😉

Enough that they feel safe. Not enough to buy their own jet unless they do it with their own money .

I don’t really have a number, but when I was running retirement projections with our assets and spending, some of them were showing us leaving crazy amounts- like 15-20 million to our kids. A lot of things could happen between now and then- some people are projecting that returns will be lower. Who knows. It might never be a problem but I think 10 million apiece is too much. My husband and I don’t agree on this either . But being 9 years younger I will almost certainly live longer….

Growing up I had a very poor friend and neighbor who was constantly helping others. Thinking back it’s amazing how much they gave with how little they had. I’ve read statistics that say it’s very common for those with low incomes to give a much larger portion of their money to those in need. Having more definitely doesn’t mean you’ll give more, so the difference you see between your parents and your husband’s parents seems to jive with that data.

You make an interesting point about feeling “safe.” I still don’t like to part with money, but I did feel better about it when I felt safe in the amount of money I’d already saved. I’m curious how much do you plan to leave your children? If you don’t mind my asking.

We definitely don’t all give. I personally know many people who don’t. I dug up a 2018 study that said 68% of Americans give to charity and of those who donate most only give 2.6%.

I do appreciate your point though. Perhaps there are more PF enthusiasts who donate, but simply don’t write about it. It looks like I’ll need to dig deeper to find out 🙂

I replied via email, but here’s a few more comments:

I don’t struggle to give at all, and do so both regularly and often, to multiple organizations. I like feeling like I am making SOME kind of difference. But I don’t post about doing so on my site.

My guess would be that people who do post specific budget categories / amounts but do not have a category for donations/tithes/charity/etc probably are not giving money. They may or may not be giving time or goods.

I always assumed everyone gave in some way, because how can you not want to help?

I’d love to see the poll results 🙂