Australians leave the most generous inheritances

A global piece of research from HSBC bank has revealed that Australians are the most generous when it comes to the amount they hope to leave as an inheritance for the next generation.

The 'Future of Retirement' study shows that, on average, Australians expect to leave $499,000 AU to their beneficiaries. The next most generous country was Singapore, where people expected to leave $473,219 S ($416,327 AU), followed in third place by the UK with an average of £182,144 (which equates to $328,386 AU).

It appears to be very important to many retirees to leave a financial legacy to their children, whether this comes in the form of a loan, a gift or an inheritance. The study found that 69% of people in retirement say they intend to leave some form of inheritance to their children or other family members. Interestingly, this is significantly higher than the amount of people not in retirement who say they are expecting to receive an inheritance (50%).

There are also significant differences between the amount retirees expect to leave and the amount the younger generation expect to inherit. The median amount that people of working age expect to inherit from older relatives is apparently around $169,000, which is only a third of the amount that the retired generation say they expect to leave ($499,000).

The report suggests that this difference in expectations could be due to the fact that the total value of an estate will often be split between multiple beneficiaries, and so the value of each individual bequest will be smaller than the total value of the estate.

If you would like to leave an inheritance to friends or family then estate planning is vital. Effective estate planning will allow you to enhance the value of your estate, and to maximise the benefit of the inheritance of your beneficiaries, however big or small your estate may be.

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If you are thinking of writing a Will or carrying out other estate planning activities then it is important to seek expert legal advice as quickly as possible. Contact Szabo & Associates Solicitors today and speak with one of our specialist solicitors. Call us on (02) 9281-5088 or fill in the contact form to the right of this page.