Lately I have been obsessed with inherited wealth. It is one thing to be the first in your family to go to school. You end up being your families paralegal, social worker and health care advocate. Because you have been in schools re- institutions, you can navigate them better. You do it out of love. If you are the first in your family (fiyf,-don’t steal), then it is very Unlikely that you will have the resources that some of your peers and coworkers who may be White 2nd and 3rd generation college attendees & homeowners. Today’s Times article talks about how grandparents help pay for their grandchildrens private school tuitions. Which leaves me with the question of, when is their going to be a dialogue about the relationship between inherited wealth and class. Because the way that it is looking, a lot of folks are going to be on some Born Broke. Die Broke. American Dream. Zapped.

My favorite part of the article when the writer Tamar Lewin states that, “For wealthy grandparents, tuition payments can be a good estate-planning device. Under so-called 529 plans, Martin L. Greenberg, an accountant at Rosen, Seymour, Shapss, Martin & Company, said, a grandparent could contribute $55,000 toward a grandchild’s college tuition without triggering any gift tax. And private-school tuition paid directly to the school does not count as a gift.” Talk about the benifits of being second or third generation.

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