We’ve given the gifts with no strings attached. Looking back to myself at that age, I may not have wanted significant strings attached to similar gifts - though none were given. We’ve gifted appreciated stock (index ETFs), and have been told that the stock has not been cashed in. I believe owning these gifts give each child some measure of comfort knowing it’s there as a financial backstop if needed.
We have 2 responsible adult children that are both married. We started doing low 5 figure gifts to them annually because we felt it could be meaningful in some way at this life stage, but leave it to them on how they wish to use it. We also intend to make a much larger gift as well that could be more meaningful this year. None of these gifts will impact our retirement. We look at these gifts as a down payment on their inheritance, at a time when it may be more useful.
Dennis, your “timing loss” isn’t as great as you believe. There are carrying costs to owning a home which would erode your loss, as well as unexpected capital repairs that pop up, which in some cases can be quite costly. Timing the sale of a home for maximum gain can’t be done- much like the buying and selling of stocks. Generally both assets rise over time, but knowing exact exit points for them is unknown.
I would start a list of what makes you happy (i started my list a few years before retiring on my phone during my train commute). Put everything from hobbies to activities on it- be adventurous! Also travel you’d like to do. Surprisingly I forgot about my list after retiring (got too busy), but came across the list a few years ago when cleaning up my phone’s files and was surprised to see that I had completed or implemented many of the items I had put to the list. YMMV
This is actually a good idea. They helped me last year with a Treasury Direct transaction that was going nowhere after 6 months. I contacted my congressman’s office and the matter was resolved in 2-3 weeks.
Mark, I too have had this discussion with one of my children many years ago. I was in the process of turning over a Roth account that I had invested for this child (starting with a brokerage account in my name until this child had earned income). This child had questions about the index funds, and made very astute observations about investments in sin stocks (particularly oil, and weapons manufacturers). After several weekly discussions over lunch, we decided to have me reinvest the Roth assets into a Vanguard ESG fund, which became ESGV a few years later. Along the way, I had similar thoughts to you (and my now adult child), and allocated a portion of my US equity to ESGV 7 years ago. It's actually performed quite well, basically matching VTI's return over the same time period. It's had some years of out performance (like last year), and some years of under performance- but not to a great degree of variance. I decided to invest this way to minimize my investments in the sin stocks according to Vanguard (which is fine by me), due to the fact that my child will inherit our assets at some time in the future (and already has via gifting), and if we can pass on assets that reflect that child's beliefs, I'm okay with that. I was able to make our allocation to ESGV through timely purchases during a market correction, as well as in tax deferred accounts. I haven't been disappointed! I'm still on the fence regarding the impact of ESG investing on sin companies. I think a better way would be if the larger fund companies would attempt to get board seats appointed to folks that might seek change on some of the sin company boards given the large investments in them from the 3-5 largest fund companies. I doubt that idea will not come to pass... Just my 2 cents...
Totally agree. I think there are articles written on HD simply to generate up or down votes that aren’t relevant to the purpose of this website, and or comments meant to be controversial in order to generate such votes.
Comments
We’ve given the gifts with no strings attached. Looking back to myself at that age, I may not have wanted significant strings attached to similar gifts - though none were given. We’ve gifted appreciated stock (index ETFs), and have been told that the stock has not been cashed in. I believe owning these gifts give each child some measure of comfort knowing it’s there as a financial backstop if needed.
Post: Helping Adult Children
Link to comment from February 8, 2026
We have 2 responsible adult children that are both married. We started doing low 5 figure gifts to them annually because we felt it could be meaningful in some way at this life stage, but leave it to them on how they wish to use it. We also intend to make a much larger gift as well that could be more meaningful this year. None of these gifts will impact our retirement. We look at these gifts as a down payment on their inheritance, at a time when it may be more useful.
Post: Helping Adult Children
Link to comment from February 8, 2026
Dennis, your “timing loss” isn’t as great as you believe. There are carrying costs to owning a home which would erode your loss, as well as unexpected capital repairs that pop up, which in some cases can be quite costly. Timing the sale of a home for maximum gain can’t be done- much like the buying and selling of stocks. Generally both assets rise over time, but knowing exact exit points for them is unknown.
Post: Value of Waiting
Link to comment from February 8, 2026
Totally agree Dick. Good post!
Post: Carpe diem – especially in retirement
Link to comment from February 4, 2026
I would start a list of what makes you happy (i started my list a few years before retiring on my phone during my train commute). Put everything from hobbies to activities on it- be adventurous! Also travel you’d like to do. Surprisingly I forgot about my list after retiring (got too busy), but came across the list a few years ago when cleaning up my phone’s files and was surprised to see that I had completed or implemented many of the items I had put to the list. YMMV
Post: Carpe diem – especially in retirement
Link to comment from February 4, 2026
This is actually a good idea. They helped me last year with a Treasury Direct transaction that was going nowhere after 6 months. I contacted my congressman’s office and the matter was resolved in 2-3 weeks.
Post: Banking problem
Link to comment from February 2, 2026
I would suggest paying online in the future. Ive done so for over 10 years with no issues.
Post: Banking problem
Link to comment from February 2, 2026
Smart wife!
Post: Smart Watch
Link to comment from January 22, 2026
Mark, I too have had this discussion with one of my children many years ago. I was in the process of turning over a Roth account that I had invested for this child (starting with a brokerage account in my name until this child had earned income). This child had questions about the index funds, and made very astute observations about investments in sin stocks (particularly oil, and weapons manufacturers). After several weekly discussions over lunch, we decided to have me reinvest the Roth assets into a Vanguard ESG fund, which became ESGV a few years later. Along the way, I had similar thoughts to you (and my now adult child), and allocated a portion of my US equity to ESGV 7 years ago. It's actually performed quite well, basically matching VTI's return over the same time period. It's had some years of out performance (like last year), and some years of under performance- but not to a great degree of variance. I decided to invest this way to minimize my investments in the sin stocks according to Vanguard (which is fine by me), due to the fact that my child will inherit our assets at some time in the future (and already has via gifting), and if we can pass on assets that reflect that child's beliefs, I'm okay with that. I was able to make our allocation to ESGV through timely purchases during a market correction, as well as in tax deferred accounts. I haven't been disappointed! I'm still on the fence regarding the impact of ESG investing on sin companies. I think a better way would be if the larger fund companies would attempt to get board seats appointed to folks that might seek change on some of the sin company boards given the large investments in them from the 3-5 largest fund companies. I doubt that idea will not come to pass... Just my 2 cents...
Post: Owning My Sin Premium
Link to comment from January 16, 2026
Totally agree. I think there are articles written on HD simply to generate up or down votes that aren’t relevant to the purpose of this website, and or comments meant to be controversial in order to generate such votes.
Post: The “Mean Girls”/Junior High Bullies at HumbleDollar
Link to comment from January 10, 2026