Numerous times in this space we have commented on the value of having conversations with your family regarding your intentions for your assets and property after you are gone. While these conversations are certainly important, there are some who think that these conversations need not go into the specific details of the potential value of your future estate. While it is good to be very detailed and specific when designing your will, in your conversations with your children you may be serving them better by leaving them in the dark as to exact dollar amounts.

A recent study reported on by Bloomberg News indicates that most individuals with substantial assets that could be passed along to their children have not let their children know the full value of their assets. Even more said that they did not expect their children to be mature enough to manage the money they would receive from their estate until they are more than 30 years old.

Explaining once again how you had to walk through a blizzard to get to school, uphill both ways, may not be as effective as you would like at instilling a strong work ethic in your children. But many parents worry that by disclosing the full value of the estate which the children stand to inherit, they will be incentivizing the children not to be financially responsible and hard-working.

The President of U.S. trust suggests another reason that those with a large pool of assets may not want their children to be aware of their full extent. Baby boomers generally expect to live long into retirement, much longer than the previous generation. Having worked hard their entire lives they are ready to spend much of the money that they worked their entire lives for. Depending on how live in retirement, what are substantial assets today may be much less so by the time that they pass on.

Source: Bloomberg News "Wealthy Parents Keep Silent on Riches for Kids' Own Good, BofA Survey Says" Elizabeth Ody, April 19, 2011