Why Gen X should stop planning around an inheritance that may never arrive

There is a line item in a lot of Gen X retirement plans that nobody writes down.

It does not appear on a spreadsheet.

It rarely comes up with an advisor.

But it sits in the back of the mind of millions of people in their 50s: Eventually, there will be my parents’ house.

Eventually, there will be whatever is left in their accounts.

It will not solve everything.

It will help.

I understand the instinct.

I have spent a career building businesses around finance and how long people live, and this assumption turns up everywhere.

It is seldom stated out loud.

It is almost never stress-tested.

And it is getting less reliable every year.

Start with the number everyone has heard.

Something close to $124 trillion in American wealth is projected to change hands by 2048, and Gen X is first in line.