Money- you can’t live without it but you can’t take it with you. So how are you thinking about your future finances as you age? Are you hoping to inherit money from senior loved ones to get you through your final years? Are you planning to spend it all before they carry you away so that your heirs will find little or nothing for themselves? These are tough questions, especially because it seems that a substantial portion of us are depending on that inheritance as a way to get us through lean times. In a new report from Merrill Edge, one in three people surveyed admitted they were counting on an inheritance to provide them with financial stability, and this included 20% of baby boomers polled. Apparently, this hoped-for inheritance has never been as important as it is today. So grab your calculator and read an overview of the report Here.

But how much money are we talking about? While there are estimates that up to $30 trillion may change hands and transfer from one generation to the next as baby boomers pass away, others are less sure there’s a pot of gold waiting for generations coming up. In fact, a recent post from CNBC suggests that these estimates are largely a myth and that many older people are planning to spend most if not all of their money and don’t intend to leave a large inheritance for their loved ones. So if your retirement plans include that large inheritance, think again and Read Here. And for one person’s story of how her inheritance dwindles each month that she pays her mother’s nursing home bill, check out Joyce Wadler’s humorous and reality-based tale in The New York Times Here.