Having started life without inheritance, I’m determined to leave assets to my children

Every parent hopes their children will be well nurtured, educated, and eventually find high-paying jobs so they will not face too many hardships in life. Inheritance is also a common concern, with many parents wanting to leave behind any amount of assets for their children. Some believe that inheriting wealth might spoil their children and of course, this is always a possibility.

However, I believe that this is entirely dependent on how you raise your children. I have been doing business for over 20 years and have worked with many private companies. At many of these firms, children of the owners are sent abroad to study and later returned to work for the family business, typically in sales departments. They are introduced to the firm’s partners and customers to help them quickly become acquainted with the job.

In general, these young heirs are polite, mature, knowledgeable, and always attentive to customer opinions when they visit my business. They will gradually take over from their parents to operate and develop companies worth billions of dong (VND1 billion = US$39,343). I also have great confidence that these young inheritors will preserve and improve the fortune left by their parents.

My parents, who are over 80 years old, hold traditional values that favor sons over daughters. I have two younger brothers who received land and houses even before they got married. As the eldest daughter, I also received an education but did not get any share of the seven plots of land that my parents once owned in a provincial city.

They also had around 1,000 square meters of land in their hometown, which they secretly distributed to my brothers. I learned of the decision after the fact from my siblings.

Recently, they sold a piece of land for over VND1 billion and offered to give me VND200 million. I initially declined, but upon reconsideration, I accepted the money and deposited it into a savings account. Occasionally, I withdraw a portion of that sum to give to my parents as gifts. I am still a little sad that my well-educated parents have such outdated beliefs.

My husband and I started our business almost from scratch. Although we are over 50 years old, we still work hard to find joy and prevent boredom. The wealth we have now is enough for our children to live comfortably in the future and for us to retire without financial worries. Drawing from my life experience, I told my husband that we would fairly divide our assets between our two children, regardless of gender.

So what are your thoughts on this matter?

Reader Ong Vang

*This opinion was translated into English with the assistance of AI. Readers’ views are personal and do not necessarily match VnExpress’ viewpoints.