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Comment by groby_b | Hacker News Reader

The debts very much don't die with the person - the estate is on the hook to pay your debts before distributing to heirs.

Obviously, with some "it depends" nuance - but if the difference between this and your world view would make a significant difference to your loved ones, you might want to talk to an attorney.

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Correct, but if you die broke, nobody else is on the hook to pay your debts, unless that person cosigned a loan or something like that.

Sure, but it would be reasonable to assume that most people in this forum won't die broke.

Dying broke is a goal for many people. And a lot of people who earn a lot of money still end up broke because they never really learned how to manage it and are easy manupulated by "managers." See esp. professional athletes, celebrities, musical artists who hit it big -- anyone who jumps from near or actually in poverty to very wealthy in a short period of time.

I am sure that there is no shortage of developers who hit a big payday at a FAANG or startup and then spent like it would never end.

Dying broke is the optimal way to die.

The definition of broke could be the residual after the planned distributions to heirs. Or if no heirs, dying flat broke makes the most sense. Getting there is tricky.

It'd be fairly easy if we decided to tackle this problem as a society (averaging out individual spikes). But we went with rugged individualism, so the choice is eating cat food or amassing ludicrous amounts just in case.

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