A couple readers commented on how expecting an inheritance is wrong - how it's acting like a whiny, spoiled brat - and I agree. The point of the post about the popularity of reverse mortgages with Boomers is that it proves they are not concerned at all about passing on wealth to their families.
The idea of providing an inheritance to your children was once viewed as something to aspire to - historically, it was an organizing principle of our family structure and thus fundamental to our development as a species and civilization - but the Boomers have been so reckless, selfish and greedy there will be nothing left to pass on when they die. The long chain of history breaks with them.
Like the muscle cars they popularized in their youth, they are running on fumes right now, and the tank will be bone dry when the engine finally sputters and dies. They just hope beyond hope they get across the finish line before it does.
As an added bonus, these former V8 driving, now V8 drinking abominations will leave behind a mountain of debt for their children and grandchildren to contend with. "Free love" has become "Free Healthcare" just in time for them to need it. "Don't trust anyone over 30" has become "Lifestyle Lifts" and "Cialis." They're living it up like there's no tomorrow, because in their drug addled minds there is no tomorrow. They inherited a ethos of "Live Free or Die" and mutated it into "Live for Free and Diet." They've strip-mined this country for all it's worth, leaving behind the refuse piles, debris, toxic chemicals and sludge for others to clean up. The USA will be a giant superfund site when the last Boomer is dead and gone. This is our inheritance, and their legacy.
Is selfishness to blame for the "Me Generation?"
At first glance, building up a nest egg to pass on to your loved ones seems like a selfless idea. You worked hard, saved, and when you're gone, you selflessly leave a little generational wealth to pass along so your children have a chance at better life than you did. And on and on, presumably, your family becoming ever more wealthy with the seed money you planted. Rather than you enjoying all the fruits of your labor, you sacrifice for your family's benefit, so that greater fruits may be harvested in the future.
The overall negative view of the Boomer Generation and its legacy proves that the idea of an inheritance may not be as selfless as it appears. An inheritance is more of an insurance policy than a gift.
You want your kids to come home for Christmas? They are much more likely to do so if they know there is an inheritance coming. It's a little carrot waiting for them for good behavior, right? But the inheritance doesn't have to just be monetary either. If you've done a good job as a parent, and prepared your child for life, and created a loyal, loving family, that is an inheritance worth more than money. But at its core, an inheritance is a bribe for good behavior.
He just wants to grow old gracefully
No one would ever think to allow a WWII generation senior to die in a gutter someplace, strewn aside like a crushed can of cheap beer. The "Greatest Generation" accomplished much, and made the world a better place for their children and grandchildren. Even if individually they don't have much to pass along to their children monetarily, they are still held in high esteem by society at large by virtue of what they suffered and accomplished. Social Security will be there for them. Medicaid will be there for them. They will be cared for when they cannot care for themselves, because society owes them a debt. Whatever their faults, and there are many as with all generations, they will be viewed as a net positive in history.
She just wants to stay young forever
But the Boomers? Not only did they screw up their own families through divorce, they've likewise screwed up the country through their irresponsibility, greed, self-aggrandizement and negligence. Rather than correcting the mistakes of their parents, they doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on them. They rebelled against the virtues of their elders that made them feel bad about themselves, and adopted and championed what made them feel good. "If it feels good, do it."
The Boomers are not held in high esteem by society at large, because there is no inheritance, neither monetary, moral, or spiritual, forthcoming. They were in it for themselves. They are taking it all with them, and leaving behind debts beyond imagination - again, monetary, moral, and spiritual. The "Me Generation" were not selfish enough to realize that leaving something behind is insurance against being allowed to die in the gutter. The shortsightedness of their naval-gazing blinded them to the long-view reality of the consequences of their actions and in-actions.
An inheritance is an insurance policy. It is tangible proof that you value their children and their future, and so they will value you in return.
Always good to get some traffic, DT. The beautiful byproduct is...more topics to post and discuss! Huzzah!
ReplyDeleteYou have stumbled onto a weapon that is used with great vindictive passion in my family: THE INHERITANCE. My grandmother used this as the whip to keep her spoiled daughters in line (Boomers) and even used it on the grandkids (my siblings and cousins). When the shit went sideways (in grandma's view), THE INHERITANCE was used to nuke opposition and get the poults back in line.
The inheritance consisted of several prime properties across several states. It was coveted by many in the family, and when my grandma died, the scrum for property, cash and possessions was disgusting. I told them all that I wanted nothing to do with the mess, and I walked away. Feelings across the family have been impossibly damaged as a result the greed of the Boomers in the family. I still cannot believe how smart and rational people turn into the Black Friday freakshow when "free money and assets" are at stake. It is a sad commentary.
My mom tries to use this weapon on me and my siblings, but it doesn't have any effectiveness on us because we have our own wealth, properties and lives. I never expect anything since I did not earn any of it from my own work or efforts.
I expect to work and develop my own legacy. Perhaps there will be some assets for my kids when I am done, but at a minimum, I will leave them information and knowledge that I have gained in my experiences in life.
"No one would ever think to allow a WWII generation senior to die in a gutter someplace, strewn aside like a candy wrapper. The 'Greatest Generation' accomplished much, and made the world a better place for their children and grandchildren."
ReplyDeleteYou're funny.
Why do you think the boomers got so gung-ho about euthanasia when their dear old Mom and Dad began to slow down? "Die with dignity" my ass. They wanted their money early, before the doctors got it.
My own parents (boomers, of course) spent every penny and then some on crap they didn't need. My brothers and I had to put ourselves through college.
Their sense of entitlement takes my breath away even now. My father's mother (nurse during WWII), whom he almost completely neglected, did the right thing and dis-inherited him. He took my mother's inheritance (from the sale of the house owned by her widowed mother, born during the depression) and used it to pay back part of his past-due debts. My mother was furious, having planned to squander the money on herself.
The last straw was when my mother opposed my marriage---because she had hoped to divorce my father when his firm forcibly retired him and move in with me so she could eat me out of house and home for the 35 years she planned to take to die. (Long story, and she wasn't quite this blunt, of course. That said, suffice to say that I was smart enough to know how to add two and two.) I haven't spoken to her since.
I'm actually looking forward to hearing of her reaction from other relatives who still speak to her when Social Security and Medicare run out of other people's money.
"He who troubles his father's house shall inherit the wind." Fine by me. That's about all I was expecting anyway.
Yeah, the Boomers invented nursing homes so they wouldn't have to take care of their parents. It would cramp their style. My grandfather (WWII B17 waist gunner) built his family home with a mother-in-law's apartment on the second level, which was pretty normal for the time. It was great for me as a kid going to visit my two grandmas living in the same house. I recently asked my grandmother what it was like living during the depression, with the families all living together out of necessity to take care of each other, and she as a kid thought it was great having all the family under one roof. I don't imagine the same courtesy is going to be offered to the boomers if another depression hits.
DeleteMy only experience with a WWII-er dying was when my grandmother had a health scare, and the doctors didn't ventilate right away, thinking "it just might be her time." My uncle told them to do it, and later the doctor had to apologize because he didn't know how healthy she normally was. I wonder if this is the default response from doctors for old people - not saving their life - that it is such a normal response from boomer children to their parents, that it's become the default.
I try not to project my personal family experience onto the generation as a whole, but the general way in which the boomers are entering and living in their sunset years is troubling. Where WWII aged gracefully, the boomers want to party like they're still young, and it's embarrassing.