Boomers Are Spending the Kids' Inheritance, and Good for Them

Is it theft when someone spends their own money? That is the question hiding under the latest generational flare-up, in which retired boomers are accused of burning through "the kids' inheritance" on holidays. The phrase has even been shortened into an acronym, SKI, and a mildly guilty hobby has become a full-blown trend.

The facts are simple enough. SKI, or Spending Kids' Inheritance, means retirees put experiences, above all travel, ahead of building a bigger estate. Kiplinger describes it as flipping the usual order of priorities: think first about how you want to use your money, then about what you leave. A Squaremouth study reported in late September found that couples 65 and older spend 50% or more per trip than younger travelers. Meanwhile, the headline number that fuels the resentment is $124 trillion, the amount Cerulli Associates estimates will change hands in the U.S. through 2048.

The "betrayal" needs an owner, and the money has one

Let's start with the obvious: an inheritance is what is left over, not a deposit. Nobody's retirement account has a co-signer in the form of an adult child. The idea that boomers are "spending" something that belongs to Gen Z only works if you assume the money was always theirs, and we think that assumption is the most entitled part of the whole debate.

The reasoning behind SKI is also hard to mock. Kiplinger's argument is that people are living longer but not necessarily healthier for longer, and that money can be saved indefinitely while time can't. We'd add our own view: a trip with the grandchildren that the retiree actually attends beats a line item in an estate they will never see. Several outlets note that SKI often means paying for family travel, which makes "the kids get to come along" a feature rather than a bug.

Responsible SKI is not a free-for-all, and Kiplinger says so itself: spending aggressively without a plan can backfire if unexpected expenses appear. Keep a baseline. That is advice, not a moral lecture.

The $124 trillion is a headline, not a bank account

Here is where the real problem sits. According to a survey Fortune reported, more than half of Gen Zers and nearly 60% of millennials say they are depending on an inheritance for financial security. Yet just over 20% of boomers expect to leave one, and over half are explicitly planning not to. Only 11% say leaving something is their top financial goal.

That gap is not a boomer scandal. It is a communication failure and a planning failure. Acorns points to USA Today surveys in which 68% of millennials and Gen Z have received or expect an inheritance averaging nearly $320,000, while the Federal Reserve average is closer to $46,200, and that figure is itself pulled up by a few huge estates. The same source notes that households in the top 2% account for more than half of the total.

So the "$124 trillion" is a statistic about concentration. It is not a check addressed to your family. Add the fact that Cerulli estimates roughly $54 trillion passes between spouses first, and that long-term care can quietly drain a nest egg, and the glamorous windfall shrinks to something much more ordinary. As Fortune bluntly puts it, much of the transfer will probably end up with hospitals and care homes. That is a forecast, but a sensible one.

What Gen Z should actually do

The uncomfortable advice is the boring advice: plan as though nothing is coming, and treat anything that arrives as a bonus. Acorns says as much, and we agree. It is a better financial strategy than resentment, and it is certainly better than quietly building a life around somebody else's savings.

It also suggests a more productive conversation than "how dare you take that cruise." Ask your parents what they intend. Many have never said, and the kids fill the silence with optimism. A parent who tells you plainly "I'm spending it and helping with your down payment" has done you a bigger favor than one who says nothing and leaves a surprise.

Our verdict: let the boomers go. The ones who travel with their families are arguably doing the thing the "inheritance" was supposed to buy anyway, which is shared memories. The generation that should adjust its plans is the one counting on a fantasy, and the sooner it stops, the better off it will be.