This is an excerpt from The New Old: How the Boomers Are Changing Everything… Again (ECW Press 2008) by David Cravit.
Unlike their parents and grandparents, Zoomers show no inclination to worry about leaving much money behind. Not when there’s so much to spend it on today.
Not surprisingly, they’re very unapologetic about it. There’s even an acronym – SKI’ing – Spending the Kid’s Inheritance. And of course, if you’re going to be a SKI’er, you might as well glory in it.
You can even buy SKI’ing license plates and bumper stickers on eBay that read, “I’m spending my kids inheritance”. Apparently they’re quite popular on RVs and luxury cars – these aging Boomers want to make it quite plain there’s absolutely no guilt attached to splurging.
As you might expect, there’s a burgeoning industry in SKI’ing advice. Some of it purports to be serious, like a book published in the UK in 2006 by Coronation Street star, Annie Hulley. In How to Spend the Kids’ Inheritance , she argues that SKI’ing is an outright necessity:
Our Edwardian ancestors did not enjoy the longevity that we do and it is becoming clear that a life of ‘toil today with the hope of rest tomorrow’ is no longer practical. An ageing population puts a burden on society as a whole, particularly the young, and it seems unlikely that the off spring of the ‘SKI’ generation will be able to enjoy the same ‘golden age’ as their parents did. Everyone is living longer so you might have to ‘Spend The Kids’ Inheritance’ (SKI) in order to survive .’
At the other extreme, authors Tad and Alicia Carrier Boxmueller write about the utter irresponsibility of it all in their book, Blow Your Bank Wad: More Than 101 Scandalous Ways to Squander Your Kids’ Inheritance.
Squander, if you please.
The book may be tongue in cheek, but there’s nothing comical about the trend. An article in the Daily Telegraph in September of 2005 cited a survey by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, indicating that two in three UK adults with the means to make a bequest said they planned “to enjoy life and not worry too much about leaving a legacy.” Here we see the Boomer ethos already trickling down to younger generations.
The SKI’ing acronym is also widely used in Australia, as per this 2003 article on Australia’s ABC.net, reporting on the Commonwealth Bank’s introduction of reverse mortgages. The acronym becomes a bit more urgent with the addition of N for Now:
