Boomer couple divide audiences after revealing they're spending their children's inheritance
A couple from Victoria have ignited a fierce debate over spending their children's inheritance, after they revealed they are happy to spend the money on holidays during their retirement years.
Leanne and Leon Ryland appeared on the SBS show Insight, along with their son Alex, to discuss how they are spending their retirement fund without considering leaving their cash flow to their two grown up kids.
The couple have spent $170,000 on travelling so far, with their goal to visit the wonders of the world taking them to Machu Picchu in Peru, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, with the US being next on their agenda.
The couple joked the only thing their two sons would inherit would be their “shelf of s***”, a pile of cheap trinkets from their travels.
However, the couple also own a home, and have been using their superannuation, pension and savings to fund their travels.
Their jet setting comes after they saw a financial planner before they retired about four years ago after saving their whole lives.
“We’ve done all the right things by investing in property, boosting up our super, making sure that was healthy, going without a lot of things,” Ms Ryland said.
“And he said, ‘You’re crazy if you don’t retire when you can, because you’ll spend most of your wealth on travel or whatever in the first 10 years and then after that it slows down’."
“It’s changing your mindset. You get into a phase now where you actually spend instead of save.”
The cashed-up boomers run a Facebook group called “SKIclub”, which stands for “spending kids inheritance”, where retirees can share travel tips.
Ms Ryland said she’s trying to convince her husband they have to “spend now, because if we don’t spend it, you know he gets it”, pointing to her son.
“We’re not going be able to spend all this money so let’s do it because in another 10 years we won’t be climbing the Great Wall of China. We won’t be going up Machu Picchu,” she said.
“We won’t be doing those things. So we’ve gotta do it now because what else is there?”
The attitude of the couple quickly welcomed a wave of criticism online, who were quick to brand the pair as “entitled”.
“SBS Insight tonight is hilarious — boomer privilege at its best & still not conscious of it. So entitled,” one person wrote on X.
“Boomers are evil … bragging about overseas holidays with no regard for the environment, spending all their money so their kids have no inheritance,” another wrote.
“Clogging healthcare due to their perceived entitlement for health and refusal to die. Selfish and privileged.”
However, despite the views of many on social media, the couple’s son Alex appeared to support his parents' decision.
“It’s their money,” he told the program.
“They’ve worked hard their entire life and invested well in order to get that money so I think they should be able to do whatever they’d like with it.”
Alex's sentiment was echoed by others online, with one person saying, "They have a right to do what they want, after the years of being so amazing and responsible for raising a kids, their turn is now."
Another simply stated, "It's their money, they can do what they want."
Insight’s ‘The Boomer Economy’ is available to stream on SBS On Demand now.
Image credits: SBS