Recently, as I was digging through piles of mouse-nibbled foreclosure notices and canceled checks in a caved-in chicken barn on the property that my grandparents had rented for the last 20 years, I was reminded of something.
When some people lose a relative, they gain real, material goods. It’s a bit uncouth, but the fact is that many Americans of a previous generation own homes because they received a substantial inheritance.
Which is kind of astounding — how could anyone die and have anything left over at all? In this economy?
It’s true that generational wealth has long been a cornerstone of the American upper and middle classes. But that’s changing rapidly.
A 2022 survey of consumer finances found that just over 14% of people in my age range — from 35 to 49 — have reported receiving an inheritance. Meanwhile, for people my parents’ age — from 60 to 64 — that number more than doubles to almost 32%.
So what does this mean?
Essentially, if you’re Gen X or younger, you are experiencing a dramatically different economy than your parents (you know, the ones who voted for Reagan), because, unlike their parents, they don’t have anything to pass on.
There are a lot of factors in play, but most can be directly tied to neoliberal policies hailed by those very Boomers. Union-busting has made pensions a rare perk, and people save less as they work for lower wages. Even individuals of means are more likely to spend down the last of their money in order to live longer. The cost of senior living homes and other care for elderly people has ballooned over the years while, at the same time, social services like Social Security have failed to keep pace.
There is a compounding effect to this slow demolition of the middle-class. Today’s middle-aged folks have to somehow try to save for college for their kids and retirement for themselves, all while balancing the financial needs of their aging parents — who, more and more, don’t have the means. Working people reach the end of their working days, only to find that they don’t have a single option to receive care in their later years. When they do, it often means spending whatever is left.
Our seniors are suffering in real time.
But we — those of us under the age of 65 — are bearing the burden of decisions made decades before we were born.
Hanna Brooks Olsen is a writer living in Portland.
Read more of the May 8–14, 2024 issue.