Rich Kids Are Counting On Inheritance to Pay for Retirement

Aron Levine, head of Merrill Edge, commissioned a survey of 1,000 “mass affluent” Americans. The survey discovered a startling trend: ” 63% of affluent children between the ages of 18 and 22 say financial stability in retirement will depend on inheriting money.”

The adjective “affluent” is added on to the demographic that has investable assets between $50,000 to $250,000, or with investable assets between $20,000 and $50,000 and annual income of at least $50,000. 18-22 years olds, the so-called Generation Z, within this income bracket also believe that their inheritance will not only come from their parents and grandparents, but receive some money from their friends – 17% of Generation Z members in fact, compared to just 4% in other age groups.

Levine believes that the reason this generation feels this way about sharing wealth with their friends is because they are accustomed to a sharing economy with such business as Uber, Lfyt, and Airbnb.

See Suzanne Woolley, Rich Kids Are Counting On Inheritance to Pay for Retirement, Bloomberg, June 7, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.

Special thanks to Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.