Looks like the lucky ones among us will still be dependent on the bank of mum and dad way into adulthood. Money will forever big a big problem which many often think of as a dark cloud of impending doom that unwaveringly lingers over the heads of us broke millennials. If you’re a graduate in your twenties, chances are you’re currently living this painfully awkward reality and only dare to wince tentatively at your bank balance once a month on payday – aka financial FOFO. The financial situation amongst millennials is so dire, that 66 per cent of us are waiting on inheritance money from our parents to eventually pay off the ridiculous debt we’ve accrued since our university years – say what?!
You heard it, according to a new study by First Direct, 66 per cent of millennials are expecting to inherit cash from their parents and many are banking on using that sum of money to pay off the debts that, as it stands, are way beyond their own financial capabilities. The same statistics also reflect that us millennials aren’t saving as much as we should be, with the general response to this being, of course, we’re not, because that requires spare cash that we evidently don’t have. Coupled with the fact that so many of us are already borrowing just to make rent, the reliance on a potential lump sum from our parents sounds frustratingly apt – and the hopes of a high financial future are slowly drifting away, one pay-check at a time.
But banking on this is not the solution, of course; and there’ll be many of us out there without parents with the fortunate financial means to drop a giant, debt-wiping cash bomb. With 42 percent of the 18-32 year-olds studied already planning to use any money they receive from their parents to ditch their debt, it appears that us millennials have unknowingly placed a time-stamp on a realistic phase of our lives where we’ll finally be able to afford the rising cost of living. If we want to have a positive financial future, our attitude around money needs a face-lift, stat – because am I the only one that thinks our cost of living shouldn’t be at the expense of our parents’ lives? It seems logical that the first step to financial freedom is removing that glass ceiling above our heads and changing our perception around our own expectations of money. ‘Cause with this whole inheritance thing, if we didn’t actually work for it, why are we expecting it? Feeling #entitled much. Although it can be hard not to feel overwhelmed with our finances, wouldn’t we rather be banking on a sure thing being ourselves, rather than our relatives? Something’s gotta change.
