This was published 8 years ago
How cashed-up Baby Boomers became the next generation of travellers
By Lee Tulloch
Baby Boomers are seeking adventure far and wide.Credit: Getty Images
When someone tells me they're going SKIing these days, it doesn't necessarily mean they're heading for the Alps.
If they're over 55, they are more likely Spending the Kids' Inheritance.
There are a lot of SKIers out there. Wherever I travel these days, to adventurous destinations or on a leisurely cruise, I find many of my fellow travellers are cashed-up Baby Boomers choosing to spend the fruits of decades of hard work on travel. They're armed with curiosity, energy, and a Kindle full of downloads.
They're the most engaged travellers, blessed with fitness and good health due to lifestyle and medical breakthroughs that were not available to their parents, and a mindset that they will live like a young person until they're stopped in their tracks. They were also, when they were young, fortunate to be the beneficiaries of affordable housing, free education and secure employment, with the additional good fortune of some generous superannuation and tax breaks now they have retired.
Like kids let out of school, they're entering the golden age with glee. Influential all their lives, they continue to be trendsetters, refusing to slow down. In many ways, especially in their restlessness and interest in new experiences, they're like their Millennial grandchildren. "You can't take it with you," is the ruling philosophy. YOLO. You Only Live Once.
But, as SKIers are off wandering the medieval streets of Bruges or cruising the Amazon, their children are grumbling at home. Aren't you going to leave anything for us?
Recently, I followed an emotional post on Facebook by a Millennial (defined as a person born in the late 1980s to 2000). The discussion was about the new lockout laws in Sydney, which many argue have killed the city's nightlife. (This is a source of much gloating in Melbourne.)
There was a lot of anger that it was all the fault of rich oldies, who had moved into the inner city and used their power and connections to lock out young partygoers from a once raffish and bohemian neighbourhood.
The situation is a lot more complex than this (the Cross long ago lost its bohemian spirit) but the eagerness to blame the Baby Boomers was red hot. Younger commentators saw this group as privileged and greedy.
There is widespread despair among the young and those approaching middle age that they are being locked out of just about everything – the housing market, the welfare system and secure employment.
In fact, they're not wrong. The Sydney Morning Herald's economics editor, Ross Gittins, says the current economic system is "stacked against the younger generation".
Between 2003-2012, people aged 55-64 saw their wealth rise by 19 per cent, while those 24-34 saw their wealth decline by 4 per cent. Millennials may be the first generation to be less wealthy than their parents. While the SKIers are off overseas playing with the equity on their houses and investments, their children and grandchildren can't qualify for a mortgage or afford a home.
I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised at the heated sentiments on Facebook. But Baby Boomers might reply that they have worked hard for everything that they now enjoy and have sacrificed much to raise their kids, unlike the Millennials, whom they consider to be irresponsible, lazy and unfocused, expecting everything to fall into their laps without much effort.
I'm reminded of the song Kids from the 1950s musical Bye Bye Birdie, in which a tormented father asks, "What's wrong with these kids today?" They're "noisy, crazy, sloppy, lazy loafers". I should point out that the kids he was singing about would be today's Baby Boomers.
Nevertheless, there is a clear difference these days in what it means be "old". My grandparents settled into old age after my grandfather retired at 60. But my mother at 85 is open-minded and adventurous. I hope to be like her. And I don't expect her to leave anything for me. I want her to have fun with every last penny.
It's not only tough for young people these days. There are many Baby Boomers who face an uncertain economic future if they haven't wisely bought property or had super to invest. That Danube cruise is well out of their reach. Our society is unfair.
And SKIers haven't all run away like reckless teens, leaving the kids to suffer in poverty. There's coincidentally a big rise in multigenerational travel, where whole families – parents, kids, grandchildren – holiday together. Who might be paying for that?
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