Baby Boomers did not have their acquired wealth handed to them by their parents (for the most part) - as many Gen Y have had happen. In making that claim, I am neither condemning nor applauding that fact. Also, this post is NOT a rash generalization but is based on fact that Gen Y is perhaps the wealthiest of all of the generations in history by transference - it being handed over without effort.
Where did the money come from though? How did Boomers become wealthy enough to just start handing it over to their kids without the same questions being asked that the parents of Boomers would have asked? I don't believe that in the vast majority of cases, this conversation has ever taken place between Boomer parent and Gen Y child. The child has simply come to expect that there is always money and that their having lots of it whenever they need it is a right.
If you were blessed enough to always have money with no history to give you context of how it may have been acquired, could you truly understand how some people are poor or homeless? Would the belief not be that poverty is simply some abject result of unemployment?
Since Gen Y was, for the most part, raised in an environment of always having money (or the illusion of it in order for parents to not be embarrassed by their financial situation), many Gen Y have not had the discussions of their own parent's history of family finances. I believe that not having that conversation between parent and child withholds one of life's greatest lessons on the difference between rights and privileges - a discussion far beyond just money.
Without historical context, the child becomes defenseless against the realities of life because he or she does not possess the attitude of money, security and safety which would shield them from fluctuating markets, tenuous employment and/or being chosen for promotion within their chosen career. It also leaves them somewhat defenseless in recessionary times, market downturns and in their ability to plan for their financial future (although many parents have introduced their children to financial planners but without first establishing how the money comes to be in the first place).
In the same way a parent would have a serious discussion about sex or drugs, a parent needs to explain their own history around money and family finances and how their familial financial situation came to be. They need to discuss their own first jobs, their bad bosses, their glee at receiving their first paycheck and the lessons learned about money over a lifetime.
However, let's make sure that there is not too much time spent on the topic of how little there may have been growing up (or how they had to walk 40 miles to school uphill both ways in 5 feet of snow in pajamas while walking barefoot because the newspaper that normally served as shoes couldn't be delivered due to the snowstorm) and instead plant the seed of how one earns one's wealth. It is imperative that parents explain to their children that wealth is not a right but a privilege. As soon as children and young adults begin to treat money as a commodity in which they earn as opposed to one in which they are entitled to, they will not only set themselves up for greatness in the area of money, but also in developing an Attitude of Gratitude, an Attitude of Service, an Attitude of Resilience, an Attitude of Leadership, an Attitude of Connectedness and an Instigational Attitude - the other six attitudes in the 7 Attitudes to Greatness.
Oh, by the way, this topic was inspired by a Monty Python sketch, The Four Yorkshiremen. Watch it and then have a REAL discussion with your kids about how you grew up. I'll bet they have no idea.
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