In this regard, this is almost a warning about the "stealth wealthy" - people who talk about poverty and show up statistically as impoverished, but are really just role playing as poor people.

I think that millenials are probably _better_ as a whole on acknowledging the role their privileges have played in their success. At least in my cohort, the odds of someone who had a great upbringing telling you unironically to pull yourself up from your bootstraps is basically zero.

Also, I think calling it roleplaying is a little misleading because it implies they could stop if they wanted to. You can have a gigantic parental safety net and still have no great job prospects. It’s infinitely better than actually being poor, but there’s enough overlap to commiserate I think? People want to be self sufficient and can’t.

Personal experience has jaded me a bit on this. On 3 different occasions, I offered friends an almost guaranteed well-paying job at companies I was working at. All three of them turned it down:

- One was morally opposed to working at a software company

- One didn't want to get a drivers' license

- One started then quit after an internship because they didn't like the industry (it wasn't video games) and did not want to put up with a learning curve.

So while I commiserate who benefit from from a parental safety net (I would have loved to have had more rent-free years if I could), for my relationship with my friends it is often very frustrating. And it's easiest mentally if I treat them as someone enjoying the luxury of choices rather than chronically enfeebled.

I think this is much more reflective of your relationship and friends than you think it is.

There really isn't.

There is a huge gap between someone who lives frugally and is under employed while the "figure it out" and someone who works two jobs because they must. The former will eventually have the problem solved via inheritance, while the latter must deal with the existential risk that they work two jobs until they die or become homeless.

Maybe we’re talking about different demographics? This is true of trust fund kids, but there’s a huge range of parental support. Most people I know have moving home as a safety net for homelessness, but they would be waiting until their parents die at 90 to get their first house if they were banking on inheritance.

Edit: It occurred to me that’s probably my fault from saying “enormous parental safety net” which maybe does imply trust fund kids. I really meant “people who have any parental support at all”, which seemed to be the net the author was casting. Even top quintile probably isn’t “financially support my children forever” money, is it?

With the direction housing is going relative to all other expenses, having a spare bedroom and a mortgage free home to inherit is becoming the equivalent of trust fund money.

In Boston, The value per bedroom to be ~300-600k dollars depending on location. This value is appreciating at ~8-20% per year in the current environment. If this trend were to continue for 30 years, a parent owning a 2-bedroom stands to impart 5 million+ to the child inheriting that property.

Obviously (hopefully), this trend can't continue - but having a free place to sleep is becoming a massive financial leg up. In many cases, this has become equivalent to the classic example of a "trust fund kid" from prior years. With most home owners earning money from their primary residence on paper for the last decade, simply providing the down payment for a child's home will yield a million dollar+ asset difference over 10 years compared to renting.

They aren't just role playing as poor for fun. It allows them to get undeserved political support from the actually less privileged. In NYC, HDFC properties are largely purchased with family money. High income earners are disqualified, but actual median income earners are priced out.

Anecdotally, I have a friend. His parents have bent over backwards to support him, and he stands to take over his father's business when he can no longer tend to it. The dude is smart, but he completely lacks any drive to push himself. I feel like it's sucked the wind right out of his sails, but he lives a chill, easy going life and I can't exactly hold it against him.

It’s never good to make assumptions about the future that result in you prematurely cutting off potential opportunities, particularly in terms of inheritance. Anything can happen.