Aussie boomers branded ‘selfish and entitled’ after bragging about spending their kids’ entire inheritance on luxury overseas trips in SBS Insight

A wealthy boomer couple who spent their grown children’s inheritance on lavish overseas holidays have been branded “selfish and entitled” – despite their son supporting their philosophy.

Leanne and Leon Ryland, a married couple from Victoria with two grown-up sons, consulted a financial planner before retiring four years ago, after what they described as living and saving.

“We did all the right things by investing in the property, improving our super to make sure it was healthy, going without a lot of things,” Ms Ryland told SBS Insight on Tuesday night.

And he said, “You’re crazy if you don’t retire when you can because you’re going to spend most of your wealth on travel or whatever in the first 10 years and then it slows down.”

It changes your mindset. You are now reaching a stage where you are actually spending instead of saving.’

The couple has since spent $170,000 on luxury vacations and cruises to see the wonders of the world, including Machu Picchu in Peru, and trips to India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

They are scheduled to start another tour to America next month.

‘I’m trying to convince [my husband] We’ve got to spend now because if we don’t spend it, you know he’s going to get it,” Ms Ryland said, referring to her son, who also appeared on the programme.

“We can’t spend all this money so let’s do it because in another ten years we won’t be going to the Great Wall of China. We won’t be going to Machu Picchu.

‘We will not do these things. So we have to do it now, because what else is there?

The couple run a private Facebook group called ‘SKIclub’, which stands for ‘Spending Kids’ Inheritance’, where they share travel tips with other jet-setting, cash-strapped pensioners.

The couple joke that they have collected piles of cheap tourist trinkets from their remote locations, which they describe as a “shelf of shelves”.

This, they claimed, would be all that their two sons would inherit.

Their son Alex, who also appeared on the SBS panel show to discuss the “boomer economy”, might be forgiven for feeling bitter that his parents’ love of travel might leave him with nothing.

But he supported their plans and said he would never see their money as his own.

“It’s their money,” he said.

‘They have worked hard all their lives and invested well to get this money so I think they should be able to do whatever they want.’

But not all viewers were so enamored with their philosophy.

One viewer accused Boomers of being “evil.”

“Boasting about foreign holidays without regard for the environment, spending all their money so that their children do not inherit,” they commented on X.

Withholding health care due to their perceived right to health and refusal to die. Selfish and privileged.’

Another commented: ‘SBS Insight is fantastic tonight – Boomer privilege at its best and still clueless. So he is right.’

Sonja Van Vliet, another ‘boomer’ who appeared on the programme, revealed that she lives in a Sydney neighborhood where the average house price is $3 million.

‘We have our own house. “We have a healthy salary and a little investment,” Ms. Willett said.

So, you know, by Australian standards of course we will Let’s call ourselves comfortable.’

But Ms Willett said she had accumulated that wealth and security through “age”.

“Of course when I first started, I went straight from high school, no uni at the time, to get a full-time job,” she recalls.

‘My parents were fairly working class. We lived in Western cities, and it was certainly expected that you would quickly get your two feet.

And so I did it in my early twenties, I was able to buy an apartment in the west suburbs for $42,000. I was getting $21,000 at the time, so it was a good deal.

Ms Willett said she was then able to bring more shopping into the town.

Fellow Boomer Lorna Shuker recalled how she and her husband bought their first home for $62,000 without any help from their parents.

‘My family was very poor. They never had their own house or even a car,” she told the program.

‘I went into nursing because you got paid while getting a qualification at the same time, and I just saved and saved.’

Since then, Ms Shuker has been able to buy and sell multi-million dollar properties and now describes her life as “relaxed”.

She said she thought baby boomers were an ‘interesting generation’.

“It was a beautiful time to grow up,” she said.

‘It wasn’t as fast-paced as it is now.’

She said she doesn’t think younger generations are good at budgeting.

“I think they’re the generation that sees something and they want it right now,” Ms. Shuker said.

And so they will use services like Afterpay and live beyond their means.

Another boomer, Craig Doyle, discussed how he used his super fund to buy five properties worth a total of $3 million but complained that he was hit by high interest rates.

Insights Boomer Economics is now available to stream on demand on SBS.