More people are in their sixties and beyond than at any point in history. A U.S. Census Bureau report released in August found that, sometime between 2020 and 2025, people 65 and over outnumbered children five and under for the first time in recorded history. The World Health Organization expects 1.4 billion people over 60 by 2030, up from 1.1 billion in 2023.
Bet you know where this is going, and you're right. A good number of these folks are spending their discretionary funds on travel, lots and lots of travel. The media has noticed and is having some fun with it.
A recent finding by Squaremouth, a travel insurance marketplace, shows couples over 65 spending an average of $9,960 a trip, about 50 percent more than couples under 50, on trips that run longer and go farther. Last month, the BBC ran a feature on Sarah and Geoff Moorhouse, a Yorkshire couple who take four or five holidays a year because, in Sarah's words, "you only have one opportunity at life." In Australia, Intrepid Travel saw its passengers over 55 rise 52 percent last year.
SKI Season
The coverage keeps landing on one acronym, SKI: spending the kids' inheritance. The phrase is old. "We're spending our kids' inheritance" has been on the backs of motor homes for decades, usually just above the bike rack. The difference now is how many people live it.
Reactions to SKI are across the board, as you'd expect. Some swear by Bill Perkins's 2020 bestseller Die With Zero, which argues for using your money while you can still enjoy it. Others tie their legacy to how much they leave behind for family and the causes they believe in. The same goes for the children and others who stand to inherit, though I suspect many of them would prefer at least some money come their way. If your kids are reading this over your shoulder, now's a good time to change the subject.
More Left Behind Than Expected
For all the jokes, plenty of people with savings aren't spending them down. Many hold on to more than they ever expected to.
Part of the reason is that we overestimate what retirement will cost. Researchers who track real spending find it drifts down through our late 60s and 70s, even for people with plenty put away. The other part is habit: we spend the pension check and leave the savings alone. Economists call what's left an accidental bequest, money handed on because nobody decided otherwise. I understand the instinct. A steady balance feels safe, but it also makes a dull travel companion.
This is a privileged problem to have, and I don't want to skip past that. Many people reach their sixties without enough saved. Plenty are working longer than they planned or watching every expense. In the United States, half of retirees say they saved less than they needed. What follows is for those who have more than they will need, and none of it is financial advice.
If you are one of them, decide on purpose. Sit down, with an advisor if you have one, and work out what you want to leave and to whom, including the causes you care about. Then write the number down. Everything beyond it, once your own needs are covered, is yours.
Once the legacy is settled, spending on yourself takes nothing from anyone, and the trip becomes part of the plan.
For people who read Nomadic Spirit, I suspect a good share of that money belongs to travel. Perkins has a name for why that money is well spent. He calls it the memory dividend: a good trip keeps paying out long after you're home, every time you tell the story, or something brings a place back to you. I can't name anything I've bought that stayed with me as long as a few weeks in a new place.
Perkins also makes the case for giving while you're alive, when the money helps more, and you get to see it land. Travel companies report a rise in trips with three generations together. If the kids still want their share, take them. Someone has to carry the bags.
