Man's Mother-In-Law Tells Him To Save His Money For Her Retirement Fund — 'The Plan Is To Live Off Me'
Her failure to plan is about to become his problem — like many millennials and Gen Zers.
Monkey Business Images | Shutterstock There are tons and tons and TONS of baby boomers in the U.S. — some 76 million, in fact — making them the second-largest generation currently alive after millennials, but only just barely.
Even the youngest are at retirement age, but boy, are they not financially ready — the statistics are bracing. For many, this means they're resorting to a fallback plan their kids are not at all happy about.
A man's mother-in-law is constantly harping on him to save money.
There are meddling mothers-in-law, and then there's this guy's situation, which is on a whole other level. In a Reddit post to the aptly named r/BoomersBeingFools subReddit, he explained that his mother-in-law has always had a lot to say about what he does with his money.
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"My boomer mother-in-law is always complaining that I need to save money," he wrote. "[For] the first few years of my relationship with my wife, I thought she was just trying to look out for me." But recently, it's become clear that looking out for him is secondary on her list of priorities, at best.
His mother-in-law revealed that she plans to live off him in retirement.
"She let it slip at the dinner table today," the man wrote. They were planning to have a home-cooked dinner together, but his father-in-law burned the chicken to the point they had to be thrown away.
"When I suggested getting pizza," he recounted, "she slipped and said, 'Nooo Brian save your money, we have no 401k, you need to save.'"
Understandably, he was a bit shocked — not just by her audacity but because his father-in-law makes six figures. But he admitted that he not only had no retirement savings but is in major hock with back child support from a previous marriage.
"So now their plan is to live off me I guess," he wrote. "Fml."
Many boomers have inadequate retirement savings and plan to rely on their kids.
For a generation that had every possible economic advantage, it sure seems like the boomers have squandered their resources.
A 2023 study at Georgetown University found that 66% of boomers don't have adequate savings to cover the typical 20ish-year retirement, and a 2022 Federal Reserve survey found that 49% — almost half — have no retirement savings at all.
There are reasons for this beyond just being irresponsible, however. Many boomers lost their retirement savings in the 2008 Great Recession (my mom lost nearly her entire 401(k) in a single day that year), and abnormally low interest rates since then have meant that their investments have grown back much more slowly.
Relying on their kids seems to be an increasingly common solution in a trend known as "reverse boomerang" parents. Studies by Pew Research, for example, show that multigenerational households are on the rise, including those headed by young people — that is, households where elderly parents have moved in with younger family members.
Understandably, there wasn't much sympathy on Reddit for this guy's mother-in-law. Social media, in general, is full of Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers in the "sandwich generation" who are furious they're being put in this position.
As one Reddit commenter put it, "I love the contradiction. We partied but you must save and support us. No!" It's often far more nuanced than that, of course. But you certainly can't blame boomers' adult kids for feeling this way.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.