“Here’s how to retire early,” promise TikTok’s financial influencers. But the life hacks offered never cover the most important advice: pick the right parents. Because looking ahead, inheritances will decide who does, and doesn’t, get a decent gap between the carriage clock and grim reaper.
Household wealth has surged in Britain in recent decades, to total over £15tn, while wealth inequality is twice as high as income inequality (that’s before we recognise that official figures underestimate the assets of the very top by £800bn). Wealth gaps have also stretched between young and old: home ownership rates for young adults have plummeted, while a staggering one in six baby boomers own a second property.
