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The attitude of the “Greatest Gen” that they would be sure their kids a better life than theirs was is big time to blame here. They should have said they would be sure their kids got out there and made a better life for themselves.

I’m 62, chronologically a boomer, but because of family circumstances, I am mentally of the Depression era. That is where the family that produced me was forged.

I have said for years, only half jokingly, that we Americans are too affluent for our own good.

The attitude of the “Greatest Gen” that they would be sure their kids a better life than theirs was is big time to blame here. They should have said they would be sure their kids got out there and made a better life for themselves.

You're so right. The Greatest Generation is that just because they made it through tough times and that created their characters and values. Having it too easy doesn't develop those qualities.

In my extended family are several young adults that have had trust funds set up for them. Just huge ones - just enough to survive on. Every single one of them is directionless, unmotivated, and depends on that trust fund money like it was welfare. They're not a happy group, needless to say.

We've already put it in our will that our son isn't to get our money (what there is left of it) until he is 45 - time enough for him to learn to stand on his own 2 feet. Or not. Either way, it's up to him. I think this is critically important.

I would have to agree. That and the counter-culture movement of the 1960’s. When a culture gets bored because the basics of life are easy to come by, social experimentation often follows.