{
  "id": 9030306,
  "title": "I'd rather pay thousands on a holiday: Meet the pensioners spending the kids' inheritance",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/21/id-rather-pay-thousands-on-a-holiday-meet-the-pensioners-spending-the",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-21T23:01:26.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BBC Business",
    "slug": "bbc-business",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje8y3w2zdpo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Retired school administrator Sarah Moorhouse and her husband Geoff are part of a growing trend dubbed \"skiing,\" where retirees choose to spend their private pension savings on enjoying life rather than saving for their children's inheritances. Living in the Yorkshire Dales, the couple goes on holiday four or five times a year, spending hundreds of pounds on each trip. They recently sold their vintage Sunbeam Alpine sports car and opted to upgrade to a more modern, sporty Mazda MX-5 convertible. Sarah believes that life is too short to pass up opportunities, and her husband agrees, stating that they simply want to enjoy their remaining years. This approach to retirement contradicts the traditional idea of passing down assets to future generations. A recent report by pension provider Standard Life found that one in seven UK parents of children of all ages now prioritize enjoying their money in retirement over leaving an inheritance. In the US, the number of people expecting to receive an inheritance from their parents has dropped to 20% from 25% in 2024. Sarah's adult daughter, Poppy, is thrilled that her parents are spending their time doing the things they love and rejects the notion of expecting an inheritance. Retirement and savings director at Standard Life, Mike Ambery, attributes this shift in mindset to the decrease in final-salary pensions, which offer guaranteed monthly payments throughout retirement, and the rise of defined contribution pension pots, which can run out. He also notes that retirees want to indulge themselves after a lifetime of hard work. However, not all retirees are as financially secure as Sarah and Geoff. In the UK, 16% of pensioners live in poverty, while in the US, the figure is 15.4%. Despite this, UK pensioners have seen their disposable income, excluding housing costs, increase over the last three decades. Some 69% of retirees in the UK have a private pension in addition to their state one, according to official figures. Karen Green, a 60-year-old pensioner who has lived in Provence, France for the past 11 years, is upfront with her children about the fact that she likely won't leave an inheritance due to her plans to spend it on travel and experiences. She tops up her private pension by doing part-time business consultancy work and has been very open with her children about her financial situation.",
  "summary": "The phenomenon sees retirees spend all their money on enjoying life to the full.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "BBC News",
        "title": "I'd rather pay thousands on a holiday: Meet the pensioners spending the kids' inheritance",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/21/id-rather-pay-thousands-on-a-holiday-meet-the-pensioners-spending-the-9045609",
        "published": "2026-09-21T23:01:26.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}