If you are a millennial reading this article, comfort yourself that a juicy inheritance is due to you.

Research consistently tells us that we are in line for the largest inheritance ever received from one generation to another.

Look on at those large houses in surburbia that your parents have paid their mortgage up on and smile.

Cast your eye over the Spanish holiday home they have used as a bolthole for a number of years and lick your lips.

Calculate in your mind how much their shares in blue-chip companies will be worth and allow yourself a deep throated, almost sinister, laugh as you do.

Here’s the kicker…

Fall rapidly to Earth with this fact…you aren’t likely to see it until you are about 61 (I kid you not). The longevity of our parents, which in most cases is an absolute blessing I appreciate, is one factor for this and requires everyone to receive this wake-up call.

There is no pot of gold waiting for you in a matter of years.

That pension you have put off starting won’t be topped up with money from Mum and Dad any time soon.

That degree debt you accrued won’t suddenly disappear.

That business you have started which could do with a useful loan is going to have to get used to generating its own cash quickly. (By the way, setting up a business expecting others to heavily subsidise for a long period of time is not a business, it is a vanity project).

The inheritance you are hoping for is unlikely to appear at the times when you need it e.g. buying a house, starting a family, investing in a business. The inheritance is likely to be needed to cover the costs of caring for our parents as they age and require additional support.

Unless your parents have lots of disposable cash, or no other children, and are happy to significantly downsize or sell/borrow against their assets, there isn’t much coming your way.

So what can you do about it?

I’m delivering a tough message for you to hear, but it is given as your champion. Don’t wait for a handout when you are 61, start earning and saving now.

Working someone else? Take a chunk of your money and lock it away.

Working for yourself or have your own business? Get out and earn cash quickly, make profit and reinvest it. Grow and build your business so it can work without you and give you a passive income.

Watch for get rich quick schemes – cryptocurrency is new, unproven and volatile, so unless you have a lot of surplus cash, avoid it.

Some millennials will be able to rely upon family to support them and they may be able to access an early inheritance, but many won’t.

When planning for your own financial freedom, don’t tie it to any assets that you can see sitting with your parents.

If you are a millennial entrepreneur and want to work on ways to generate financial freedom, get in touch.