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Politicians are constantly reminding us about the debt we are leaving for children, but it seems that our children aren't really bothered — since they mistakenly think they'll be getting all our cash as well. According to USA Today, a recent survey of teenagers and college kids (13-22 years old) says that 40 percent of them believe they won't need to save for retirement, because their parents will leave them an inheritance.

Which is too bad for most of those kids, since only 16 percent of parents say they are planning to leave anything behind.

Even most adults these days aren't fully prepared for retirement, either because they didn't start planning early enough or their plans went off the rails during the Great Recession. So it should probably be a matter of some concern that the generations below them seem blissfully unaware of what the last few years have done to their "fortunes." When even current retirees don't believe Social Security will outlast them, how do the kids who haven't started paying into it think it will survive? If they want to leave something to their future children, never mind themselves, the latest generation better get cracking on those savings accounts.

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This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.