Britons born in the 1960s and 1970s are no better off than their predecessors and are relying on inherited wealth, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Compared with those born a decade earlier at the same age, people now in their mid-30s and 40s are no better off in terms of take-home pay and savings, the London-based research group said in a report published on Tuesday. They are also likely to have less generous pensions and be less likely to own a home. “The incomes and wealth of those born in the 1960s and 1970s look no higher than the cohorts who came before them,” said Andrew Hood, a research economist at IFS and an author of the report. They “are likely to have to rely on inheritances to be better off in retirement than their predecessors”. “But inheritances are unequally distributed, with households that are already relatively wealthy far more likely to benefit,” he added in a press release. The IFS gave an example: among those born in the mid-1970s, 35 per cent of the wealthiest one-third expect to receive an inheritance worth at least £100,000 (HK$1.3 million), compared with just 12 per cent of the least wealthy one-third. The report may fuel the debate about the cost of living in Britain as inflation continues to outpace wage growth. The IFS said workers had seen little income growth over the past decade, halting an upward trend since second world war. It also said that the switch away from defined-benefit or final salary pension plans towards less generous defined-contribution plans in the private sector would have affected the ‘60-’70s-born children than the older cohort. “All in all, this suggests that the long-term fortunes of younger generations may be more tied to the wealth of their parents than has been the case for those already at, or close to, the state pension age,” the institute said. “Those not fortunate enough to expect a significant inheritance look likely to be worse off in older age than current, and soon-to-be, retirees,” it said. The institute is a London-based think tank that specialises in public policy and taxation.