Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would gladly trade my 1950's birthdate for a 1980's one, although I do think the 21st century started out badly, and hasn't improved much as yet. I don't know a single Old person who wouldn't trade with younger folks. I'm sure there are some out there who would, but I haven't met any.
That said, I certainly wouldn't want to have been born in the 1910's like my parents, who were young adults during the Depression and WWII, and lucky to escape the (now easily curable) diseases that killed their parents at young ages. Nor would I want to have been like my older siblings, who had to fear polio when they were kids.
know how people keep saying 60 is the new 40, and all that? how people can work longer/retire later...
the front end of that is why shouldn't the younger end also be "behind"? If people before started working after high school, their careers would pick up in their 20s.
today people spend more of their 20s in college than in past generations. Now people don't get out of school until 25 and it is normal. How many lost years is that from not having work experience? working the basic jobs a few years would put them in their 30s before they start their careers
30 is the new 20
this has nothing to do with how the economy is doing, people changed their life/work style from decades ago. while in college, most students aren't affected by the economy, it makes no difference how it is doing. Look at 2009, the college students didn't lose jobs they never had. really, all the recent college grads complaining about a late start, the 4-6 years of post high school "study" is the biggest reason for their late start.
if 2009 hadn't happened, and people weren't getting their career off the ground, think they wouldn't find some other excuse? how can they establish a career by 25 if they were in college at the same time?
Part of the reason people were in college longer over the past decade is because of the economy though. Many people went to college because they thought it would give them a leg up in the job market or simply to bide time, hoping the economy recovered. They were often operating on out of date information. I know several people who "hid out in grad school" for a couple of years, getting a graduate degree. Some of those may have entered the workforce directly out of undergrad had they thought there was more opportunity. I have several friends and family members who were clearly "not college material," but went due to peer and parental pressure. Most of them failed to graduate, and ultimately wasted time and money - now they neither have a degree, nor experience or technical training, but ended up with student load debt.
I agree though that 30 may be the new 20, or at least a lot of people are "five years behind." It took me until I was 24 to graduate college, though I did work during most of college, dropped out for a semester, and graduated with two minors and one class short of a double major. Still, I screwed off a bit. Even then, it took me about four years to get a job where my degree was required. I was 27 before I was hired for my first "professional track" job out of college that I "should have" had at 22. Part of that was due to my own stupidity, and part of it was due to the economy.
Knowing what I know now with regard to labor markets, job hunts, economics, etc., it's easy to point out the mistakes and see how I could have done better. However, if I wound back the clock to when I started college in 2004, I honestly don't know if I could have done much better other than majoring in a better field. We operate on the information we have available at the time.
Part of the reason people were in college longer over the past decade is because of the economy though. Many people went to college because they thought it would give them a leg up in the job market or simply to bide time, hoping the economy recovered. They were often operating on out of date information. I know several people who "hid out in grad school" for a couple of years, getting a graduate degree. Some of those may have entered the workforce directly out of undergrad had they thought there was more opportunity. I have several friends and family members who were clearly "not college material," but went due to peer and parental pressure. Most of them failed to graduate, and ultimately wasted time and money - now they neither have a degree, nor experience or technical training, but ended up with student load debt.
I agree though that 30 may be the new 20, or at least a lot of people are "five years behind." It took me until I was 24 to graduate college, though I did work during most of college, dropped out for a semester, and graduated with two minors and one class short of a double major. Still, I screwed off a bit. Even then, it took me about four years to get a job where my degree was required. I was 27 before I was hired for my first "professional track" job out of college that I "should have" had at 22. Part of that was due to my own stupidity, and part of it was due to the economy.
Knowing what I know now with regard to labor markets, job hunts, economics, etc., it's easy to point out the mistakes and see how I could have done better. However, if I wound back the clock to when I started college in 2004, I honestly don't know if I could have done much better other than majoring in a better field. We operate on the information we have available at the time.
And some students just want to commit financial suicide regardless of everything. I know at least one and her family is not well off. She wants to do Phd in one humanity major, but before she gets there she needs to spend a year learning a dead language. More debt and more debt. Granted she's not materialistic but it will be years of not earning anything and with more debt.
You can work at Walmart in air conditioned comfort while collecting welfare. Our predecessors would have worked in harsh conditions in a factory with a alcoholic foreman breathing down your neck all day.
I was born in 1989 and wouldn't change when I was born. I'm tired of everyone my age complaining about everything. But I won't get into that here. If we are not talking economics then.....
I'm a basketball fanatic who started watching basketball when I was 5 with a keen understanding; I only saw the tail end of Olajuwan and Jordan's career. I never got to see Bird and Magic play. I'd go back 10 years for that.
And some students just want to commit financial suicide regardless of everything. I know at least one and her family is not well off. She wants to do Phd in one humanity major, but before she gets there she needs to spend a year learning a dead language. More debt and more debt. Granted she's not materialistic but it will be years of not earning anything and with more debt.
True. Ultimately, if you are paying for a PhD as an individual, you probably shouldn't be getting one.
Didn't they just come out with a study that shows millennials today earn 20% less and have 50% less wealth compared to boomers at the same age.
There is no denying it, it was better in the past from a financial stand point, but I can see people not wanting to be born earlier because they enjoy today's technology and all it comes with.
Unless the study shows WHY, I don't see that it has anything to do with the decade.
Millennials are MUCH bigger consumers. Electronics...tvs, smartphones, IPODS, tablets, etc, etc When I was in my 20s, young people didn't obsess over too many THINGS. We all wanted a nice car, some music tapes, a tape player in the car, and a decent place to live. But their lives did not revolve around consumerism. We didn't hang out at the mall or anything like that. Buying things was not a pastime or entertainment. We would've thought that to be very odd. MUSIC was huge. Everyone had music...we listened to it like maniacs, analyzed it, live it, breathed it. After all, that was the age of Dylan, Joplin, Hendrix, Clapton, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones....I mean, talk about music to fill the soul.
We also didn't buy a LOT of fast food. We ate fast food, for sure. But certainly not every day. There weren't too many obese people in our age range, either, altho there were some.
Mom didn't go into debt buying us Christmas presents. It was all done on a cash basis. We did not receive, and did not expect, a LOT of pricey gifts. It was getting to be pretty commercial, though, by that era.
I think how much you SPEND makes a big difference.
When I was in my 20s, no one I knew made big bucks. I worked for very low wages and was very poor, myself. White males tended to make the most, since they could get muscle work with no skills or education. Now, I think immigrants get those jobs.
When I was in my 20s, I knew NO ONE who carried debt on credit cards. I didn't even get a credit card until I was close to 30.
So it's a difference in lifestyle and consumerism. We live in a more consumer-driven country, now, I think. Back then, not so much.
I agree, standard of living has changed a lot and what people spend their money on, but that has nothing to do with millennials earning 20% less INCOME compared to boomers at the same age. Boomers earned more with less education and items like housing and education where much less as a percent to income, plus they didn't have much else to spend their money on so it was even more affordable.
There could be an arguement that poorer people today live better because of that higher standard of living, but with the cost of housing compared to incomes, and what a huge benefit over your life owning a home can play financially, I don't buy into that so much. Lots of little things are better for less, but the core things that pay the most over a lifetime, such as housing, education, healthcare, pensions etc.., are much more now if they even exist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bpollen
Unless the study shows WHY, I don't see that it has anything to do with the decade.
Millennials are MUCH bigger consumers. Electronics...tvs, smartphones, IPODS, tablets, etc, etc When I was in my 20s, young people didn't obsess over too many THINGS. We all wanted a nice car, some music tapes, a tape player in the car, and a decent place to live. But their lives did not revolve around consumerism. We didn't hang out at the mall or anything like that. Buying things was not a pastime or entertainment. We would've thought that to be very odd. MUSIC was huge. Everyone had music...we listened to it like maniacs, analyzed it, live it, breathed it. After all, that was the age of Dylan, Joplin, Hendrix, Clapton, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones....I mean, talk about music to fill the soul.
We also didn't buy a LOT of fast food. We ate fast food, for sure. But certainly not every day. There weren't too many obese people in our age range, either, altho there were some.
Mom didn't go into debt buying us Christmas presents. It was all done on a cash basis. We did not receive, and did not expect, a LOT of pricey gifts. It was getting to be pretty commercial, though, by that era.
I think how much you SPEND makes a big difference.
When I was in my 20s, no one I knew made big bucks. I worked for very low wages and was very poor, myself. White males tended to make the most, since they could get muscle work with no skills or education. Now, I think immigrants get those jobs.
When I was in my 20s, I knew NO ONE who carried debt on credit cards. I didn't even get a credit card until I was close to 30.
So it's a difference in lifestyle and consumerism. We live in a more consumer-driven country, now, I think. Back then, not so much.
I would gladly trade my 1950's birthdate for a 1980's one, although I do think the 21st century started out badly, and hasn't improved much as yet. I don't know a single Old person who wouldn't trade with younger folks. I'm sure there are some out there who would, but I haven't met any.
That said, I certainly wouldn't want to have been born in the 1910's like my parents, who were young adults during the Depression and WWII, and lucky to escape the (now easily curable) diseases that killed their parents at young ages. Nor would I want to have been like my older siblings, who had to fear polio when they were kids.
I agree.
Women born in the 1950s got a raw deal. And early in the 20th century! Horrible.
Do you think we were born too late, and that the economy will never be "great again"? I was born in 1991, I'm just sad for all the other adults my age and their children. The worse part is that there is nothing we can do to go back.
I am really sad to see all jobs being replaced by the robots and the AI.
I wish we can see another good age like America did at some point in the 20th century. Not going to happen as long as constant exponential improvement in robots and AI keep up. We can't physically stop it from happening (?)
OP, you have never known the Cold War, when the constant threat of nuclear annihilation was always in the back of people's minds. You've never known a world where a loved on getting cancer automatically meant only a few months to live. You've never known a world where all the information in the world wasn't essentially at your fingertips, when if you wanted to learn about some obscure topic you either had to physically visit a library or bookstore and hope they had the information you were looking for. You never knew the AIDS scare, heroine epidemic, or complete decimation of the downtown areas of most of America (some haven't come back but so many more have). You have never known an America where black people couldn't use the same drinking fountains, shop at the same stores, or send their kids to the same schools. There were a lot of great things about the era before you were born, but a lot of inconvenient, shameful or frightening things, too.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
