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I didn't fall trap to this because I'm not an idiot -- but I kind of feel sorry for people my age who listened to boomer financial professionals.
Not sure who "they" are but I advised my kids not to buy a house when we were in the midst of a bubble but then advised them to do so after the bubble burst and prices and mortgage rates low...and 2 of them have and both would come out way ahead so far on their investment.
Compared to their parents, Boomers were certainly "spoiled." Gen X more and then Gen Y even more.
True.
We all need to revaluate our priorities imho.
In my area of the country no matter what their financial situation there are many who must emerse themselves in upscale material items to feel as if they fit in. To make it worse they use their children as props by sending them to school in armani clothes and getting them high priced cars to drive to highschool.
Its all about image no about acutality.
A lot of Boomer generation people like to knock our Millennial generation for being lazy or entitled or unwilling to begin a life on our own. My 60ish year old coworker was just complaining about his son who is a 26 year old college graduate and lives with him because he can't get a good job and can't pay his loan debt. While I believe there is some truth to that I think they fail to see it from our 20-something perspective of the world that they've set up for us to try and begin our own life in and how it is not the same as it was for them.
It's not easy being 20-something in 2013. They had the incredibly responsible parents (our grandparents) born from the 1920's-1940's who fought in WW2 or Korea and drove the United States to become what it was for the rest of the 20th Century. Their kids (our parents) grew up in this time of ultimate prosperity and pretty much did what they wanted, because they could. I partied a lot from 18-25, but my parties and stories don't compare to the stories of my parents, born in the late '50s. If you graduated high school in 1970, partied for a few years, and then decided that you wanted to get a paycheck you went and got a job making a reasonable wage. Some even went to affordable colleges which would all but guarantee you a highly prosperous career. After that they bought a house because prices were reasonable as average home prices in 1975 were 3.5x of median income, compared to 6.5x now. Life was mostly good! They then had kids (Gen-X/Millennials) and taught us that we could be whatever wanted because every path led to success. They taught us to be creative and to just be ourselves because life is a dream and we're special. They taught us everything their depression/war hardened parents didn't teach them, but everything a child wants to hear. Now that they are approaching retirement many of them don't have an adequate retirement savings and many of them don't even have their homes paid off, because taking out a second mortgage or upgrading their house at 52 years old was considered a reasonable choice, by them. Many of them are working well into retirement because they realize now that they need a savings and a home, but it doesn't change that they spent 30 years fighting taxes and increasing spending and are going to become more dependent on SSI and Medicare than their parents while their kids, who "dreamt" their way to expensive liberal arts degrees are completely buried in student loan and debt can't afford to move out, are now going to be paying for their mistakes in the form of necessary tax increases that we also can't afford.
So where does that leave the current work force? Gen-X began life in a Silent-Generation led world and enjoyed some of their success before things went to crap the past few years, but now many experience high levels of unemployment. The Millenials don't know that world. Many of us don't have jobs yet despite that we're easily the most educated generation in history and willing and ready to apply this education. We're the most innovative and creative generation. We are progressive and always find an easier way to do things because quite frankly, we're lazy. We like to help each other out (Heard of Kickstarter?) and we like what's new. We know the odds aren't exactly with us, but we all like a good underdog story, right? Once we figure things out (which might be another decade..) we're going to kick so much ass because we've seen the highs, lows and everything in between. We all got trophies growing up and we like our damn trophies, so we'll go get some more. We just might have to figure out how..
You left out of the Boomers' young adult experience:
The Vietnam War, probably the overarching issue of the times. People were drafted; some didn't have the opt-out option.
The inflation/recession of the early 70s, w/wage and price controls in 1971.
The energy crisis of 1973, with the first arab oil embargo.
Watergate (not directly affecting many, but caused people to lose trust in government)
The recessions of the early 80s; the oil bust here in Colorado and in Texas.
ETC, ETC, ETC.
Quote:
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenberg's H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather Homicide, Children of Thalidomide...
Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law
Rock and Roll, cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on and on and on and on
And on and on and on and on...
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
The guy in the video knows not of what he speaks, the baby boomer generation ran almost 20 years from 1946-1964 and yes some youth of that generation did participate in later civil rights movement and most of the anti war movement starting in the late 60's to the mid 70's involved mostly baby boomers. The environmental movement started in the early 70's with the inception of Earth day March 21, 1970, I remember it well. All of these movements and more were started by the generation that some hate so bad, but don't feel alone, we didn't care much for the "Greatest generations" old fashioned ideas either, the reason for the protests.
A lot of Boomer generation people like to knock our Millennial generation for being lazy or entitled or unwilling to begin a life on our own. My 60ish year old coworker was just complaining about his son who is a 26 year old college graduate and lives with him because he can't get a good job and can't pay his loan debt. While I believe there is some truth to that I think they fail to see it from our 20-something perspective of the world that they've set up for us to try and begin our own life in and how it is not the same as it was for them.
It's not easy being 20-something in 2013. They had the incredibly responsible parents (our grandparents) born from the 1920's-1940's who fought in WW2 or Korea and drove the United States to become what it was for the rest of the 20th Century. Their kids (our parents) grew up in this time of ultimate prosperity and pretty much did what they wanted, because they could. I partied a lot from 18-25, but my parties and stories don't compare to the stories of my parents, born in the late '50s. If you graduated high school in 1970, partied for a few years, and then decided that you wanted to get a paycheck you went and got a job making a reasonable wage. Some even went to affordable colleges which would all but guarantee you a highly prosperous career. After that they bought a house because prices were reasonable as average home prices in 1975 were 3.5x of median income, compared to 6.5x now. Life was mostly good! They then had kids (Gen-X/Millennials) and taught us that we could be whatever wanted because every path led to success. They taught us to be creative and to just be ourselves because life is a dream and we're special. They taught us everything their depression/war hardened parents didn't teach them, but everything a child wants to hear. Now that they are approaching retirement many of them don't have an adequate retirement savings and many of them don't even have their homes paid off, because taking out a second mortgage or upgrading their house at 52 years old was considered a reasonable choice, by them. Many of them are working well into retirement because they realize now that they need a savings and a home, but it doesn't change that they spent 30 years fighting taxes and increasing spending and are going to become more dependent on SSI and Medicare than their parents while their kids, who "dreamt" their way to expensive liberal arts degrees are completely buried in student loan and debt can't afford to move out, are now going to be paying for their mistakes in the form of necessary tax increases that we also can't afford.
So where does that leave the current work force? Gen-X began life in a Silent-Generation led world and enjoyed some of their success before things went to crap the past few years, but now many experience high levels of unemployment. The Millenials don't know that world. Many of us don't have jobs yet despite that we're easily the most educated generation in history and willing and ready to apply this education. We're the most innovative and creative generation. We are progressive and always find an easier way to do things because quite frankly, we're lazy. We like to help each other out (Heard of Kickstarter?) and we like what's new. We know the odds aren't exactly with us, but we all like a good underdog story, right? Once we figure things out (which might be another decade..) we're going to kick so much ass because we've seen the highs, lows and everything in between. We all got trophies growing up and we like our damn trophies, so we'll go get some more. We just might have to figure out how..
Well said! Especially this statement, "but it doesn't change that they spent 30 years fighting taxes and increasing spending and are going to become more dependent on SSI and Medicare than their parents while their kids, who "dreamt" their way to expensive liberal arts degrees are completely buried in student loan and debt can't afford to move out, are now going to be paying for their mistakes in the form of necessary tax increases that we also can't afford. "
To generalize, the Boomers were able to build affluence by using the legal, financial and physical infrastructure built by their parents, but weren't willing to pay the taxes to maintain it, thus passing future costs and ultimately less opportunity to their children and grandchildren. Looking around the world you'll see that it's nigh impossible to live in a modern society that provides all of the services an aging population requires while at the same time providing chances for upward mobility with the tax rates we have in the US.
Yeah, I know. I just discovered yesterday that I won't have to pay any state or federal taxes on a retirement income estimated to be between $55,000 and $60,000 annually! Is that cool or what?
Now what we need is an open door immigration reform and policy to keep labr costs under control. I don't like paying more than$7.50/hr for yard work I have done. Come on genx and geny, fight racism and open the doors to the world now!
Genx and geny are getting exactly what they voted for in the last four elections.
They think it is bad now, just wait till Hillary gets elected!
You left out of the Boomers' young adult experience:
The Vietnam War, probably the overarching issue of the times. People were drafted; some didn't have the opt-out option.
The inflation/recession of the early 70s, w/wage and price controls in 1971.
The energy crisis of 1973, with the first arab oil embargo.
Watergate (not directly affecting many, but caused people to lose trust in government)
The recessions of the early 80s; the oil bust here in Colorado and in Texas.
ETC, ETC, ETC.
Boomers born after 1954 had no draft to be wary of. Stagflation, the energy crisis I can concede on. The recessions though we're not ever as slow to recover as this one. Plus colleges did not really have loads to Jack up the price like the millennials have seen. Even on the community college level, process have gone up about the same per credit in a year as Disney World admission per day.
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