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Born in 80 and I had a great childhood growing up with Nintendo and hanging out with my friends. Graduated college at 20 and had a professional job right out of the gate (lucky it was right before 02 recession) then got my MBA and partied by way through my 20's with the same friends from college while moving my way through the ranks of corporate America. Hooked up with my current wife at 29, and we both now make a crap ton of money in management at 36 while still close to my old friends who all live in the area.
No..... I wouldn't change a damned thing era-wise.
Born at the end of 79 and completely agree. Our generation has the best of both worlds.
Grew up experiencing really new breakthroughs that is modern today. Nintento (even Sega), the first Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 were marvels. Video arcade, for me wrestling. The 3 Mikes were at their peaks (Michael Jackson, Jordan, Tyson), VHS became affordable. Music in the 90s was the last time it was really 'unique' from the previous decade.
We grew up largely without technology in high school. Internet was still a novelty in our formulative teenage year, though it exploded overnight around when we started college. So most of people in my year have vivid memories of having to call people to meet-up, trying to pick up a girl, etc. Late/overnight talking.
Still had to use paper to apply for university/college and select classes, having to wait in line. I just missed the 02 crash but jobs were pretty plentiful in the mid-2000s where you could establish a career. Many I know while having been impacted a bit, we got through the 09-10 recession. Here in Toronto, we were able to buy houses when it was still 'affordable'. We grew up with some technology so still computer savvy.
I can relate to the Millennials who now have to compete against a much larger co-hort. Applications are more global and harder to differentiate. Heck, back in the early mid-2000s, you could still mail, fax, or drop-off your resume in many places. Background check? Not needed.
I did notice that those just 5 years younger than me at work, are much more entitled, though focused and driven. And yes, seemingly a bit more blaming others for the world not aligning with what they expected. The younger, the more pickier in many ways in trying to find something 'they are interested in'. I think we're one of the last generations where not everybody expected a roadmap to the enchanted land also just grateful to get a full-time job out of school.
So in some ways, things were more stable. But at the same time, the stuff I see 'Millennials' complain about and where they spend their money, especially those in yolo mode, they'd be better served in putting their heads down, grinding it out with a long-term view approach.
Own a sweet house, have a job that pays well and lets me work from home (something that didn't exist 20-30 years ago), no debt other than mortgage, shoveling plenty of $ away into retirement and investments.
(btw - female, graduated with a 2.3 GPA from a state school, worked while in college)
Don't know why so many Millennials can't get their stuff together...
Born at the end of 79 and completely agree. Our generation has the best of both worlds.
Grew up experiencing really new breakthroughs that is modern today. Nintento (even Sega), the first Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 were marvels. Video arcade, for me wrestling. The 3 Mikes were at their peaks (Michael Jackson, Jordan, Tyson), VHS became affordable. Music in the 90s was the last time it was really 'unique' from the previous decade.
We grew up largely without technology in high school. Internet was still a novelty in our formulative teenage year, though it exploded overnight around when we started college. So most of people in my year have vivid memories of having to call people to meet-up, trying to pick up a girl, etc. Late/overnight talking.
Still had to use paper to apply for university/college and select classes, having to wait in line. I just missed the 02 crash but jobs were pretty plentiful in the mid-2000s where you could establish a career. Many I know while having been impacted a bit, we got through the 09-10 recession. Here in Toronto, we were able to buy houses when it was still 'affordable'. We grew up with some technology so still computer savvy.
I can relate to the Millennials who now have to compete against a much larger co-hort. Applications are more global and harder to differentiate. Heck, back in the early mid-2000s, you could still mail, fax, or drop-off your resume in many places. Background check? Not needed.
I did notice that those just 5 years younger than me at work, are much more entitled, though focused and driven. And yes, seemingly a bit more blaming others for the world not aligning with what they expected. The younger, the more pickier in many ways in trying to find something 'they are interested in'. I think we're one of the last generations where not everybody expected a roadmap to the enchanted land also just grateful to get a full-time job out of school.
So in some ways, things were more stable. But at the same time, the stuff I see 'Millennials' complain about and where they spend their money, especially those in yolo mode, they'd be better served in putting their heads down, grinding it out with a long-term view approach.
I'm about in that 5 year younger than you range. I would have started college about the time you finished. I was in the military for a few years right after high school too, so basically those were lost years, neutral as far as my career goes.
So even though I have the life experienceof a young Xer or older millennial, my job experience is that of a mainline millennial.
First, if I had to guess at a reason for that entitlement, it's because in our formative years - mid-late 90s and early 2000s, we got a veritable avalanche of propaganda about the how valuable college was. It just so happened that when you were in college - the late 90s - there was a plateau in college costs. It was more expensive than the 70s & 80s to be sure, but it leveled out there for about 6 years starting in Clinton's 2nd term. College costs started absolutely sky-rocketing circa 2004-05 and it hasn't let up. If anything it has intensified. Try looking up what the tuition rates are now at your old college. I have, and it's shocking.
Second, a 5 year head start before the Great Recession was worth its weight in gold. That means you avoided the first rounds of layoffs and never truly tested the depth of the recessionary job market. A lot of us were in our first or second year working or just graduating when that calamity hit. I had to play the veteran card to even get a chance at an interview. All employers were getting hundreds of apps for every opening. Trying to stand out in that kind of situation was... well it was hard.
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.
Threat of nuclear annihilation? You mean like Iran and the nukes it's going to get? They, unlike the USSR, are crazy enough to do it.
Second, a 5 year head start before the Great Recession was worth its weight in gold. That means you avoided the first rounds of layoffs and never truly tested the depth of the recessionary job market. A lot of us were in our first or second year working or just graduating when that calamity hit. I had to play the veteran card to even get a chance at an interview. All employers were getting hundreds of apps for every opening. Trying to stand out in that kind of situation was... well it was hard.
many people my age, missed the recession... young enough to be in high school/college and finished college/started working as economy took off
the recession literally had no negative side effect on me, the positives were cheap housing, cheap stock market and economy recovered
college costs, pff, what costs? scholarships/grants for "free" education... even rode on parent's healthcare for a while because of ACA so... didn't even need to buy my own for a time
not sure which group of millennials people are talking about, the older or younger ones?
People graduating college at the end of 2007 until probably 2011/2012 (maybe the end point is somewhat earlier or later depending on area's economic health) were the most severely impacted.
Things really started crumbling at the end of 2007 with the unwinding of the subprime debacle, then kept getting worse through the financial crisis. We really didn't even hit rock bottom until 2009.
I dropped out of college in the spring of 2008 and came back the following fall, majoring in economics from political science. I think people who didn't follow economics or financial news, as well as memories simply fading over time, don't realize how scary this was. Lehman caused everything to seize up.
Virtually no one was hiring and jobs were shed for many, many months. The financial system basically came to a dead stop. Banks weren't lending to well-qualified borrowers and institutions. Things were bad, but something worse was narrowly averted.
Had I graduated when I was supposed to in May 2008, I would have probably found something a lot easier than graduating in 2010. The economy probably retarded my career by five years.
The top-5% of 20-somethings are going to have inflation-adjusted lifetime incomes that blow away what the early boomers saw. The median 20-something is going to see much less than an early boomer. Welcome to wealth and income stratification. Are you a 5%er? If so, then you want to be a 20-something. Are you a low skill average person? Then you wanted to be born before 1950 where you had the corporate, union, or public sector job with the pension.
The outcome of the average person in the "Greatest Generation", "Silent Generation", and the first of the early Boomers is far better than the average late-Boomer born in 1960. For a late-Boomer, unless you're public sector or one of those rare union jobs, there's no such thing as a pension. If you're 56 now and at median household income, you're probably contemplating "work 'til I drop" where the people who came before had pensions and a lot more job stability.
The top-5% of 20-somethings are going to have inflation-adjusted lifetime incomes that blow away what the early boomers saw. The median 20-something is going to see much less than an early boomer. Welcome to wealth and income stratification. Are you a 5%er? If so, then you want to be a 20-something. Are you a low skill average person? Then you wanted to be born before 1950 where you had the corporate, union, or public sector job with the pension.
The outcome of the average person in the "Greatest Generation", "Silent Generation", and the first of the early Boomers is far better than the average late-Boomer born in 1960. For a late-Boomer, unless you're public sector or one of those rare union jobs, there's no such thing as a pension. If you're 56 now and at median household income, you're probably contemplating "work 'til I drop" where the people who came before had pensions and a lot more job stability.
Agreed.
I worked for a medium sized tech company based out of metro Boston for two years. All candidates had to take an "analytical test," which was similar to an IQ test. I would wager the passing score probably equated to an IQ of at least 125. There were no idiots at this company.
Staff level positions paid very well - in Boston, a staff level software engineer, systems analyst, etc., would start well into the six figures. People would quit Friday and start somewhere else Monday.
From a purely financial standpoint, millennials definitely are the most screwed.
They began their earning years right as the recession really hit, which is critical for establishing baseline earning potential that follows for the rest of their professional life. Many of them couldn't even find a job at the time, meaning they had the disadvantage of being entry level at an older age.
Then the economy gets better, but find themselves competing with global labor and technology more and more.
And now, just as they're getting into their stride, it looks like the economy may very well tank under Trump, especially if he deregulates Wall Street.
Possible result? The little they've saved could be wiped out if the 2008 crash happens again -- which it likely will, much worse this time.
So not only will millennials still be left with lower earning potential, they'll have less money to accrue compound interest with that they will definitely need for retirement, because SSDI will be long gone -- despite millennials having had to pay money into it anyway, leaving them with even less money.
I don't believe in astrology, but it does seem like the gods have it in for that cohort in particular. Lol
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