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The stock market doesn’t seem like a safe retreat anymore.
Cars are wildly expensive and almost hard to get.
Homes…if you haven’t already bought one that ship has sailed.
Food prices are up…along with everything else.
When I think back over my life, it seems like people of my generation have been brutally clobbered.
Coming out of high school 2004+ and onward there was a huge push for everyone to go to college. I had a lot of friends take on massive debt for their education. Then the meltdown in 2008/2009 happened and these same people with degrees couldn’t even find jobs paying much over minimum wage. Fast forward less than a decade and now we are in the environment we have now.
Seems like a lot of people under 45 might be working until death. Perhaps retirement will be reserved for the top 10%.
Location: IN>Germany>ND>OH>TX>CA>Currently NoVa and a Vacation Lake House in PA
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I know plenty of young people that are thriving due to making good decisions and working hard, and I know several that are stuck in a rut and literally failing due to bad decisions and being lazy. Absolutely nothing has changed other than laziness has taken the lead. America is a country with endless opportunities.
I know plenty of young people that are thriving due to making good decisions and working hard, and I know several that are stuck in a rut and literally failing due to bad decisions and being lazy. Absolutely nothing has changed other than laziness has taken the lead. America is a country with endless opportunities.
Cry the sky is falling all you want, but those that want to make it and have the ability to do so will be just fine.
I made it just fine so no crying from me. However, looking at things on a macro level — I see a lot of hurdles that people around my age have had to clear. If things go even further south soon it will be yet another hurdle. I say this as I watch what looks to be the stock market imploding.
Location: IN>Germany>ND>OH>TX>CA>Currently NoVa and a Vacation Lake House in PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoAmericaGo
I made it just fine so no crying from me. However, looking at things on a macro level — I see a lot of hurdles that people around my age have had to clear. If things go even further south soon it will be yet another hurdle.
You literally said:
Quote:
Homes…if you haven’t already bought one that ship has sailed.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Every generation has it's difficulties. Working in Seattle I have noticed that most of the homeless are gen X and boomers. For the millennial and Z at least they have the option of going back to the home of their parents. Despite hearing complaints like the OP, I don't know any young people having those problems. I have two millennial kids that have great jobs, have bought houses and new cars. The same with most of their friends that they keep in contact with. The folks that have bought in our neighborhood over the last 3 years have all been young millennial families, paying $800-$1 million and are driving newer cars, in fact one just bought a new SUV a couple of weeks ago, to tow the boat he had just bought. perhaps the number of young Amazon and Microsoft tech workers in this area makes it less typical than other parts of the country.
I'm a similar age and have had absolutely no issue getting ahead (way ahead) of my peers. Unpopular opinion, however the mindset of millennials sucks and causes them/us to feel they can't succeeded. Self inflicted.
The implication that millennials have "had it tougher" than other generations is historically false.
I'm a similar age and have had absolutely no issue getting ahead (way ahead) of my peers. Unpopular opinion, however the mindset of millennials sucks and causes them/us to feel they can't succeeded. Self inflicted.
The implication that millennials have "had it tougher" than other generations is historically false.
Define historically. It depends on what generations you compare to and where. If you’re talking compared to human history, it’s top tier. If you’re talking globally currently, it’s still a higher tier life in this generation.
However, in terms of American history, and comparing post ww2, this generation was hit with 9/11 (rare attack on American soil), the Great Recession (the worst since the depression), a global pandemic (worst since the Spanish flu), the covid recession/crash (the fastest on record), multiple wars, threat to global American hegemony, and tensions rose so high that the peaceful transition of power and the literal fabric of the system came under threat (probably the biggest threat to the nation since the civil war-if we exclude 2 or 3 near miss nuclear issues).
That’s at least 3 once in a century+ events. All terrible.
Federal reserve data shows graduating into hard times (ie 2008) suppresses your career earnings. Ie less job opportunity to start, lower pay, less promotional opportunity, and those drag on you for life, and since it’s earlier, it compounds the longest.
Last edited by Thatsright19; 05-02-2022 at 01:33 PM..
It depends on what generations you compare to and where. If you’re talking compared to human history, it’s top tier. If you’re talking globally currently, it’s still a higher tier life in this generation.
However, in terms of American history, and comparing post ww2, this generation was hit with 9/11 (rare attack on American soil), the Great Recession (the worst since the depression), a global pandemic (worst since the Spanish flu), the covid recession/crash (the fastest on record), multiple wars, threat to global American hegemony, and tensions rose so high that the peaceful transition of power and the literal fabric of the system came under threat (probably the biggest threat to the nation since the civil war-if we exclude 2 or 3 near miss nuclear issues).
That’s at least 3, probably 4 or 5 once in a century events. All horrific.
Federal reserve data shows graduating into hard times (ie 2008) suppresses your career earnings. Ie less job opportunity to start, lower pay, less promotional opportunity, and those drag on you for life, and since it’s earlier, it compounds the longest. It’s likely to be the first generation that has a worse life than their parents post ww2, however, I do concede a lot of this is due to life style creep. However, other aspects of it aren’t.
Even recent generations have had challenges.... civil rights movement; Cuban missile crisis; Vietnam War (and its opposition); Watergate/gov corruption concerns.
I wont argue the point that the generation might have a worse life than our parents, however the question is if all of these external factors were the culprit.
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