Another millennial thread...

[jesmu84]

Many comments here touch on the topics...

Millennials have no unions. Have no pensions. Have no houses that cost 20k. Have lagging wages. Etc.

Economically/financially, they are worse off.

I'll give up every technological advancement I have vs boomers at the same age for the financial stability they had.

[4everwarriors]

Crean sucks

[mu03eng]

Many comments here touch on the topics...

Millennials have no unions. Have no pensions. Have no houses that cost 20k. Have lagging wages. Etc.

Economically/financially, they are worse off.

I'll give up every technological advancement I have vs boomers at the same age for the financial stability they had.

Financial stability is alive and well with segments of the millennial generation but it certainly isn't universal. It wasn't universal for boomers either, but I dont have a sense of whether the balance of stable vs unstable has changed considerably. I don't think it has but I don't have any stats around it

[Benny B]

Many comments here touch on the topics...

Millennials have no unions. Have no pensions. Have no houses that cost 20k. Have lagging wages. Etc.

Economically/financially, they are worse off.

I'll give up every technological advancement I have vs boomers at the same age for the financial stability they had.

How short people’s memories are.  It’s as though no one remembers once upon a time where for several weeks we had almost 30 warships off the coast of Cuba, two dozen B-52’s just outside Soviet airspace, and over 100 ICBM’s prepped for immediate launch.  And that was just the early 60’s. 

Boy, I’d love to have the “financial” stability of the Boomers.

[Lennys Tap]

How short people’s memories are.  It’s as though no one remembers once upon a time where for several weeks we had almost 30 warships off the coast of Cuba, two dozen B-52’s just outside Soviet airspace, and over 100 ICBM’s prepped for immediate launch.  And that was just the early 60’s. 

Boy, I’d love to have the “financial” stability of the Boomers.

Yep. And then came that pesky Viet Nam thingy - with a military draft, no less.

[jesmu84]

And I'd still make the trade.

Technology for solid wages, pensions, cheap education and affordable housing

[mudeltaforcegurl]

As a millennial I do think our generation is much more impatient than older generations when it comes to career advancement and buying homes that are too expensive for their income level.

[Babybluejeans]

As a millennial I do think our generation is much more impatient than older generations when it comes to career advancement and buying homes that are too expensive for their income level.

Hasn’t been my experience nor that of my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances at all. You may just have irresponsible friends, which is a different problem than a generational one. GenX is certainly a problematic generation—they’ve been whining since the 80s and they’re still whining now that Millenials are passing them by!

[MU82]

My 31-year-old son and his 31-year-old wife are visiting us now.

I have told them repeatedly that they are lazy, entitled losers because ... well ... Millennials.

[WarriorDad]

And I'd still make the trade.

Technology for solid wages, pensions, cheap education and affordable housing

You think housing was affordable back then?  Relativity.   You live in a world where cancer is cured at a much higher rate.  Your life expectancy when you were born much higher than mine when I was born. 

Pensions are gone, but we didn't have 401ks when I was growing up, and less than 20% even owned stocks back then.  There is affordable housing out there, but it might not be in the location you want.  We can't all live by the water and downtown.  Guess what, we couldn't back in the day either.   

Lower crime, better health, cleaner air, more job opportunities, better technology, you can get laid with a swipe of an app, better educated, but less patience. 

That is it in a nutshell.

[jesmu84]

You think housing was affordable back then?  Relativity.   You live in a world where cancer is cured at a much higher rate.  Your life expectancy when you were born much higher than mine when I was born. 

Pensions are gone, but we didn't have 401ks when I was growing up, and less than 20% even owned stocks back then.  There is affordable housing out there, but it might not be in the location you want.  We can't all live by the water and downtown.  Guess what, we couldn't back in the day either.   

Lower crime, better health, cleaner air, more job opportunities, better technology, you can get laid with a swipe of an app, better educated, but less patience. 

That is it in a nutshell.

Got it. We're living in a utopia. I need to learn my place. There are zero cons to being under the age of 35 compared to previous generations.

[reinko]

You think housing was affordable back then?  Relativity.   You live in a world where cancer is cured at a much higher rate.  Your life expectancy when you were born much higher than mine when I was born. 

Pensions are gone, but we didn't have 401ks when I was growing up, and less than 20% even owned stocks back then.  There is affordable housing out there, but it might not be in the location you want.  We can't all live by the water and downtown.  Guess what, we couldn't back in the day either.   

Lower crime, better health, cleaner air, more job opportunities, better technology, you can get laid with a swipe of an app, better educated, but less patience. 

That is it in a nutshell.

Cheers to your generation who can be this drunk at 10:23 AM EST

[TSmith34, Inc.]

It's going to vary company to company but in my experience the higher someone climbs in Fortune 500 companies the better they are at managing up and much less likely to manage down.

Corporate America hasn't really figured out how to resolve the conflict between necessary hierarchy and the desire to be more egalitarian with the work force.

This is very accurate in my experience. "Playing the game" pretty much a synonym for "managing up".

[Jay Bee]

Maybe his daddy bought him "bone spurs."

^^^ ban dis gf individual

[buckchuckler]

And I'd still make the trade.

Technology for solid wages, pensions, cheap education and affordable housing

Nothing says financial stability like a 20% interest rate on a mortgage. 

[WarriorDad]

Nothing says financial stability like a 20% interest rate on a mortgage.

   These kids have no idea what it was like with unemployment double digits, interest rates in the high teens, standing in lines for several hours to get gasoline, worrying about being drafted.  Yeah, it was awesome baby. 

[buckchuckler]

nm

[WarriorDad]

Cheers to your generation who can be this drunk at 10:23 AM EST

Was not drunk, didn't even have a sip. What was inaccurate about my comments?

Air quality better now than then. Environment in general better.
You live longer now than then. Did you even get vaccinated for Polio like we did? No, because it was eradicated.  Cancer survival rates infinitely better now than when I grew up.
Unemployment much better now than then
Inflation better now than then
Interest rates categorically better now than then
Technology categorically better now than then
Housing costs are market driven and relative to what people can pay.  Yes, that may mean you have to wait to have all the bells and whistles where you live.  The same thing we had to do, wait.

I wasn't drunk, nor were my comments incorrect.  I'm sorry that you have all grown up in a world where a lot of things were handed to you and as parents we failed in that regard. You wanted a PS3, you got it.  Smartphone, you got it. Not only did you get the smartphone, we demanded you have it for safety reasons.  A new car when you were 16 years old, you got it (I refused on that one, not even a used car, but my kids friends were given that stuff). 

A number of you grew up in a world where you click a button, swipe an app, and it was done.  Mom and dad wanted to give you the best, and they tried and often did, much to the detriment of their children.  My wife and I guilty of this, too.  Pressure to do what all the other parents were doing.   I'm sorry that patience was not taught. 

You have it infinitely better today than your predecessors.  Low crime. Solid economy. Better environment. Better technology.  Low cost travel.  Opportunities abound if you are willing to look for them and do the work, oh and be patient for your turn.  Pretend it is a union and you don't have seniority if you wish to get your head around it.

[WarriorDad]

Maybe his daddy bought him "bone spurs."

You simply cannot help yourself, can you?

[WarriorDad]

Got it. We're living in a utopia. I need to learn my place. There are zero cons to being under the age of 35 compared to previous generations.

There are some cons, no generation lives in utopia nor did I or anyone say that.  It doesn't change that your opportunities and the world you live in today is better than the one I grew up in. If you are a minority, much better.  You can't appreciate it because you never lived it, which is why age, experience are important because we did live it.  Though our memories may be faded at times, we can remember experiences that you have never dreamed of going through and pray don't resurface.  By the same token my parents lived through WWII and I cannot imagine the horror they went through. 

[buckchuckler]

  These kids have no idea what it was like with unemployment double digits, interest rates in the high teens, standing in lines for several hours to get gasoline, worrying about being drafted.  Yeah, it was awesome baby.

Have to say, I don't either.  Except what I have heard from my parents. 

But I have appreciation for all the things my parents and grandparents struggled through that I don't have to worry about or really even consider.  It is great that I can complain that a 4.6% interest rate is high.  And I hope that the world continues in this trajectory and my kids lives are easier in every way than mine has been. 

My first house was more expensive than my parents, by quite a bit.  But my first job out of MU paid me quite a bit more than what my parents made out of college.

Things aren't perfect now, but especially if you live in the US, and have the time and means to be posting on a basketball message board, well your life is better than 99.99999% of all the humanity that has lived before we have.  Now, I understand that doesn't make you feel any better when you can't find a job, or the housing that you want.  Struggling is part of the human experience.  In my experience, the struggles we face now, on an overarching level, aren't the same as those who came before we did. 

That, however, does not change the fact that the struggles that individuals face on a daily basis of reaching their goals, having their home and family, or whatever they want still aren't difficult.  I'm just glad I don't have to face those struggles against the backdrop of complete economic turmoil or world wars.  I'm glad that when I do have to face adversity, I have more resources available to me that those who came before I did probably couldn't even dream about. 

[WarriorDad]

Have to say, I don't either.  Except what I have heard from my parents. 

But I have appreciation for all the things my parents and grandparents struggled through that I don't have to worry about or really even consider.  It is great that I can complain that a 4.6% interest rate is high.  And I hope that the world continues in this trajectory and my kids lives are easier in every way than mine has been. 

My first house was more expensive than my parents, by quite a bit.  But my first job out of MU paid me quite a bit more than what my parents made out of college.

Things aren't perfect now, but especially if you live in the US, and have the time and means to be posting on a basketball message board, well your life is better than 99.99999% of all the humanity that has lived before we have.  Now, I understand that doesn't make you feel any better when you can't find a job, or the housing that you want.  Struggling is part of the human experience.  In my experience, the struggles we face now, on an overarching level, aren't the same as those who came before we did. 

That, however, does not change the fact that the struggles that individuals face on a daily basis of reaching their goals, having their home and family, or whatever they want still aren't difficult.  I'm just glad I don't have to face those struggles against the backdrop of complete economic turmoil or world wars.  I'm glad that when I do have to face adversity, I have more resources available to me that those who came before I did probably couldn't even dream about.

That is fair, but those same struggles often existed before, too.  I was in my mid 30's before buying our first house and it took the death of a parent leaving some money to us for it to happen. 

I promise you all, it will happen.  Practice patience.  The fact that we old farts are living longer means we have to work longer, so the cycle has changed some, but this is also a country of amazing opportunity, especially if you are willing to move away from the comforts of your home town, even home state.  Explore the opportunities, you will get yours, too.  Keep at it.  Stay positive.

[MU82]

You simply cannot help yourself, can you?

1. It was from 16 days ago. Did you just hear about the Lindburgh baby, too?

2. A Millennial made me do it. They're all so lazy and enabled that they dig up old stuff and just re-post it. Oh wait ... you did that and you're not even a Millennial.

3. Don't take your cues from the worst poster on Scoop.

[dgies9156]

I'll give up every technological advancement I have vs boomers at the same age for the financial stability they had.

Who is kidding whom?

I'd be happy to trade you the late 1970s! Interest rates were at third world levels and the highest they'd been since the industrial revolution in the United States. Fresh out of college, we had no money to invest and either paid cash or did without. We rented because we had no choice. Incidentally, just a few years later, my first mortgage had an interest rate of 12.75 percent -- and we thought that was a bargain.

Inflation bordering on hyperinflation. That was back when a 6 percent raise didn't keep pace with inflation!

Add to that the fact that 80 million of us were born between 1946 and 1964. We entered an economy that had not expanded enough to absorb us and would not expand until the tech boom began in the mid-1980s.

A dude named the Ayatollah (forgive my spelling) in Iran had held the country hostage and in the process sent petroleum prices through the roof. You ransomed your first-born for a tank of gasoline.

What that meant in plain english: when I was graduated from the Marquette University College of Journalism, there was like eight or nine grads for every open entry-level job in the field of communications. Guess who had the leverage in those salary negotiations? And, if you did not please someone, there was confidence in the employer that there were eight more of you piled up in a resume file in a hiring officer's drawer.

And I won't even talk about my parents, who were born in the heart of the Depression. My mother's extended family lived with her parents in a small bungalow in Northern Wisconsin because my grandparents were among the blessed in their hometown with good paying jobs.

We all face our challenges and the best of us are better and more compassionate people because of how we faced our environment.

[JWags85]

What that meant in plain english: when I was graduated from the Marquette University College of Journalism, there was like eight or nine grads for every open entry-level job in the field of communications. Guess who had the leverage in those salary negotiations? And, if you did not please someone, there was confidence in the employer that there were eight more of you piled up in a resume file in a hiring officer's drawer.

Not for nothing, how is that changed?  Thats still an issue and worse as college costs have skyrocketed.  The economy had room to expand to absorb all those educated new grads eventually.  We have a substantial oversupply now and I don't know if the expansion to handle them will come.