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“It’s Simply Impossible To Do So On Your Own”: Person Proves Why The Boomer Generation Had It Twice As Easy As Gen Z
On social media, intergenerational conflicts are common. You know how they go; millennials are lazy, baby boomers are bathing in their hoarded wealth and Gen Z’ers spend more time on their phones than with their own families.
However, slogans don’t really paint an accurate picture. For that, we need hard data. And Reddit user MikeTheBard has compiled a set of numbers that might explain the roots of this hostility.
A few days ago, they put together a post for the popular ‘Antiwork’ community, analyzing how much effort one had to put in to get themselves an education and a roof over their head in 1972, 1992, and 2022, and the stark differences show just how much the world can change for your kids.
RELATED:
Many young adults find it impossible to even dream about getting a home
Image credits: energepic.com (not the actual photo)
And numbers can really help us to understand why
Image credits: Seattle Municipal Archives (Not the actual photo)
Image credits: MikeTheBard
Of course, all of this doesn’t mean that baby boomers (those born roughly between 1946 and 1964) were handed everything on a silver platter. When they graduated from college and were coming of age in the 1970s, an era of both innovation and downturn, their financial future was actually quite hazy.
In her book ‘Can’t Even: How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation,’ Anne Helen Petersen explains that by the 1970s, many of those boomers (who were in their mid-twenties at the time), experienced wage stagnation, inflation, and an unemployment rate of 8.5% — American jobs had begun moving overseas so corporations could pay employees less and avoid the wrath of powerful unions that advocated for workers, and on top of all that, the U.S. was dealing with the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, a general distrust of the government, and the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
And that wasn’t the end of it. One of the biggest financial hits to the generation was the shift from the pension program to 401(k) programs.
A pension plan is a benefit provided by an employer who agrees to pay an employee a portion of their salary every year for the rest of their life if they remain at the company for a certain number of years (usually 10 to 20+ years). Petersen points out that combining pension funds with Social Security benefits allowed the generation before the boomers (known as the Greatest Generation) to retire quite comfortably, but with the shift to 401(k) accounts, retirement planning was left in the hands of boomers themselves, who now had to opt-in to save a portion of their income in a dedicated investment account for retirement. And while some companies offered a matching program (like companies still do today), many others didn’t offer retirement accounts at all.
All this fueled anxiety about future financial security, and with jeopardized job prospects, some boomers also found it extra difficult to preserve the middle-class status of their parents.
And while the current economy faces massive uncertainty, at least the young seem to be aware of the problems they’re facing. “In 2019, around 27 to 28% of Gen Z’ers had some exposure to equities through holding a stock or through retirement accounts,” Lowell Ricketts, a data scientist for the Institute of Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, told CNBC. “That percentage is much higher than that of other generations. When millennials were the same age back in 2004, just 18.7% of them had some exposure to equities.”
This seems to take the situation full circle. Just like boomers, Gen Z’ers are entering adulthood worried about their ability to earn and save money, but they also seem to be capable of planning ahead in their wealth-building journey. All they need is a little break.
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What do you think ?
Step 3 years ago
Let's call it what it really is, greedy rich people hiking prices up because they want more money than they already have. It's intentional what these companies are doing. They don't have to raise prices and in fact could lower prices and raise wages and still maintain the extreme generational wealth they already have. It's a choice they are making to deliberately keep people at a disadvantage and struggling for basic needs. They lie and say it has to happen when it doesn't. There's enough resources that reproduce constantly for us all to exist. You're being convinced that it has to be like this when these people can literally still live a life of luxury with what money they already have for the next 400 years. I'm tired of the lies and b******t covering up what is really cruel and intentional suffering. That's what they are doing and it's inhumane and wrong.
Jax 3 years ago
The “they” your talking about has always been the lies the government tells us. There is always billions of dollars for special interest groups, and worthless projects thought up to bring money to certain people. Our government has to stop sending our tax dollars all over the world. Our current administration is doing exactly what it said it would and it is a total disaster.
Load More Replies...
Sheila Stamey 3 years ago (edited)
I had to work three jobs as a single mother and accept food stamps in order to raise my the kids and take care of my mom. I kept my mom with me at home for as long as I possibly could because I loved her most of all, and honestly, her income made a difference. It still fell short of many things. My husband had been put in jail for being very stupid sad and drunk, but it still made our family a single parent household. It's extremely difficult if you are only feeding and housing yourself. My children are now successful. I am proud of them. None of them have college debt because they didn't go to college. They all have 50k+ incomes in an area where that's middle class. They are blessed and tough.
Klara Lorinczi 3 years ago
You are to be admired for your strength and courage! Women like you make a country great, not men!! I male bash but yes, men deserve it! Always!
Load More Replies...
Liam Lowenthal 3 years ago
Don't even get me started on "small" emergencies like your car breaking down or needed a sitter all of a sudden. Small... Ha.
Load More Replies... Breezy 3 years ago
I love how this doesn't even mention: food, power, heat, water, vehicle payments, gas, or cell phone bills.
Liam Lowenthal 3 years ago (edited)
That's the point. We're already facing a s**t show, even when mentioning the bare basics. Gotta keep it simple for grandpa cause Fix News will keep telling him the evil millennials are trying to destroy babies and sacrifice Murikuh to the edgelords of the secret government or something. They won't understand if you add in more details, they'll get confused and won't read it at all (if they did in the first place) (Speaking of America obviously, I can't speak for any country I dont know about)
Load More Replies...
Got Myself 4 Pandas 3 years ago
I'm in Scotland. Minimum wage is 9.50 an hour, so about 1650 before tax, if applicable, working 40hrs a week, approx £1400 after tax and NI. You can rent a one bedroom flat in Glasgow for about 650, where i am in ayrshire you could get that down to around 400, even 300 in the wee town in live in. Higher education is free, healthcare is provided through national insurance deducted from your wages. You wouldn't exactly be living in the lap of luxury after paying every other bill but it is possible to survive on minimum wage. This, however, isn't true for other areas in the uk - rent increases exponentially in a lot of places and cheaper areas may not be desirable but if that's what you can afford then that's what your choices are. The fear of being cut off from not paying one electricity bill doesn't exist, companies don't do that here. The fear of being completely ruined financially after an illness or injury is also a lot less - obviously income can still decrease but no huge bill
Liam Lowenthal 3 years ago (edited)
Must be nice to have a choice like that. Ours is work until you've dead and you might make that 1583 for rent (this is my rent) for a one bedroom in the poor end of town where they ignore the roads and all the crack heads live, or live in your car if you're lucky enough to have one.
Load More Replies...
Seedy Vine 3 years ago
In the '80s I was barely getting by, working and going to college. I had help paying rent. In the '90s it all fell apart and I had to drop out. My rent has doubled, tripled, quardupled over my adult life. Health care takes all my savings. I'm screwed once I retire.
Stephanie Paich 3 years ago (edited)
Let's not forget about buying a house. My grandparents were FAR from wealthy when my mother was growing up. My grandfather was the only household income, and they had 3 kids. The house they bought (granted it was small and in a bad location) cost about 5 grand. At the time my grandfather was probably making around 20 grand a year, so it took 1/4 of a year's wages to pay for their 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house. Compare that to houses now. In the area where I currently live, you can't find a decent house for less than 250K, and that's an old, small house in a not so nice neighborhood. I'm almost 28 and I currently make about 40K a year. It would take over 6 years of my entire salary just to pay for what little they had.
Wintermute 3 years ago
I still remember standing in the 3 car garage of a friend who went right from high school to work as a lube jockey, looking at his shiny new muscle car, and saying to another friend of mine, "Look what we could have had if we hadn't gone to college." Our whole culture is a commodified lie.
phil blanque 3 years ago
The cost of "higher education" has become ridiculous...and the return graduates get for their degree does not nearly match the cost. I went to one of the best state universities in the country in the late 60's and paid for it all myself, nothing from my parents, and no loans. I worked as a busboy at a hotel and lived in an old house with 8 friends. And that was enough then. I think "higher education" has its priorities all wrong, and it is failing to deliver a product of value.
Peter Hawk 3 years ago (edited)
Greed and corruption at many levels keep making things worse. Why does college tuition and rent increase so much? Is it because of policies created by our elected officials or are the colleges just super greedy big businesses selling people the false promise of the American dream? Who would have guessed keeping interest rates super low to juice the economy for re-election purposes would lead to speciation in the housing market and a bubble? Who would have guessed adding 6.5 trillion dollars to a 15 trillion dollar economy through quantitative easing would create a massive bubble and inflation? It's like a Ponzi scheme where the young people have to pay all the debt and live with the results of years of bad political policies that benefitted one generation at the cost of another, and I don't see any way this ends well. I have terrible anxiety about the future. Add in the messed up healthcare system and it's just sad how greed is literally killing people.
alloutbikes@yahoo.com 2 years ago
All of those increased because THEY convinced the masses that college and owning property to flip or rent is the way. Only renting out property that you bought strictly to rent out and flipping (without a TV show) and going to college won't make you money. Rental property costs mortgages and repairs and taxes so just charge more. Flipping costs mortgages and repairs so charge more. College gets you a better paying job but they don't pay you more and you have loans to pay back. So THEY will make money off the masses. Those who don't buy in will flounder but will succumb. Only THEY can flourish.
Load More Replies... Step 3 years ago
Let's call it what it really is, greedy rich people hiking prices up because they want more money than they already have. It's intentional what these companies are doing. They don't have to raise prices and in fact could lower prices and raise wages and still maintain the extreme generational wealth they already have. It's a choice they are making to deliberately keep people at a disadvantage and struggling for basic needs. They lie and say it has to happen when it doesn't. There's enough resources that reproduce constantly for us all to exist. You're being convinced that it has to be like this when these people can literally still live a life of luxury with what money they already have for the next 400 years. I'm tired of the lies and b******t covering up what is really cruel and intentional suffering. That's what they are doing and it's inhumane and wrong.
Jax 3 years ago
The “they” your talking about has always been the lies the government tells us. There is always billions of dollars for special interest groups, and worthless projects thought up to bring money to certain people. Our government has to stop sending our tax dollars all over the world. Our current administration is doing exactly what it said it would and it is a total disaster.
Load More Replies... Sheila Stamey 3 years ago (edited)
I had to work three jobs as a single mother and accept food stamps in order to raise my the kids and take care of my mom. I kept my mom with me at home for as long as I possibly could because I loved her most of all, and honestly, her income made a difference. It still fell short of many things. My husband had been put in jail for being very stupid sad and drunk, but it still made our family a single parent household. It's extremely difficult if you are only feeding and housing yourself. My children are now successful. I am proud of them. None of them have college debt because they didn't go to college. They all have 50k+ incomes in an area where that's middle class. They are blessed and tough.
Klara Lorinczi 3 years ago
You are to be admired for your strength and courage! Women like you make a country great, not men!! I male bash but yes, men deserve it! Always!
Load More Replies... Liam Lowenthal 3 years ago
Don't even get me started on "small" emergencies like your car breaking down or needed a sitter all of a sudden. Small... Ha.
Load More Replies... Breezy 3 years ago
I love how this doesn't even mention: food, power, heat, water, vehicle payments, gas, or cell phone bills.
Liam Lowenthal 3 years ago (edited)
That's the point. We're already facing a s**t show, even when mentioning the bare basics. Gotta keep it simple for grandpa cause Fix News will keep telling him the evil millennials are trying to destroy babies and sacrifice Murikuh to the edgelords of the secret government or something. They won't understand if you add in more details, they'll get confused and won't read it at all (if they did in the first place) (Speaking of America obviously, I can't speak for any country I dont know about)
Load More Replies... Got Myself 4 Pandas 3 years ago
I'm in Scotland. Minimum wage is 9.50 an hour, so about 1650 before tax, if applicable, working 40hrs a week, approx £1400 after tax and NI. You can rent a one bedroom flat in Glasgow for about 650, where i am in ayrshire you could get that down to around 400, even 300 in the wee town in live in. Higher education is free, healthcare is provided through national insurance deducted from your wages. You wouldn't exactly be living in the lap of luxury after paying every other bill but it is possible to survive on minimum wage. This, however, isn't true for other areas in the uk - rent increases exponentially in a lot of places and cheaper areas may not be desirable but if that's what you can afford then that's what your choices are. The fear of being cut off from not paying one electricity bill doesn't exist, companies don't do that here. The fear of being completely ruined financially after an illness or injury is also a lot less - obviously income can still decrease but no huge bill
Liam Lowenthal 3 years ago (edited)
Must be nice to have a choice like that. Ours is work until you've dead and you might make that 1583 for rent (this is my rent) for a one bedroom in the poor end of town where they ignore the roads and all the crack heads live, or live in your car if you're lucky enough to have one.
Load More Replies... Seedy Vine 3 years ago
In the '80s I was barely getting by, working and going to college. I had help paying rent. In the '90s it all fell apart and I had to drop out. My rent has doubled, tripled, quardupled over my adult life. Health care takes all my savings. I'm screwed once I retire.
Stephanie Paich 3 years ago (edited)
Let's not forget about buying a house. My grandparents were FAR from wealthy when my mother was growing up. My grandfather was the only household income, and they had 3 kids. The house they bought (granted it was small and in a bad location) cost about 5 grand. At the time my grandfather was probably making around 20 grand a year, so it took 1/4 of a year's wages to pay for their 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house. Compare that to houses now. In the area where I currently live, you can't find a decent house for less than 250K, and that's an old, small house in a not so nice neighborhood. I'm almost 28 and I currently make about 40K a year. It would take over 6 years of my entire salary just to pay for what little they had.
Wintermute 3 years ago
I still remember standing in the 3 car garage of a friend who went right from high school to work as a lube jockey, looking at his shiny new muscle car, and saying to another friend of mine, "Look what we could have had if we hadn't gone to college." Our whole culture is a commodified lie.
phil blanque 3 years ago
The cost of "higher education" has become ridiculous...and the return graduates get for their degree does not nearly match the cost. I went to one of the best state universities in the country in the late 60's and paid for it all myself, nothing from my parents, and no loans. I worked as a busboy at a hotel and lived in an old house with 8 friends. And that was enough then. I think "higher education" has its priorities all wrong, and it is failing to deliver a product of value.
Peter Hawk 3 years ago (edited)
Greed and corruption at many levels keep making things worse. Why does college tuition and rent increase so much? Is it because of policies created by our elected officials or are the colleges just super greedy big businesses selling people the false promise of the American dream? Who would have guessed keeping interest rates super low to juice the economy for re-election purposes would lead to speciation in the housing market and a bubble? Who would have guessed adding 6.5 trillion dollars to a 15 trillion dollar economy through quantitative easing would create a massive bubble and inflation? It's like a Ponzi scheme where the young people have to pay all the debt and live with the results of years of bad political policies that benefitted one generation at the cost of another, and I don't see any way this ends well. I have terrible anxiety about the future. Add in the messed up healthcare system and it's just sad how greed is literally killing people.
alloutbikes@yahoo.com 2 years ago
All of those increased because THEY convinced the masses that college and owning property to flip or rent is the way. Only renting out property that you bought strictly to rent out and flipping (without a TV show) and going to college won't make you money. Rental property costs mortgages and repairs and taxes so just charge more. Flipping costs mortgages and repairs so charge more. College gets you a better paying job but they don't pay you more and you have loans to pay back. So THEY will make money off the masses. Those who don't buy in will flounder but will succumb. Only THEY can flourish.
Load More Replies...
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