Boomers' Billion-Dollar Bonanza: The Unseen Hoarding Behind Millennial Struggles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just accept it, narcissistic boomers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/12/03/precariousness-modern-young-adulthood-one-chart/

https://fortune.com/2022/10/27/millennials-versus-boomers-wealth-gap-doubled/

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/08/wealth-inequality-by-household-type.html

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/02/14/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations-2/

https://trustandwill.com/learn/generational-wealth-gap

Etc etc.

Undeniable.

They are comparing aspirational lifestyle, what Boomers may have now, not what they had then. Nothing has changed, Boomers had it actually worse. Secondly, there is a LARGE age difference in Boomers. Younger Boomers are the parents of millennials, not the older Boomers whose kids are Gen X. There's so much nuance lost resulting in stupid threads like this from this generation. Bottom line- you have to go through same hoops. Sorry, no short cut.

No, that would be stupid. The studies literally compare them at equivalent ages. Boomers can’t be troubled to actually read the data before arguing that they are special and misunderstood!

I'm a boomer who struggled financially to a degree, bills were paid, but it was tight- until around retirement, and we are pretty middle class- no great wealth here. College, 2 grad degrees, professional job, same with spouse. There were literally zero breaks - stock market, mortgage rates, day care, everything. No hand outs. No large house, used cars, a beach trip to OC once a year. Not a lot of perks. All our peers are in the same boat, many are in higher paying fields,too, including law and medicine. This was a reality for Boomers born in the late 50s, early 60s- there was absolutely no big wealth going on unless there was a special circumstance- I have Iranian
friends who came here with a great deal of family money. We know 2 married dentists who did very well. A lawyer who traveled 80 % of the time, but was never home. Yeah, they were wealthy. But most? No.

We got a little boost in the last 2 years only with housing inflation due to the shortage, but frankly that made up for being completely underwater in 2008 , for quite awhile, with the recession. And, it's only about 100k more than in 2015. That's not a windfall. Inflation happens in every generation. How can we be lacking in self awareness when we actually lived it? Not every Boomer inherited wealth, and most didn't. I have friends who still have their parents who are in their 90s and older! There isn't any $$ left.

These metrics presented are very nuanced toward some bias, and skewed beyond belief. Most of this has to do with the generation before us, our parents, and the very oldest Boomers, not the parents of millennials at all. You are very misinformed but clearly are just mad at something. How about just grow up? An idea for you. Sorry, but you have to go to work. We did- 60 hour weeks most of the time. Nothing handed to us.

Oh gosh, I'm sorry you had it so rough....

Uh, aren't YOU the whiner here, sweetie? Get over yourself.

Who raised these millennials to have such bad manners? Parenting fail.

My kids don't have bad manners. Financially independent as well- didn't take on any debt, bought houses, work. Normal life, not struggling and not complaining either.

[Anonymous]

So glad I’m GenX. All the whiners and complainers begat bigger whiners a complainers. I’ll just sit back and remain silent, like my parents, and enjoy my life, while my generation is forgotten.

[Anonymous]

I’m an older Millennial who paid off my mortgage 10 years ago. Any *Boomers* who *still* rely on a mortgage are not the ones hoarding any wealth, trust me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So glad I’m GenX. All the whiners and complainers begat bigger whiners a complainers. I’ll just sit back and remain silent, like my parents, and enjoy my life, while my generation is forgotten.

+1. Some of the boomers whining about millennials whining could use a little self-reflection, TBH.

[Anonymous]

Why are you pitting the generations against each other? Would young people not have locked in lower mortgage rates if they were an option? Part of it is just demographics. We did not control the size of our cohort!

My parents were children during the Great Depression. That caused them to be financially conservative. They raised me like that, so I lived below my means. Now I have enough to support myself in old age.

That is highly responsible, and unburdens my children. And guess who will inherit anything that is leftover when I die?

[Anonymous]

What troubles me a lot is degree creep, housing, and general ability to advance.

We were told to get an education and we’d never have to worry about getting a commensurate professional job. Lies! There remains rampant discrimination, an old boys club/network in a lot of industries, and a general inability to move ahead or up or even to enter where you should be. I know multiple admins with advanced degrees. The admin for my department is a CPA.

WTF!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What troubles me a lot is degree creep, housing, and general ability to advance.

We were told to get an education and we’d never have to worry about getting a commensurate professional job. Lies! There remains rampant discrimination, an old boys club/network in a lot of industries, and a general inability to move ahead or up or even to enter where you should be. I know multiple admins with advanced degrees. The admin for my department is a CPA.

WTF!?

Who told you that you would never have to worry? This was never the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What troubles me a lot is degree creep, housing, and general ability to advance.

We were told to get an education and we’d never have to worry about getting a commensurate professional job. Lies! There remains rampant discrimination, an old boys club/network in a lot of industries, and a general inability to move ahead or up or even to enter where you should be. I know multiple admins with advanced degrees. The admin for my department is a CPA.

WTF!?

Degree creep is real. And I think can contribute to generational resentment because it's true that many millennials were heavily pressured to get as much education as possible and that does not necessarily lead to higher earnings (and can actually rob you of years of income if you go to graduate school). I also think a lot of millennials borrowed money to get graduate degrees that their parents heavily pressured them into (lots of Boomers wanted lawyers, doctors, and MBAs for kids, there is a reason that law and MBA programs, in particular, exploded in numbers in the last 30 years) and the reality of living with that debt is a lot harder than they were led to believe. There was a long period of time when people would say that education debt was "good debt" because of course getting another degree would boost your earnings.

If you borrowed money for law school at your parents' encouragement and then lived through the Great Layoff in '08-'09, and then the consolidation of the legal industry that results in a lot of lower paying law jobs (staff attorneys and contract attorneys), you might have a lot of resentment towards your boomer parents. You got bad advice from people who were probably kind of blinded by wanting to be able to brag about their kid being a lawyer to their friends, and now you are stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in debt and might be struggling professionally.

This is not a super uncommon story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So glad I’m GenX. All the whiners and complainers begat bigger whiners a complainers. I’ll just sit back and remain silent, like my parents, and enjoy my life, while my generation is forgotten.

+1. Some of the boomers whining about millennials whining could use a little self-reflection, TBH.

This whole thread is a millennial whining. Boomers aren't doing that here. But, yes, Boomers are pretty tired of millennial whining, absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What troubles me a lot is degree creep, housing, and general ability to advance.

We were told to get an education and we’d never have to worry about getting a commensurate professional job. Lies! There remains rampant discrimination, an old boys club/network in a lot of industries, and a general inability to move ahead or up or even to enter where you should be. I know multiple admins with advanced degrees. The admin for my department is a CPA.

WTF!?

That's on you and those "admins". If you are a CPA and keep up with it, you should not have an issue getting a job using those skills. Every company needs CPAs. At some point you have to market yourself and have some motivation to find a job that utilizes your major (especially if it's accounting). Take some refresher courses and get yourself a job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So glad I’m GenX. All the whiners and complainers begat bigger whiners a complainers. I’ll just sit back and remain silent, like my parents, and enjoy my life, while my generation is forgotten.

+1. Some of the boomers whining about millennials whining could use a little self-reflection, TBH.

This whole thread is a millennial whining. Boomers aren't doing that here. But, yes, Boomers are pretty tired of millennial whining, absolutely.

Really? You just skipped over the posts of boomers complaining how hard they had it? "nothing handed to them", etc., etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://fortune.com/2023/10/28/great-wealth-transfer-baby-boomers-bank-of-america-millennials-government-policy/amp/

Wow, I just came across this shocking article from Fortune which reveals that the so-called "great wealth transfer" is not the $72 trillion we've been hearing about, but rather a whopping $129 trillion. And guess where most of it went? Yup, straight into the pockets of baby boomers, thanks to government policies over the last 40 years.

We've all heard about the economic challenges millennials face today, especially with the housing market and student debts. But to think that the government has been so instrumental in enriching an entire generation, predominantly boomers, is mind-blowing! This massive wealth transfer is arguably a result of policies from when boomers were in their prime working years. The research shows that two-thirds of the current U.S. household net worth (around $146 trillion) is held by boomers and "traditionalists."

What's even more shocking is that while millennials struggle with high-interest rates on mortgages, most boomers were able to lock in at a low 3% rate. We often hear about boomers giving financial advice to younger generations, but it's evident they had a huge leg up due to these policies.

It's time for a change. Millennials and Gen Z are battling a completely different economic landscape, one that has been significantly shaped by previous generations. While there's hope that a pending wealth transfer might offer some relief, current projections don't seem as promising as what boomers enjoyed.

Thoughts? How do we bridge this generational wealth gap? It's evident now more than ever that we need a system that supports all generations equitably.

i dont even know what this gobbledygook means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://fortune.com/2023/10/28/great-wealth-transfer-baby-boomers-bank-of-america-millennials-government-policy/amp/

Wow, I just came across this shocking article from Fortune which reveals that the so-called "great wealth transfer" is not the $72 trillion we've been hearing about, but rather a whopping $129 trillion. And guess where most of it went? Yup, straight into the pockets of baby boomers, thanks to government policies over the last 40 years.

We've all heard about the economic challenges millennials face today, especially with the housing market and student debts. But to think that the government has been so instrumental in enriching an entire generation, predominantly boomers, is mind-blowing! This massive wealth transfer is arguably a result of policies from when boomers were in their prime working years. The research shows that two-thirds of the current U.S. household net worth (around $146 trillion) is held by boomers and "traditionalists."

What's even more shocking is that while millennials struggle with high-interest rates on mortgages, most boomers were able to lock in at a low 3% rate. We often hear about boomers giving financial advice to younger generations, but it's evident they had a huge leg up due to these policies.

It's time for a change. Millennials and Gen Z are battling a completely different economic landscape, one that has been significantly shaped by previous generations. While there's hope that a pending wealth transfer might offer some relief, current projections don't seem as promising as what boomers enjoyed.

Thoughts? How do we bridge this generational wealth gap? It's evident now more than ever that we need a system that supports all generations equitably.

i dont even know what this gobbledygook means.

Sounds like a Boomer. Get a Millennial to make a PDF of it and email it to you. Then have Siri read it aloud to you (I know you like books on tape).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a GenX and my husband and I have boomer parents. They are holding a lot of wealth, BUT they also are living long lives and the last 15 years or so will basically strip all of that with expensive retirement/continuous care homes and medical care. So we don't expect any money from our boomer parents. We are just happy that they've made and saved enough to pay for their own care to the end of their lives and that they are living long lives so we (and our children) can spend more time with them.

Yeah, it's going to be a massive transfer of wealth to whomever owns nursing homes. And it's a shame. But maybe I should cash in on that old people money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a GenX and my husband and I have boomer parents. They are holding a lot of wealth, BUT they also are living long lives and the last 15 years or so will basically strip all of that with expensive retirement/continuous care homes and medical care. So we don't expect any money from our boomer parents. We are just happy that they've made and saved enough to pay for their own care to the end of their lives and that they are living long lives so we (and our children) can spend more time with them.

Yeah, it's going to be a massive transfer of wealth to whomever owns nursing homes. And it's a shame. But maybe I should cash in on that old people money?

+1. This is where it’s all going people.