The Gen X Career Meltdown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also dealt with rapidly rising house prices (as did Millenials but they had much much richer parents who could help them out).

Layoffs were the norm for our generation, as our parents were the first to experience them and being unemployable at middle age and the fall out from that.

My husband and I are millennials and received zero help from our parents to buy a house.

So you paid off your student loans? And no help for kids college savings?

But in aggregate Millenials are set to inherit a huge amount from boomers which allows for you to take more risk in careers and make different choices.

These generational divides are mostly made up and most people inherit nothing, not if you insist: https://www.ml.com/articles/great-wealth-transfer-impact.html

Gen X stands to inherit more and is a smaller generation.

[Anonymous]

Most Gen Xers have Boomer parents and even fewer, Silent Generationers.

I’m one. Born 1970 to parents born in 1934 and 1937.

DH has parents a full decade younger.

[Anonymous]

Identifying as a latchkey kid in your 50s is weird

Not if you grew up as a latchkey kid, are Gen X so in your 50's are taking care of your own kids who aren't in college yet or are just starting, and on the other end are taking care of your own parents who are aging. Why do you think Gen X runs around trying to have it all - career, kids, money, etc. Because our parents let us raise ourselves while they had a second round of kids when older, went back to college, women went to work, got divorced, etc. (watch any 80's sitcom). And, we wanted to have our act together, not divorce, and not let our kids raise themselves.

[Anonymous]

I thought this thread was going to be about all the Gen X workers who are eligible for VERA or losing contractor jobs and are now looking for a job as an older employee, in a bad job market but not old enough or with enough money to just call it quits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Identifying as a latchkey kid in your 50s is weird

Not if you grew up as a latchkey kid, are Gen X so in your 50's are taking care of your own kids who aren't in college yet or are just starting, and on the other end are taking care of your own parents who are aging. Why do you think Gen X runs around trying to have it all - career, kids, money, etc. Because our parents let us raise ourselves while they had a second round of kids when older, went back to college, women went to work, got divorced, etc. (watch any 80's sitcom). And, we wanted to have our act together, not divorce, and not let our kids raise themselves.

+100 yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most Gen Xers have Boomer parents and even fewer, Silent Generationers.

I’m one. Born 1970 to parents born in 1934 and 1937.

DH has parents a full decade younger.

Yup, Silent Generation for me too. I'm very knowledgeable about being thrifty as a result. Also, my mother suffered from limited career choices in a way that made me grateful for mine and she never made me feel bad for not being a SAHM.

[Anonymous]

The thing I thought was odd about the article is that while it was discussing careers/jobs “disappearing” today, many of the examples made it clear that the fields were already reducing in scope when the Gen-X subjects were in their mid-late 20’s/early 30’s.

E.g., the guy who was working for Spin in the early 2000’s in NYC making $31K a year. Which would have been quite challenging to live on by then and he was in his early 30’s. My first real job in 1990 in the Midwest paid $22,500 and that was considered a pretty low salary.

The article content seemed relevant in, say 2005-2010, not 2025.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also dealt with rapidly rising house prices (as did Millenials but they had much much richer parents who could help them out).

Layoffs were the norm for our generation, as our parents were the first to experience them and being unemployable at middle age and the fall out from that.

My husband and I are millennials and received zero help from our parents to buy a house.

Millennial, this actually isn't about you. But thanks for chiming in with your anecdote.

Yeah except a pp directly called millennials out. Gen x is if anything more deranged and selfish than the boomers, because they are so called "latchkey kids" who "take care of themselves" - why would they take care of anyone else when they "made it" taking care of themselves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most Gen Xers have Boomer parents and even fewer, Silent Generationers.

I’m one. Born 1970 to parents born in 1934 and 1937.

DH has parents a full decade younger.

Boomers were born 1946 to 1964

GenX 1965 to 1980.

Most GenX have silent generation parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We also dealt with rapidly rising house prices (as did Millenials but they had much much richer parents who could help them out).

Layoffs were the norm for our generation, as our parents were the first to experience them and being unemployable at middle age and the fall out from that.

My husband and I are millennials and received zero help from our parents to buy a house.

Millennial, this actually isn't about you. But thanks for chiming in with your anecdote.

Yeah except a pp directly called millennials out. Gen x is if anything more deranged and selfish than the boomers, because they are so called "latchkey kids" who "take care of themselves" - why would they take care of anyone else when they "made it" taking care of themselves

They took care of themselves because they had poorer parents who left them to fend for themselves. Outcomes for more hardship doesn’t translate to more wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing I thought was odd about the article is that while it was discussing careers/jobs “disappearing” today, many of the examples made it clear that the fields were already reducing in scope when the Gen-X subjects were in their mid-late 20’s/early 30’s.

E.g., the guy who was working for Spin in the early 2000’s in NYC making $31K a year. Which would have been quite challenging to live on by then and he was in his early 30’s. My first real job in 1990 in the Midwest paid $22,500 and that was considered a pretty low salary.

The article content seemed relevant in, say 2005-2010, not 2025.

An editor at Spin making $31k in early 2000s NYC would have been able to make an additional $10-15k in freelance income from other publications and gotten enormous perks, would have likely never paid for drinks or concert tickets and gotten flown all over on press junkets. Brooklyn was affordable then and it was the epicenter of the music scene. This guy would not have felt like he was struggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most Gen Xers have Boomer parents and even fewer, Silent Generationers.

I’m one. Born 1970 to parents born in 1934 and 1937.

DH has parents a full decade younger.

Yep. I was born in 77 and have parents from 42 and 46–one Silent, one Boomer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I thought was odd about the article is that while it was discussing careers/jobs “disappearing” today, many of the examples made it clear that the fields were already reducing in scope when the Gen-X subjects were in their mid-late 20’s/early 30’s.

E.g., the guy who was working for Spin in the early 2000’s in NYC making $31K a year. Which would have been quite challenging to live on by then and he was in his early 30’s. My first real job in 1990 in the Midwest paid $22,500 and that was considered a pretty low salary.

The article content seemed relevant in, say 2005-2010, not 2025.

An editor at Spin making $31k in early 2000s NYC would have been able to make an additional $10-15k in freelance income from other publications and gotten enormous perks, would have likely never paid for drinks or concert tickets and gotten flown all over on press junkets. Brooklyn was affordable then and it was the epicenter of the music scene. This guy would not have felt like he was struggling.

+1 I made $30k in 2001-2003 in NYC, paid $600 rent in Brooklyn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most Gen Xers have Boomer parents and even fewer, Silent Generationers.

I’m one. Born 1970 to parents born in 1934 and 1937.

DH has parents a full decade younger.

I was born in 1970. My parents were silent gen — mom was born in 1942 and my dad in 1938.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing I thought was odd about the article is that while it was discussing careers/jobs “disappearing” today, many of the examples made it clear that the fields were already reducing in scope when the Gen-X subjects were in their mid-late 20’s/early 30’s.

E.g., the guy who was working for Spin in the early 2000’s in NYC making $31K a year. Which would have been quite challenging to live on by then and he was in his early 30’s. My first real job in 1990 in the Midwest paid $22,500 and that was considered a pretty low salary.

The article content seemed relevant in, say 2005-2010, not 2025.

An editor at Spin making $31k in early 2000s NYC would have been able to make an additional $10-15k in freelance income from other publications and gotten enormous perks, would have likely never paid for drinks or concert tickets and gotten flown all over on press junkets. Brooklyn was affordable then and it was the epicenter of the music scene. This guy would not have felt like he was struggling.

+1 I made $30k in 2001-2003 in NYC, paid $600 rent in Brooklyn.

+2 my first salaried job in 2000 in NYC paid $26,000. My boyfriend and I split the rent in Brooklyn, we didn’t need a car, we ate in (really good food) most of the time. Life was good.