Why are young people old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boomers really really screwed the pooch here. And this is why my new supervisor is 15 years younger than the youngest employee she supervises.

Exactly. Most of my generation had to settle for rarely getting ahead no matter how much we worked. Eventually you give up. ~gen x

Totally, rules are completely stacked against the worker. Unless you show me the money and title today, I am not moving another finger for senior management. Oh yeah and my house is way nicer than some of the boomer manager's house. Makes you wonder what have they been doing all their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dual career households. Our combined HHI is over $700k and we’re more than comfortable. Senior enough to have somewhat flexible jobs, have three young kids, and absolutely not willing to sacrifice that to drive for c-suite.

I learned my lesson the hard way with dual income higher paid women with multiple kids. I literally got fired from my job trying to manage an entire team of then. Between husband schedule, day care, doctors appointments, WFH, maternity leave, FMLA days, sick days, leaving early, coming in late, back to school nights, sick Nannie’s, husbands who never helped, my plan kept slipping. I got fired but got a huge severance package. They gave my job to a childless nasty mean 50 year old career woman who in first year fired or made then all quit. Something I could not do as first not the right thing to do and second being a man would have got me fired. Imagine your second in charge having three kids under 4, a husband who works 60 hours a week and a long commute. I was paying it her 225k but her husband made 500k so did not care. Her I did fire but I was blocked from firing more as too late. Kinda happy when they tossed me. Too stressful covering for “lazy girl” people. I think that is new term for it.

The women who replaced me hired ALL men or childless women and hired consultants. Guess she knew how I got canned. She does squat. Lesson learned. Do the right thing is a spike Lee movie not a mgt. style.

But even those women got old young. All those women gave up their career in their 30s. The 225k last was in a 100k bonus pool and only lasted 9 months. So no bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class of 08 here, I am definitely done in 10 years when I hit late 40s - early 50s. Already 2mm in net worth today, was never management / no leadership potential, it's more beneficial for me to focus on de-stress and live until 90 than trying to grind for people like you.

You are my alter ego. Our class and NW are so similar. DH has at least $2m, too and makes high six figures. I thought I would make it to late forties, but A I'm at an impasse right now in my career. I am so SICK of making my boss a ton of money. I'm ready to quit. I know he can't replace me because I'm talking to recruiters right now and have other offers, but ultimately, I'm sick of making other people rich.

[Anonymous]

Burnout is a very widespread problem. Especially post-Covid. The rat race sucks. You work and work and for what? A bigger house? A bigger car? Nice vacations you can't enjoy because you wind up working on them? Nice clothes?

It's good more people are recognizing that what is meaningful in life is the time you spend with loved ones and doing things you enjoy just for themselves. Some minority of people really love work and can be fulfilled by it, but most jobs simply are not fulfilling. The idea that someone would rather become a higher paid accountant than spend time with their spouse or kids is, honestly, sad in most cases.

Also, if every single person is super ambitious, you'd just wind up with a bunch of dissatisfied, bitter people who didn't make partner or C-suite, who never nabbed the brass ring. The whole point is that there aren't enough rings to go around. It shouldn't surprise you that some people understand this early on and choose to aim lower, save their pennies, and go spend their 50s and 60s doing something more rewarding than working in middle management and NOT getting promoted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class of 08 here, I am definitely done in 10 years when I hit late 40s - early 50s. Already 2mm in net worth today, was never management / no leadership potential, it's more beneficial for me to focus on de-stress and live until 90 than trying to grind for people like you.

For men early retirement is a myth. You are just unemployed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burnout is a very widespread problem. Especially post-Covid. The rat race sucks. You work and work and for what? A bigger house? A bigger car? Nice vacations you can't enjoy because you wind up working on them? Nice clothes?

It's good more people are recognizing that what is meaningful in life is the time you spend with loved ones and doing things you enjoy just for themselves. Some minority of people really love work and can be fulfilled by it, but most jobs simply are not fulfilling. The idea that someone would rather become a higher paid accountant than spend time with their spouse or kids is, honestly, sad in most cases.

Also, if every single person is super ambitious, you'd just wind up with a bunch of dissatisfied, bitter people who didn't make partner or C-suite, who never nabbed the brass ring. The whole point is that there aren't enough rings to go around. It shouldn't surprise you that some people understand this early on and choose to aim lower, save their pennies, and go spend their 50s and 60s doing something more rewarding than working in middle management and NOT getting promoted.

Now this is a bunch of hog wash. I was home doing fully remote in Covid, unshaven, bare feet, not leaving house days in end, being stuck 24/7 with spouse with nothing to talk about.

Yea it was good first 2-6 months as went on walks, jumped in my pool. Slowly it became house arrest. I did it 3 years!!! Was a glimpse into the horrors of early retirement.

I now plan on never retiring. Maybe quit full time work at 67 do some adjunct professor roles, sit on some boards, speak at conferences, maybe a chairman role at a start up. Even at 67 I got a good 25 years ahead.

FYI that guy just came into office. He is on board. Maybe his wife made him “man up” over weekend. Thank God

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dual career households. Our combined HHI is over $700k and we’re more than comfortable. Senior enough to have somewhat flexible jobs, have three young kids, and absolutely not willing to sacrifice that to drive for c-suite.

I learned my lesson the hard way with dual income higher paid women with multiple kids. I literally got fired from my job trying to manage an entire team of then. Between husband schedule, day care, doctors appointments, WFH, maternity leave, FMLA days, sick days, leaving early, coming in late, back to school nights, sick Nannie’s, husbands who never helped, my plan kept slipping. I got fired but got a huge severance package. They gave my job to a childless nasty mean 50 year old career woman who in first year fired or made then all quit. Something I could not do as first not the right thing to do and second being a man would have got me fired. Imagine your second in charge having three kids under 4, a husband who works 60 hours a week and a long commute. I was paying it her 225k but her husband made 500k so did not care. Her I did fire but I was blocked from firing more as too late. Kinda happy when they tossed me. Too stressful covering for “lazy girl” people. I think that is new term for it.

The women who replaced me hired ALL men or childless women and hired consultants. Guess she knew how I got canned. She does squat. Lesson learned. Do the right thing is a spike Lee movie not a mgt. style.

But even those women got old young. All those women gave up their career in their 30s. The 225k last was in a 100k bonus pool and only lasted 9 months. So no bonus.

Not sure what wfh has to do with it. If anything, that keeps me engaged. I log on post bedtime but I’m not traveling constantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boomers really really screwed the pooch here. And this is why my new supervisor is 15 years younger than the youngest employee she supervises.

Exactly. Most of my generation had to settle for rarely getting ahead no matter how much we worked. Eventually you give up. ~gen x

Totally, rules are completely stacked against the worker. Unless you show me the money and title today, I am not moving another finger for senior management. Oh yeah and my house is way nicer than some of the boomer manager's house. Makes you wonder what have they been doing all their life.

This. The last time I was asked if I wanted a “leadership opportunity” I negotiated new title, promotion, and immediate authority to hire a deputy to get another person out of the doldrums. Would not do one day “acting”. They agreed on the spot.

Boomers in the workplace have traded way too long on the “this will help you get ahead!” Promise without delivering. They’re the boy who cried professional development. Now, predictably, no one believes them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Graduated in 1993 and has a 10 year old? Ouch.

Seriously. DH and I both graduated in 2006 and have a 10 yr old…

Yeah, is it graduated from college or high school? I mean, I graduated from high school in 1994 and I have a 12 year old so not so much "ouch", I was 33 when she was born. Even if it's college, I mean, that's only a 40'ish pregnancy. That's not really noteworthy anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boomers really really screwed the pooch here. And this is why my new supervisor is 15 years younger than the youngest employee she supervises.

Exactly. Most of my generation had to settle for rarely getting ahead no matter how much we worked. Eventually you give up. ~gen x

Totally, rules are completely stacked against the worker. Unless you show me the money and title today, I am not moving another finger for senior management. Oh yeah and my house is way nicer than some of the boomer manager's house. Makes you wonder what have they been doing all their life.

This. The last time I was asked if I wanted a “leadership opportunity” I negotiated new title, promotion, and immediate authority to hire a deputy to get another person out of the doldrums. Would not do one day “acting”. They agreed on the spot.

Boomers in the workplace have traded way too long on the “this will help you get ahead!” Promise without delivering. They’re the boy who cried professional development. Now, predictably, no one believes them.

+10000

I would never work extra hours, extra tasks or even sit down to plan out a career based on the mentality that if I work hard for long enough, someone will let me have the dangling carrot.

There are people out there who want leadership positions. They want the career success and titles. They feel fulfilled working the long hours and knowing they are in-charge. It's not the norm anymore. Most of us just want to make a comfortable living, have weekends off and not worry about whether or not we can take off for a school play.

OP, you have to start hiring the people you think you want to take over for you. The ones who are motivated by the idea of being the CFO. You will pay higher salaries and you will need to make the job worth it for them. The days of grooming an employee from within the organization simply by telling them they are the chosen one is over. They get to choose you too and for so many Gen'Xers, it's not worth it. For Millenials, you have to make it worth it in writing and let them think about it over night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burnout is a very widespread problem. Especially post-Covid. The rat race sucks. You work and work and for what? A bigger house? A bigger car? Nice vacations you can't enjoy because you wind up working on them? Nice clothes?

It's good more people are recognizing that what is meaningful in life is the time you spend with loved ones and doing things you enjoy just for themselves. Some minority of people really love work and can be fulfilled by it, but most jobs simply are not fulfilling. The idea that someone would rather become a higher paid accountant than spend time with their spouse or kids is, honestly, sad in most cases.

Also, if every single person is super ambitious, you'd just wind up with a bunch of dissatisfied, bitter people who didn't make partner or C-suite, who never nabbed the brass ring. The whole point is that there aren't enough rings to go around. It shouldn't surprise you that some people understand this early on and choose to aim lower, save their pennies, and go spend their 50s and 60s doing something more rewarding than working in middle management and NOT getting promoted.

This! I once worked for a CEO who used to always say things like, "can you imagine being somewhere 15 years and still being an individual contributor?" or "We all want to go as high as possible." And not surprising, he had a huge problem with SMEs and high performing and happy middle managers quitting because they had a problem with this attitude.

[Anonymous]

College class of 2006. It was very clear to me fairly early on that:

1. It is incredibly hard to replace a high income if you lose your job after 50.

2. Other countries are rising for white collar work, and I shouldn't count on a booming job market.

I have been saving and investing aggressively since I was 21. I should be able to retire between 45-50, if I want to.

I would laugh in a boss's face if they told me I couldn't retire until I was 70. That is the out of touch one.

[Anonymous]

I can retire at 57. I’m doing everything I can to not have to work again. I’m not rich I’m a fed. But I’m so exhausted. I have 20+ years in and most of those have been crisis to crisis literal war to literal war. I had my kids before maternity leave was provided so I have a deficit on annual leave and sick days. The schools here have so many days they close. I never get a vacation because I have to use my leave for those. We can’t work from home and that’s not changing. I’m so so so exhausted. I just want to quit. For first time in life I play the lotto regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you three jobs guy

And/or do you manage hourly employees (poorly)?

[Anonymous]

Yes! Retire at 35! 40! Work 6 hours a day, never check email after work or on weekends!
God forbid a hard recession. I remember 1981 and long unemployment lines.