Reply to Honestly the complete disregard for GenX financial strain is getting old

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[quote=Anonymous]I graduated college in 1992 with an almost 8 percent unemployment rate. I temped/lower wage worked for a couple years trying to break into my desired field  (i graduated summa cum laude from an ivy but did not want to do management consulting, law school or finance like so many of my peers--kind of wish I had been more pragmatic) and so I went to grad school for a phd. I had a full ride and almost no student loans undergrad, so I was pretty fortunate there, and I had saved money from working after college since I lived with my parents and only paid nominal rent. That got me through grad school. I graduated and got my first real job in  1999, making under 34k in DC (started as a GS 9). I scrimped and saved to buy a condo in 2005 and sold in 2010 in order to buy a home with spouse (I essentially broke even). Buying that home together was the first good financial decision, but unlike my parents, who had owned a home, had two kids, and a generally good middle class life by their late 30s, living mostly on one salary, we were struggling with buying a house, childcare costs, etc. We got new jobs, sold in 2016 and moved to a MCOL, which made things more bearable although also meant losing my federal pension and healthcare (I'll still have one but small). Recently, my mother spent the last 3 years of her life in assisted living/memory care (and before then, with hired help) and it opened my eyes to how much we will need for LTC. We have enough for a decent retirement and help pay for college for kids, but not enough for LTC.

Not sure any of that is specific to Gex X. What is most specific to Gen X, I think, was the total lack of any kind of financial advice or education I received but also....I guess I had the self sufficiency to figure it out or at least, we didn't feel as powerless as young people do now. Maybe because we didn't know better.

As for finances, getting a well paying job, how to be self sufficient, how to take care of a home, car, etc--my parents never discussed it.  They helped with college and then they figured I'd just get a job, get married, buy a house, etc. My dad had a very stable job and retired with a full pension, my mom worked only intermittently, etc. I really didn't know the first thing about investing and although I started saving in my TSP once I started earning money, I would have done things very differently if I had been more financially savvy. My spouse also grew up poor--not quite food stamps but close--and was similarly poorly educated in terms of personal finance.

I dont know if I can leave my kids in as good a position as I would like--their future will more likely be harder and more complicated for all kinds of reasons. They look at marriage, kids, and home ownership as either undesirabley or unattainable, and they dont really let themselves dream about a career. Its sad.  But I am going to try ,and also try to educate them and support them so they feel they have a future. [/quote]

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