We are in some ways better off than parents, while worse in others. The main difference between us (Xers, with Boomer parents) is that they saw incredible appreciations in their real estate investments -- their purchases have quadrupled or more in value. They also have seen tremendous gains in equity investments since the 1980s as well. I don't think that our generation or generations after us will see this type of growth. The other main difference is how much money we have to set aside to educate our children. Our parents paid ~20k total per kid. We are setting aside ~300k per kid.

my parents both were born with silver spoons in their mouths and never had a mortgage (gifted a home). They did not make a lot in their 'careers' but did not have to pay for a house, private school tuition for kids or college tuition for kids. Or vacations. Or cars. Luckily, they both have prepared for things like assisted living and old age.

My husband and I make way more money then either of them did but my parents did not gift us with houses or anything.

It is super annoying because they are clueless to finances.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents were engineers and forced me to become an engineer, and I became an engineer. I hated it and changed careers, but I appreciate the education I got as an engineer - it has made me good at what I do now. I am therefore thankful to my parents for forcing me to learn engineering. I am doing *MUCH* better than my parents.

I'm not going to let my kids chase their idiotic dreams. They are going to learn something with a predictable and abundant financial future.

Robots will do more so if you are thinking medicine, you are wrong. Only a small number of lawyers make it big so nah can’t be law. Finance? Robot investing is the future...real estate? What did you have in mind?

PP here. Robots and AI can do things that are well defined and repetitive in nature, but they cannot be creative, yet. I don't buy the argument that robots and AI will completely eliminate an employment type. People like to use manufacturing as an example, but even now, the number of manufacturing jobs is about 60% of the peak established in the late 70s. If you then want to argue that wages have stagnated, that doesn't seem to be true either as can bee seen in the following graph for average manufacturing job wages:



Success in life relies on two things: 1) having some solid technical ability, such as engineering, science, law, etc, and 2) the person needs people skills, which is closely related to business management. I plan to prepare my kids with both of these, and that will more or less ensure that they can deal with whatever change in the market/industry they encounter.

This is correct. AI still needs people to manage/program. So, people definitely won't be out of jobs..but the nature of the jobs will change.

My father was raised in an orphanage, got on heroin at 17, then became a plumber.

So yes, I am because I made different life choices

My parents highest income ever was 40K. My Mom when a widow was last making 19K. So easy bar.

You should judge vs brothers/sisters, brother in laws/sister inlaws and first cousins to give a feel of your income.

We are better off than my parents by a lot but it turns out they had a lot of money but didn’t spend it on themselves. Eventually they gave most of it to their many grandchildren as their children were all quite successful. Our children are doing well but it’s unlikely they will do as well as we have but we are doing things like funding 529’s and setting up trusts that insure they will be fine.

It is so terrible that your parents treated you like an adult and allowed you to make your own career decision. What awful people!

In our mid-30s now, we are much better off than DH's parents ever were during their working lives. Probably earning more (adjusted) than my parents did at the same time in their careers, but I doubt we'll end up with the same income & lifestyle level my parents had at the peak of their careers before retirement. This compounded by the fact that both of our families lived in lower COL areas, and had much lower child-related expenses (we have 3 and both work).

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and I'm not better off than my parents, if that helps. They came from poor backgrounds and never went to college, but luck and a strong economy during their main earning years means they had more earning power at my age and have enjoyed huge real estate gains. Mom also has a great pension, the likes of which is no longer available.

It's really common for Gen X and younger to have less buying power and financial stability compared to the Boomers. I don't think your being a doctor or a lawyer would necessarily have changed that. But even if it would have, it's inappropriate to blame your parents for your choices.

Pretty much this. My parents also live in a lower cost of living area and have their entire lives. They also had significant assistance in the way of childcare from family when we were young and my mother taught school so never needed coverage for summer or school breaks or anything. Their parents left them nothing monetarily, whereas they may leave us a decent amount depending on their care needs, of course. My mother has an extremely generous state pension. They also paid off their house after 14 years of owning it, so haven’t had a mortgage in nearly 30 years. Of course, their house cost $62,000...even adjusting for inflation we could never buy a comparable house in this area for that price.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents were engineers and forced me to become an engineer, and I became an engineer. I hated it and changed careers, but I appreciate the education I got as an engineer - it has made me good at what I do now. I am therefore thankful to my parents for forcing me to learn engineering. I am doing *MUCH* better than my parents.

I'm not going to let my kids chase their idiotic dreams. They are going to learn something with a predictable and abundant financial future.

Robots will do more so if you are thinking medicine, you are wrong. Only a small number of lawyers make it big so nah can’t be law. Finance? Robot investing is the future...real estate? What did you have in mind?

PP here. Robots and AI can do things that are well defined and repetitive in nature, but they cannot be creative, yet. I don't buy the argument that robots and AI will completely eliminate an employment type. People like to use manufacturing as an example, but even now, the number of manufacturing jobs is about 60% of the peak established in the late 70s. If you then want to argue that wages have stagnated, that doesn't seem to be true either as can bee seen in the following graph for average manufacturing job wages:



Success in life relies on two things: 1) having some solid technical ability, such as engineering, science, law, etc, and 2) the person needs people skills, which is closely related to business management. I plan to prepare my kids with both of these, and that will more or less ensure that they can deal with whatever change in the market/industry they encounter.

I'm way better off than my parents. They were living in a dirt poor country with no education and struggled there, then they brought me and my siblings here and struggled all these years as well.

I graduated from college and got a high paying tech job, have a partner who also makes the same. I help them out with bills and stuff these days. They're just happy I'm the only one so far in the entire extended family to have "made it".

Interesting question. I honestly don't know if I'm better off than my parents. My father is a first generation immigrant who grew up very poor - didn't have indoor plumbing and he used an outhouse. He enlisted in the military when he was 21, went to college after his four year enlistment then became an officer/pilot in the Air Force. My father scrimped and saved, married later in life and was 40 when I was born (I'm the oldest.) My dad didn't buy his first house until he was 42. He retired from the military after 20 years and became a commercial pilot. I know he saved 100% of his military retirement for the next 15 years while he still worked as a pilot. He was forced to retire at 60. My parents divorced a few years before my dad retired and my mom told me that he had amassed over a million in savings (and this was early 1980's.) He paid for my private college. He bought me my first car and gave me some money when I had my children.

We never lived lavishly, (I always knew he was very stingy with money) but because he was a pilot, we were able to fly for free or at greatly reduced prices. By the time I was a teenager, I had been all over the world (we also did live in France and Japan while growing up.) But that also meant sitting around airports waiting for space on a flight and not being able to travel together as a family. My dad is now 94 and suffering from dementia. He lives in a very comfortable memory care home. We don't have to worry about how we are going to pay for his care. He remarried 20 years ago and his wife takes care of his finances so I haven't seen his accounts but I know he still has money.

I started working at a well paying job right out of college and bought my first home (a condo) when I was 26. My DH and I bought a very comfortable single family home when we got married at 33. I became a SAHM at 38 but because I had saved the max in my 401K while I was working, it is now worth 400K. My husband has over 1 million in his 401K. We have an additional 1 million in investments. Plus 240,000 in 529's.

I did not drastically improve my standard of living like my father did. I think in some ways, I'm better off than my dad was at the same age, but in some ways I feel like he had saved more money. I think in terms of day to day lifestyle, my children have a very similar upbringing. We are currently paying for college.

According to a calculator I found online, $1,000,000 in 1980 is worth $3,275,000 today. If my dad did have $1,000,000 in 1980 then I'm not doing as well he did since we only have $2,650,000.

Anonymous wrote:I think the OP is a troll, or just an incredibly dumb, immature and entitled 20-something.

But the question makes me think. I am considerably better off than my parents, but my mom at many points in her career by herself made what DH and I pull in combined. My dad worked too. And they lived in low-COLAs. But they are epically poor financial managers. They have squandered hundreds of thousands if not more. Their big argument is they paid OOP to put my siblings and me through college, but the reality is, they would not have otherwise actually invested that money. They would have blown it.

Now my dad is retired and my mom is semi-retired, wants to work but is hardly physically capable of part time in her field. I have no idea where they get any money from. I believe they have pockets of savings here and there, some they don’t even know where or how to access. And they’re getting Medicare and SS. My mom may qualify for some disability. But their situation is horrendous. There’s so much more but suffice to say they are your quintessential boomer nightmare.

MIL lives with us and has completely blown her meager retirement savings. She lives by the “you can’t take it with you!” adage. Just the other night DH and SIL (and I chimed in a little more than was probably appropriate) were explaining to her that it doesn’t work that way, that elder care costs a fortune. She said her kids will pay for it. I said, we are saving for own retirements and our kids’ college funds. We don’t have money to fund our parents’ retirement.

I agree OP is a troll they haven’t come back or responded to the specific advice about being a designer a few pages back.

You can still go to law school. I'm sure your parents will pay your tuition.

I think the OP is a troll, or just an incredibly dumb, immature and entitled 20-something.

But the question makes me think. I am considerably better off than my parents, but my mom at many points in her career by herself made what DH and I pull in combined. My dad worked too. And they lived in low-COLAs. But they are epically poor financial managers. They have squandered hundreds of thousands if not more. Their big argument is they paid OOP to put my siblings and me through college, but the reality is, they would not have otherwise actually invested that money. They would have blown it.

Now my dad is retired and my mom is semi-retired, wants to work but is hardly physically capable of part time in her field. I have no idea where they get any money from. I believe they have pockets of savings here and there, some they don’t even know where or how to access. And they’re getting Medicare and SS. My mom may qualify for some disability. But their situation is horrendous. There’s so much more but suffice to say they are your quintessential boomer nightmare.

MIL lives with us and has completely blown her meager retirement savings. She lives by the “you can’t take it with you!” adage. Just the other night DH and SIL (and I chimed in a little more than was probably appropriate) were explaining to her that it doesn’t work that way, that elder care costs a fortune. She said her kids will pay for it. I said, we are saving for own retirements and our kids’ college funds. We don’t have money to fund our parents’ retirement.