Boomer responds to Millennials about why Boomers are waiting to retire

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JoJo
Of course we can't retire, we've been downsized, outsourced, and laid off. Our pensions have been stolen, our 401ks eviserated by various stock market crashes, the cost of living goes up, wages are stagnent, and god forbid you try to find a job if you're over 50!

We lived through social chaos, assassinations, war and riots. Not to mention we grew up during the cold war with the ever-present threat of total annihalation.

Anyone else ever check out the r/lostgeneration sub on reddit? It's nothing but millennials whining about how good the boomers had it.

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bell_flower
I was born in the early 60's so that makes me on the tail end of the Baby Boomers. I think a lot of factors have contributed to the present state: 1. conspicuous/smothering/helicopter parenting and Moos (and increasingly, Duds) making their kids their entire identity; 2. being able to stay on parental insurance until age 26; 3. affluenza.

I was fully launched at age 22. I got out because I hated living with my mom. Most people my age felt the same way and couldn't wait to GTFO. You'd bunk in an apartment with peers and you didn't have anything that resembled real furniture for a while. (I had the cinder block + wood plank bookshelves--very 70's and 80's although I did have a real bed and a hand-me-down dresser.) I moved around for my job and lived pretty frugally. I didn't buy a house until I was in my 40's and it was truly a starter home: 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,500 square feet. I drove a modest sedan. The younger people I work with just have more shit, tons of gadgets and they expect to live a higher lifestyle with the big houses and fancy SUVs and minivans.

However, I can see where safe and affordable housing is an issue. Back in the day, people from all walks of life lived in apartments. Finding somewhere reasonably safe didn't cost an arm and a leg. Now, everyone wants a house and it has to be something out of HGTV. DH and I are living in the third house for both of us, so we came to this house with a hefty downpayment. When we see young people in our neighborhood we think, how can they do it? (We bought before the bubble and many departed shortly thereafter because they were upside down.) Finding a safe apartment in my town means spending $1500+ a month. I can see people buying under those conditions. Might as well get equity instead of paying rent and not having anything to show for it.

I have a very small sample size, but most of the Millenials I work with are stupid with money. One in particular is the sole wage earner with a stay at home wifey and little kids. They eat out all the time--in the Summer the wife takes the kids out to eat every day. The house is a slovenly mess and I can't figure out what she's doing other than being a 24/7 entertainment center for brats. He's always got the latest gadget and they go on trips constantly. They also appear to barely making ends meet. He's medically fragile and they are one medical crisis away from disaster.

He's also very entitlement minded. He's told me that "he could do my job." Dream on, dude. I have 25+ years and I've lived in three different places doing related jobs. I know the company inside and out. He's been around six years and thinks he knows it all. Pretty typical. He'd be a complete disaster if he got my job. People are already telling me they would leave if he got it.

Other random observations: My niece and nephew also learned to drive late. I don't think they got licenses until they were 20 or 21. I can't even fathom that. When I was 16 I accepted a job at the Maul before I knew how to drive the extra old car my parents had for the kids. (It was a manual transmission.) I figured it out because I wanted money and independence and that was the way to get it. When my niece and nephew were around 10 we went to a family function and I offered them a ride in my car. They declined and said they wanted to ride with their parents. I was like, WTF is wrong with these kids? When I was that age, if I had a sanctioned event where I could ditch my parents, I would have been all over that. They seemed unusually attached to their parents.

My niece and nephew eventually launched. One of them took a 2-3 year break between college and medical school and worked part time. This would not have been permitted for one minute in my mom's household--we were expected to get jobs and insurance. They rode their parents' insurance and their parents weren't perturbed by it. My niece now makes six figures and has her own place, car and job so I guess she turned out okay. Nephew has a job and his own place too.

DH's nieces and nephews are a mixed bag. Most are classic millennials in the bad way. Two of them are 30+, and living with my SIL and they refuse to work. My SIL and her husband just bought a big enough house so these two parasites can continue to live with them. My SIL hasn't worked in 30 years and she's lazy too and sees nothing wrong with it. Her husband is a dumbass....these aren't even his kids.

I realize a lot of this is personality dependent. I wouldn't doubt that there are hard working, non-entitled Millenials, just as there are lazy Bommers. I have a Boomer employee whom I want to hurt on a regular basis. W-O-R-T-H-L-E-S-S and entitled to boot.

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yurble
I don't know why the media is trying to promote the generation wars (and why Gen X is invisible in this war they're building up between Boomers and Millennials). I know hard-working Millennials and Boomers who want Millennials to get the same social benefits they enjoyed in youth. I also know whiny, entitled, useless people from both generations. In fact the media is highlighting whining Boomers complaining about Millennials "killing" industries at least as often as they are spotlighting Millennials whining about Boomers hoarding all the wealth, they just don't call it whining when it is older people doing it.

Everyone involved in that media debate is an adult. Perhaps it is time for all those whingers, younger and older, to try acting like adults and recognize that there is more nuance in how individuals behave than just their age. Everyone gets fed up with generalizations about them, and those based purely on age are no more helpful than those based on race, sex, etc. I'm so sick of the old-vs-young narrative the media is trying to push. People aren't my enemies because they are older or younger than me, if I dislike them it is because they are demonstrated assholes based on their own actions.

Each generation has its own challenges, which differ from the ones which came before, and each generation has things it take for granted which previous generations didn't get.

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yurble
I don't know why the media is trying to promote the generation wars (and why Gen X is invisible in this war they're building up between Boomers and Millennials). I know hard-working Millennials and Boomers who want Millennials to get the same social benefits they enjoyed in youth. I also know whiny, entitled, useless people from both generations. In fact the media is highlighting whining Boomers complaining about Millennials "killing" industries at least as often as they are spotlighting Millennials whining about Boomers hoarding all the wealth, they just don't call it whining when it is older people doing it.

Everyone involved in that media debate is an adult. Perhaps it is time for all those whingers, younger and older, to try acting like adults and recognize that there is more nuance in how individuals behave than just their age. Everyone gets fed up with generalizations about them, and those based purely on age are no more helpful than those based on race, sex, etc. I'm so sick of the old-vs-young narrative the media is trying to push. People aren't my enemies because they are older or younger than me, if I dislike them it is because they are demonstrated assholes based on their own actions.

Each generation has its own challenges, which differ from the ones which came before, and each generation has things it take for granted which previous generations didn't get.