Absolutely no doubt that when you graduate impacts your fortunes and therefore probably your outlook. There is quite a bit of cohort research looking at earnings for graduates going into the workplace in different economic climates and this shows that graduating into a recession really does impact lifetime earnings for the group. I suppose you are permanently playing catch up with people with a little more experience than you compounding that experience, while struggling to fend off younger graduates who are cheaper and more fresh faced.
It is a little like the Malcolm Gladwell analysis of Canadian Hockey players which shows something like 70-75% were born Jan-Mar as this is the beginning of the academic year. The initially 'small' benefit of being a little older and a little larger for your year in a physical sport compounds all the way up to the professional level.
I graduated in 1998 and went to work in finance into the teeth of the Russian Debt crisis which caused my employer to fire half the graduates in the first three months (thankfully I made it). Two years later we hit 2000 with the dot com crash. These early work experiences definitely influenced me as a saver rather than spender. Not to mention that 10 years into my career, when you are hopefully cooking with gas, we go into 2008 and while I was employed over that time it was a fight and involved lower earnings than had it not occurred.
I have no complaints and there is always 'stuff' happening.
