I'm right on the cusp of the line that divides the Baby Boomers from the Gen Xers. My husband is technically one of the last of the Boomers, while I'm one of the first Gen Xers. He and I can identify with both groups.
The article nailed us. We were brought up to believe exactly what it says: We were encouraged to get a college education. We were pushed to choose jobs well-suited to our personalities and talents, and although I don't remember anyone specifically saying, "Choose safe and secure", that theme was promoted pretty heavily. I remember being told that I could work towards anything I chose, but I never thought I'd be a pro-athlete or musician; I always knew I didn't have that talent -- no one ever tried to spare my feelings with undeserved trophies, and rather than growing up with a poor self-image, I developed a realistic view of my ability range. I expected to get a job that I liked and to work with pleasant people, but I never adopted the idea that my personal fulfillment would center around my career. Rather, we were taught (mainly by example) that happiness and fulfillment comes from a happy marriage, raising children, and maintaining strong ties to family and friends. We expected that we would work hard, and that we'd have good days and bad days, and it'd take us years to get past entry-level; regardless, we always expected that the highlights of our lives would not take place in an office. Instead, we expected that time with family, holiday celebrations, and so forth would be the defining moments of our lives. We put effort into making sure we had a nice Christmas, everyone got something nice on his birthday, and we had a big cookout for Labor Day . . . but we also expected to eat beans and rice on ordinary weeknights. We moved out of our parents' houses, and we didn't return -- but we lived 4 girls in a 2-bedroom apartment and had hand-me-down furniture. When we were first out on our own, not only did we not have cell phones -- we didn't always have a land line. We waited for years 'til we could afford cable TV, cars with air conditioning and a radio. Few of us borrowed for school, but we also didn't see the whole world as an educational option -- we attended the least expensive school nearest our homes.
I'm 25 years out of college, and, yes, the article is right: I have succeeded beyond my expectations. My husband and I have certainly worked for everything we have, but we've accumulated more than we expected was possible for two kids who came from working poor backgrounds. Therefore, we are happy.
I do see that today's youth, Gen Y, buys into some of these ideas, but they've "upped the ante". I do hear phrases like, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life" or "Follow your passion". These phrases were not part of my childhood. I do see lots of students who are very unrealistic about their futures: Kids who are still playing JV ball as sophomores but expect a full-ride scholarship at a division 1 school. I see LOTS of students who insist that they must have "THE college experience" at their dream school . . . cost and debt be damned! I specifically remember a senior who gave a speech about "The American Dream", and it was about how everyone dreams of being famous -- that definitely was not an expectation of my generation. Also, Gen Y seems to expect to play a lot more than my generation: My younger co-workers travel probably 4Xs more than I do, almost all of them have nicer cars than us old folks, all of them have iPhones, they go to concerts and out to eat regularly. I do these things occasionally now, but when I was just out of college, funsie-spending was rare, rare, rare for me. It seems that when I was just out of college, we expected to splurge a bit on holidays and celebrations . . . but my younger co-workers splurge just about every weekend. Thing is, I don't think they realize just how much "more" they have than previous generations; they've always had these things, and "not having" is alien to them. They are definitely more comfortable with debt than my generation, and -- again -- they don't seem to grasp that older generations don't feel the same way.
It's a mistake to say that Gen Yers don't want to work. My younger co-workers are not afraid to roll their sleeves up and get their hands dirty. They volunteer for after-school activities, and they are team players. In general, I have no complaints about them as co-workers. But they do suffer a bit from the "I am special, unique and different" thing, and they don't seem to know it. They do expect pats on the back for doing what's expected. And they seem less satisfied with the job than us older folks. They fairly often discuss making a change to another job, going back for another degree, etc. They are more willing to take risks, and they don't buy into the need for safety and stability as much as my generation.
As for difficulties getting jobs, I'm not buying into this being a new problem. I was poor as dirt in college, yet in the two years AFTER graduation, my lifestyle DECREASED. I didn't fall into a good job right away, and I spent considerable effort in searching. Even once I got that first "real job", it wasn't enough to support myself right away: I kept a second job for quite a while. I never had an apartment all to myself; in fact, it was two years 'til I had a bedroom to myself! But I never borrowed to up my lifestyle -- I saw it as a stage through which I had to move -- and most of my friends were the same. It is compounded today by increased expectations and widespread student debt, but it's wrong to think that previous generations stepped out of college and into an easy life.
I'm also not buying that jobs aren't out there. Last summer I went to a family wedding, and I saw a bunch of extended family that I hadn't seen in years -- and a lot of cousins whose children are 4-8 years older than my own kids. Without exception, the kids who were out of college were employed in their field. About half of them had purchased houses. None of them were living with their parents. And none of these were silver-spoon kids; rather, they are the children of military men, truck drivers, nurses, secretaries, and teachers -- they're the children of solidly middle class parents. The 20-somethings weren't necessarily rolling in the dough, but they seemed to be doing a little better than we were at their age. It was encouraging to me as the mother of two teens. Of course, every one of them had a highly-employable degree -- not a Psychology degree among them.
As to this-or-that generation having it better, those of us who are older can look back and see that we had some benefits that today's kids don't have. Yeah, we bought our first house for 70K, but balance that against my first professional salary of 16K/year and a 9.something interest rate on that house. And today's generation has some benefits that we didn't enjoy: For example, internet shopping, ebay and Craigslist have made it easier to comparison shop for consumer goods. Paying for long distance calls is a thing of the past. Clothing costs much less today than it did in the past, mostly because styles are relaxed to the point that most of us don't need to purchase suits, jackets and other expensive items (nor do we have to pay the dry cleaning). Do these things equal out? I wouldn't pretend to have a comprehensive list ready at hand, but it's a mistake to believe that everything was wine and roses for past generations and total crap for today's youth.
Pensions. Yeah, I've got one, but if I could go back in time and either have it . . . or have the money to invest on my own, I'm not sure what I'd choose. Pensions are great in that you can't outlive your money, but they also tie you to one job all your life. Older generations bought into this; workers stayed with the same company for 30-40 years and retired with the gold watch and the full pension. If you believe statistics, few Gen Yers would ever stay with one company long enough to earn a pension. Also, more and more families today are made up of two-career couples, and that affects pensions. For example, twice my husband has been offered a job out of state . . . and twice he's turned it down because after doing the math we've determined that the increase in his salary would not make up for me being forced to leave my pension plan. Next, most people on this board are looking to work hard for 10 years or so, and then leave -- those are the people who'd never make it to the pension. And don't overlook the fact that a pension is a gamble: You work for 30 years, pay into the pension . . . and you might collect for 5 years, or you might collect for 50 years -- you can't know whether your "investment" will pay off or not. In contrast, a 401K is YOURS. If you die young, at least you have the compensation of knowing that your money will go to your spouse or your heirs.
For me personally, with my live-forever genes, a pension is a good thing; still, I do worry about its stability. But I'm glad that I have the pension AND my husband has a good 401K AND we have other assets. No matter whether you have a pension or not, no one should base his or her retirement on one vehicle alone.
When I was in college, I realized that I didn't know nearly enough about money, so I spent hours in the college library reading everything I could about finance, investments, retirement, etc. This was when 401Ks were still a developing concept (80s), and I read article after article about how they were superior to pensions because the employee had more control over his own money. The key, of course, is that the employee also gets the responsibility. With a pension, the company plays the part of Big Brother, and you trust him to do the right thing.
