Posted on 06/01/2013 12:20:47 PM PDT by Publius804
Members of Generation X, the so-called slackers weaned on Saturday morning cartoons, divorce and cynicism, are now in their late 30s to late 40s. And according to a recent report, those born between 1966 and 1975 really do have something to complain about.
A Pew Charitable Trust study, titled "Retirement Security Across Generations," examined the savings behavior of five age groups before the Great Recession hit and found that Gen Xers - the group of Americans following the baby boomers and range in age from 38 to 47 - fared especially poorly during the recent economic down swing. As a result, their retirement years will likely be more tarnished than golden.
The study, using data from 1989 through 2010 collected by the Federal Reserve Board and the University of Michigan, found that between 2007 and 2010, Gen Xers lost nearly half of their overall net worth, an average of about $33,000, and also had higher levels of debt than previous generations.
A large part of the reason their debt is so high is because of student loans and credit card debt, Erin Currier, who directs Pew's economic mobility project, told ABC News. "They're younger in their professional career relative to other cohorts," she said. "Wealth is a mixture of all kinds of things - savings, personal accounts, investments."
What's more, although Gen-Xers (who earned their moniker from Douglas Coupland's 1991 novel, " Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture"), did see high financial gains as a result of the housing boom, their overall rate of home ownership is lower than that of previous generations.
And while "early" baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1955) and "late" baby boomers (those born between 1956 and 1965) also suffered during the recession, they lost only a small percentage of their....
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
Ping!!!
But the last nomadic Lost Generation didn't turn out too bad, if Truman and Eisenhower are any indication.
I’m right at the end of Gen-X, and I hung on for a while, I was working in defense contracts. Now that seems to have all dried up. Now I’m a struggling business man.
GenX bump for later...
Why did “Generation X” only last 9 years? I thought a generation was 20 years. Maybe people realize that “generation X” was a bunch of losers and decided to put an end to it...
Bubbles get pumped up by large population generations, then tend to burst when a following generation is just hitting their stride. Happens pretty often from what I can tell.
This recession has slammed everyone though. Boomers have lost a lot their retirement right before many of them planned to retire, so little chance to make it up. We GenXers at least have a number of years to play catch-up. The 20-somethings (are they Millenials, or what are they called?) got hosed by coming out of school right when jobs dried up.
I think they are going to be the ‘Lost’ generation more than us. They have a good 5-6 years of a stagnant economy, many without jobs, and they will be fighting with those coming after them for entry-level stuff.
I am Gen X. Most of my friends are doing well. The only thing I can’t stand is paying more taxes during the last year. I guess it will get worse for us.
Gen-xers: we should be called the Rodney Dangerfield generation — we get no respect. Unlike the boomers, we will not get to collect social security even though we have been paying for it all our adult lives. The Millenials like the Gen-xers won’t get to collect social security either, but they will not have to pay for it very long as this gravy train will soon derail. After that we will all be adversely affected.
Gen X is generally 1965-1983, though start and end dates seem to vary some. I think they are talking about those of us born in the first part, got hammered most. At least that is how I read this sentence.
“And according to a recent report, those born between 1966 and 1975 really do have something to complain about.”
All the generations growing up in the age of the dominance of television/popular culture have their problems. There's really very little difference across the TV generations except the subjects that each age group's partisans whine about.
Sadly, we may see this change as today's current youngsters are growing up in an aggressively evil PC secularism that the those of us in Generation TV (1950-1990) did not have to face.
the numbers are wrong. gex x is roughly from 1965-1983 or so.
They voted overwhelmingly for obastard. To those who did: NO pity or sympathy.
Yet the majority voted for, and support 0bama, they got what they wanted and deserve and must be a generation of morons.
Perhaps with some recent changes, things will break apart more rapidly -- who watches network TV now? Who watches the same show (in any manner) the same time on the same day, week after week?? Remember when Thurs night was "must see TV" with Seinfeld and Friends and a couple other shows? How gone is that era?? Culture is becoming fractured and there are lots and lots of niches.
I think it is a good thing. I'd like to see our culture start moving very fast indeed -- it's harder for the Big Boys to control the population if the Big Boys can't keep up with what "everyone" is doing, watching or thinking.
Well, on the whole, I have a negative view of the Baby Boomers.
And part of the reason in that the hard-working Baby Boomers don't like to be lumped in with the hippies, but they nevertheless seem mighty quick to look at Gen X and just say "They are all a bunch of losers".
For me: I think Gen X is the more admirable generation. But every generation contains individuals who are better than average or worse than average. Painting with a broadbrush is always risky.
Yeah GenXers should be more like their liberal teachers and professors from the Baby Boomer Generation that voted in awesome wonders such as Jimmy Carter Part 1.0, and also gave us the wonders of the EPA, Department of Energy, the ATF, andthe Department of Education.
Or maybe more like folks from the "Greatest Generation" that voted in FDR four freakin times like was their electoral king or something. Because social security, medicare, WPA, AAA, CCC, NRA, 1/2 the world falling to the USSR, and ignoring communist infiltration in the State Department leading to Hiss giving China to the reds, were all such very non-moron ideals......all this after spending untold blood and treasure FIGHTING socialists on the world stage.
Which, between the two, gave the GenXers trillions of dollars in Fed Debt long before I ever had the opportunity to step to the ballot box.
I guess the only thing that truly makes GenXers "morons" is not hanging the sonsofbitches responsible.
I find it doesn’t do a lot of good to complain. I certainly don’t find my financial future particularly bright, but I don’t have anybody depending on me either, so it doesn’t matter much. The old farts grumble at me and say “Why don’t you do this?” and I tell them “With what money?” The young fools just giggle, smoke another joint, and make another baby that my taxes will keep up. The worst part is, being the smallest generation, Gen X will not really get a chance to set things right- numbers matter, and as soon as the Boomers are dead, the Millenials and their ilk will hold the balance of power.
I’m not Shery - I’m her daughter. I’m a gen. X’er myself. I only have student loan debts, but because of the difficult time trying to hold down enough employment while trying to go to school on my own, since I was 19, has meant that I NEVER had anything saved towards retirement. My parents couldn’t afford to send me to college, and the cost of living in my state is fairly high. That being the case, I couldn’t afford to move to a cheaper state. Plus, I’m from a college town, where you can’t get a job that pays more than minimum wage, most of the time - because they can get college students to that will take minimum wage, so why should they pay anyone else more than that? - that was their mindset. Even with working two or three jobs that paid minimum wage, what little I was able to save toward school always ended up going into my beat-up car to keep it running (repairs, etc.), or to the doctor when I’d get strep throat or something like that. So, I was never able to save anything for college. That’s when I took out student loans, which I had to wait till I was 24 to do. That got me a real late start in school, compared to my fellow peers whose parents were able to help them through school - or my other peers who were not white and therefore able to get all kinds of scholarships or grants that I didn’t qualify for - even though I had excellent grades. They were all able to graduate from college at 22 or 23 or were getting their master’s degrees the following year. So, I went to school sometimes and then had to stop and work a few semesters to get back on my feet financially. Then I’d go back to school and then have to stop again to work a whole lot, again to get caught back up. Each time I was in school, I was still working too. I FINALLY got my lowly A.A. in 2006. STILL working on my B.A. and it’s 2013!!! And by the way, I’m a go-getter type of person. I don’t slack off, and I’m not at all stupid. Finally, I said “forget this!” and went to get an LPN license (to see if I’m any good at nursing). I’m back to working on my B.A. again, and also working on my RN at the same time. Now, I can’t find a nursing job because guess why? I don’t have at least one year’s experience yet. Talk about feeling real frustrated at 40, with not a penny aside for retirement and still all these student loans to pay. Good thing I never had kids! I’d never be able to afford them. So, yes, this is one frustrated gen. X’er who can vouch for the legitimacy of this article - for at least some of us.
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