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 ...
Late GenX here.
I didn’t have any credit card or student loan debt but I delayed buying a home until 2007 because at first I didn’t have enough money(first real job in ‘96), and by the time I did have money I could see that a huge real estate bubble had formed(circa 2004). I waited as long as I could hoping a crash would happen but eventually I had to by something to retain my sanity since renting was not working, and of course the crash happened only a few months later...
I literally lost about 1/3rd of my worth in the crash because I put 20% down(being responsible HAH) near the peak.
I guess the “good news” is that I was able to avoid forclosure and the bubble is slowly re-inflating, but it certainly hasn’t been a fun ride for my generation.
By the way, GenXteacher, I agree. My youngest brother is also a teacher - he qualifies for the Gen. Y group. My other younger brother (the middle guy) only just a few months ago, finally got a really good job that loves him and pays him well, and is a job he may be able to have for life - time will tell. I’m happy for them as they have kids and wives. I always planned to work till I was dead, just because I’m a work-a-holic like my dad. I have to stay busy. But our future scares me some. If something were to happen to our health when we get up there in age, and we couldn’t work, there won’t be anything for us - no Medicaid or Medicare, no social security, no nothing. And by the way, to the others who commented on here, not all of us voted that way!
Keep trying for your RN...this I do know...the Boomers will have not left this a better country...what Gen X and beyond does is anyones guess....our generation will also have to rebuild our Churchs - if we even have that capacity....what I do resent is Boomers referring to Gen Xers as slackers...not all boomers were hippies or draft dodgers..there are a lot of good ones but in the end the conservative boomers lost the culture war and that will be our ultimate undoing as a nation...
Publius, that’s unfortunately true. I have quite a few friends my parents’ age, and they openly admit the baby boomer generation really did this nation in, when they went totally “counter-culture” on everyone. I also think some people in the 1920’s kind of got that trend started, as many people of that time were pushing the boundaries on morality. Plus, socialism was getting a good deal of interest from several of our politicians at that time. When they realized they couldn’t ram socialism through our government so fast, they went for the academic institutions, to change the minds of successive generations. It worked. It has only gotten worse from there. I hope to see more of my generation wake up and get a clue, but I don’t expect that will happen without a major shaking: something akin to 09/11 but worse. Maybe if our economy totally collapses, that might wake a few people up......maybe.
I think the culture is more important than the economy....and conservative boomers let the counter cultural left take over education and the culture...we talk about gay marriage but where were outraged conservative boomers when no-fault divorce became the law in state after state..they did not understand that polititcal victories are hollow when you are losing the culture...so even during the Reagan administration conservatives were losing where it counted most - in the culture! And conservative Boomers did nothing about that except whine a lot....we didn’t need the Moral Majority we needed more Breitbarts....this nation has crumbling families and communites our social infrastructure is being demolished so a flat tax is not going ot matter when the people are passed the point of no return...
Really? You mean that crap with no discernible melody and generic female and male voices that I hear in retail establishments on their public address systems would have been hits in 1965? I don't think so. I was spinning records as a radio DJ then and am familiar with the music of that year and I cannot imagine the transfer of the junk that I hear today to 1965 would have worked.
Gen X was originally called the Baby Bust generation.
1965-1983 was also the era of the Swinging Singles, pre-herpes & pre-AIDS.
Correlation?
Careful who you are calling a loser.....
I have to say I couldn’t agree more, Publius. I personally believe we need to return to God. Nothing else will be solved without that. Because all of those other issues: politics, economics, education, etc. all have to do with a frame of mind. When the heart is corrupt, the mind will be too.
“we talk about gay marriage but where were outraged conservative boomers when no-fault divorce became the law in state after state.”
Practicing law, making big $$.
I am a baby boomer and have been a small business owner since I was 25. I provided jobs to many younger people, lots of Gen Xers, over the years. But here in Washington state business is bad for most small businesses. The baby boomer business owners who are my friends will continue to work longer than they otherwise would, had the economy been better.
So the work that probably Gen Xers would have taken over is still being done by the boomers. It is all a big ball of crap rolling downhill over each successive generation.
And the boomer conservatives that I know were too busy working and providing jobs for others to combat the the slacker doper boomers who were busy destroying the culture.
It is very sad indeed that the lazy morons among us, of all eras, end up determining the future for all of us.
Not working right after college can cost six figures easily during a lifetime career. You get on the ladder later, and it’s very difficult to make up for that - it can be done, but tricky. I see this in my field.
The coming economic collapse will make the Great Depression look like a picnic. There will be no catch-up. You need to think in terms of your physical survival.
That in a nutshell is the problem....conservative Boomers let the left win the “moral imagination” of the people....being an intellectual or an artist is as IMPORTANT as being a partner in a law firm or a small business owner...When we reduce everything to economics we end up with the mess we have today...I don’t even call myself a Republican anymore just a traditionalist conservative...Big business can be the most anti-conservative force in American life and why Republicans live and die on that hill is beyond me...
Those younger were still able to move back in with the parents.
Those older usually were not "upside down" on their mortgage having bought before the run-up and lacking small children they were able for both adults to go out and work if necessary.
They were earning more and had lower expenses. Ergo they suffered less.
The Gen-Xers were earning less and had higher expenses. Ergo they suffered more.
later
I’m still a Republican, myself, although I find there is a huge abyss between me and people like Myth Romney. I agree with what you say, though- an open sewer with a balanced checkbook is still an open sewer. There were a lot of Boomers who didn’t go to the left, so I generally don’t bash them. But I find they don’t understand much about where my generation is, and since I was raised to respect my elders, I mostly keep silent.
>>There will be no catch-up. You need to think in terms of your physical survival.
“Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”
My post was meant in the spirit of the latter, which isn’t to say I am not attempting to do the former. Not easy, of course. I am focusing more on skills prep’ing.
I also bought in 2007 and have lost about 1/3 of my home value. No re-inflating in my area.
At the time they were talking about how the sub-prime loans were mostly shaken out, then ‘prime’ borrowers started tanking. Bear Stearns went belly up almost exactly a year after I closed on my house.
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