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“It’s Simply Impossible To Do So On Your Own”: Person Proves Why The Boomer Generation Had It Twice As Easy As Gen Z
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“It’s Simply Impossible To Do So On Your Own”: Person Proves Why The Boomer Generation Had It Twice As Easy As Gen Z

Person Compiles Hard Data To Prove This Generation Must Work Twice As Much As Boomers For The Same Things“This Generation Must Work Twice As Hard For What Boomers Had. Here Are The Real Numbers”Person Breaks Down Hard Numbers To Show Why Boomers Had It Much Easier Than The Current GenerationPerson Breaks Down Generational Inflation, Gets Applauded By The InternetPerson Breaks Down Using Math Why Gen Z 'Must Work Twice as Hard' As Boomers To Succeed In Life, Goes ViralPerson Does The Math To Show Why This Generation Must Work Twice As Much As Boomers
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On social media, intergenerational conflicts are common. You know how they go; millennials are lazy, baby boomers are bathing in their hoarded wealth and Gen Z’ers spend more time on their phones than with their own families.

However, slogans don’t really paint an accurate picture. For that, we need hard data. And Reddit user MikeTheBard has compiled a set of numbers that might explain the roots of this hostility.

A few days ago, they put together a post for the popular ‘Antiwork’ community, analyzing how much effort one had to put in to get themselves an education and a roof over their head in 1972, 1992, and 2022, and the stark differences show just how much the world can change for your kids.

RELATED:

    Many young adults find it impossible to even dream about getting a home

    Image credits: energepic.com (not the actual photo)

    And numbers can really help us to understand why

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    Image credits: Seattle Municipal Archives (Not the actual photo)

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    Image credits: MikeTheBard

    Of course, all of this doesn’t mean that baby boomers (those born roughly between 1946 and 1964) were handed everything on a silver platter. When they graduated from college and were coming of age in the 1970s, an era of both innovation and downturn, their financial future was actually quite hazy.

    In her book ‘Can’t Even: How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation,’ Anne Helen Petersen explains that by the 1970s, many of those boomers (who were in their mid-twenties at the time), experienced wage stagnation, inflation, and an unemployment rate of 8.5% — American jobs had begun moving overseas so corporations could pay employees less and avoid the wrath of powerful unions that advocated for workers, and on top of all that, the U.S. was dealing with the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, a general distrust of the government, and the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

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    And that wasn’t the end of it. One of the biggest financial hits to the generation was the shift from the pension program to 401(k) programs.

    A pension plan is a benefit provided by an employer who agrees to pay an employee a portion of their salary every year for the rest of their life if they remain at the company for a certain number of years (usually 10 to 20+ years). Petersen points out that combining pension funds with Social Security benefits allowed the generation before the boomers (known as the Greatest Generation) to retire quite comfortably, but with the shift to 401(k) accounts, retirement planning was left in the hands of boomers themselves, who now had to opt-in to save a portion of their income in a dedicated investment account for retirement. And while some companies offered a matching program (like companies still do today), many others didn’t offer retirement accounts at all.

    All this fueled anxiety about future financial security, and with jeopardized job prospects, some boomers also found it extra difficult to preserve the middle-class status of their parents.

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    And while the current economy faces massive uncertainty, at least the young seem to be aware of the problems they’re facing. “In 2019, around 27 to 28% of Gen Z’ers had some exposure to equities through holding a stock or through retirement accounts,” Lowell Ricketts, a data scientist for the Institute of Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, told CNBC. “That percentage is much higher than that of other generations. When millennials were the same age back in 2004, just 18.7% of them had some exposure to equities.”

    This seems to take the situation full circle. Just like boomers, Gen Z’ers are entering adulthood worried about their ability to earn and save money, but they also seem to be capable of planning ahead in their wealth-building journey. All they need is a little break.

    People really appreciated the eye-opening comparison

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    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

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    Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

    Read less »
    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

    Mindaugas Balčiauskas

    Mindaugas Balčiauskas

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    I'm a visual editor at Bored Panda. I kickstart my day with a mug of coffee bigger than my head, ready to tackle Photoshop. I navigate through the digital jungle with finesse, fueled by bamboo breaks and caffeine kicks. When the workday winds down, you might catch me devouring bamboo snacks while binging on the latest TV show, gaming or I could be out in nature, soaking up the tranquility and communing with my inner panda.

    Read less »

    Mindaugas Balčiauskas

    Mindaugas Balčiauskas

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    I'm a visual editor at Bored Panda. I kickstart my day with a mug of coffee bigger than my head, ready to tackle Photoshop. I navigate through the digital jungle with finesse, fueled by bamboo breaks and caffeine kicks. When the workday winds down, you might catch me devouring bamboo snacks while binging on the latest TV show, gaming or I could be out in nature, soaking up the tranquility and communing with my inner panda.

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    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Let's call it what it really is, greedy rich people hiking prices up because they want more money than they already have. It's intentional what these companies are doing. They don't have to raise prices and in fact could lower prices and raise wages and still maintain the extreme generational wealth they already have. It's a choice they are making to deliberately keep people at a disadvantage and struggling for basic needs. They lie and say it has to happen when it doesn't. There's enough resources that reproduce constantly for us all to exist. You're being convinced that it has to be like this when these people can literally still live a life of luxury with what money they already have for the next 400 years. I'm tired of the lies and b******t covering up what is really cruel and intentional suffering. That's what they are doing and it's inhumane and wrong.

    Jax
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The “they” your talking about has always been the lies the government tells us. There is always billions of dollars for special interest groups, and worthless projects thought up to bring money to certain people. Our government has to stop sending our tax dollars all over the world. Our current administration is doing exactly what it said it would and it is a total disaster.

    Load More Replies...
    Sheila Stamey
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had to work three jobs as a single mother and accept food stamps in order to raise my the kids and take care of my mom. I kept my mom with me at home for as long as I possibly could because I loved her most of all, and honestly, her income made a difference. It still fell short of many things. My husband had been put in jail for being very stupid sad and drunk, but it still made our family a single parent household. It's extremely difficult if you are only feeding and housing yourself. My children are now successful. I am proud of them. None of them have college debt because they didn't go to college. They all have 50k+ incomes in an area where that's middle class. They are blessed and tough.

    Klara Lorinczi
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You are to be admired for your strength and courage! Women like you make a country great, not men!! I male bash but yes, men deserve it! Always!

    Load More Replies...
    Liam Lowenthal
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Don't even get me started on "small" emergencies like your car breaking down or needed a sitter all of a sudden. Small... Ha.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    Step
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Let's call it what it really is, greedy rich people hiking prices up because they want more money than they already have. It's intentional what these companies are doing. They don't have to raise prices and in fact could lower prices and raise wages and still maintain the extreme generational wealth they already have. It's a choice they are making to deliberately keep people at a disadvantage and struggling for basic needs. They lie and say it has to happen when it doesn't. There's enough resources that reproduce constantly for us all to exist. You're being convinced that it has to be like this when these people can literally still live a life of luxury with what money they already have for the next 400 years. I'm tired of the lies and b******t covering up what is really cruel and intentional suffering. That's what they are doing and it's inhumane and wrong.

    Jax
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The “they” your talking about has always been the lies the government tells us. There is always billions of dollars for special interest groups, and worthless projects thought up to bring money to certain people. Our government has to stop sending our tax dollars all over the world. Our current administration is doing exactly what it said it would and it is a total disaster.

    Load More Replies...
    Sheila Stamey
    Community Member
    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had to work three jobs as a single mother and accept food stamps in order to raise my the kids and take care of my mom. I kept my mom with me at home for as long as I possibly could because I loved her most of all, and honestly, her income made a difference. It still fell short of many things. My husband had been put in jail for being very stupid sad and drunk, but it still made our family a single parent household. It's extremely difficult if you are only feeding and housing yourself. My children are now successful. I am proud of them. None of them have college debt because they didn't go to college. They all have 50k+ incomes in an area where that's middle class. They are blessed and tough.

    Klara Lorinczi
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You are to be admired for your strength and courage! Women like you make a country great, not men!! I male bash but yes, men deserve it! Always!

    Load More Replies...
    Liam Lowenthal
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Don't even get me started on "small" emergencies like your car breaking down or needed a sitter all of a sudden. Small... Ha.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
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