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Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

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Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#101

Post by candiodari »

hibikir wrote: post #54
gnerix wrote: post #41

The boomers inherited the only advanced country in the world that hadn't had its industrial capacity reduced to rubble over the course of two world wars. The US was the only manufacturing supplier left, so naturally every working age adult had a wealth of employment opportunities. Another way to look at the plight of the millennials (full disclosure, I'm a millennial) is "hurray, society hasn't faced a major setback…

The situation is not just unique to the US though: Many countries which had their industrial capacity reduced to rubble are still in the exact same boat: People that started working in the 50s 60s and 70s did a lot better comparatively than those that started after 2000. The 50s were far less happy in Europe than in the US, but there was just so much progress to be made that hit everyone. A big part of it was also po…

I like how you've identified what the key difference is.

Demand-limited. Not supply limited like we have been for the past 60 years.

I think it applies to more than just academic jobs though. Oil. Cars. Fridges. Laptops. Computers. Dolls. For all of it demand limits seem to be the problem.

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#102

Post by Jtsummers »

nunez wrote: post #75
ChuckMcM wrote: post #35

I cannot say I'm very impressed with the article. I could pick out a number of millenials who are doing better than their parents at the same age. But I wouldn't use that to argue that everything is okay. One thing that has stuck out at me has been the ways in which people have money drained from them. I think there is a huge student loan problem where young people were "sold" a crappy education. But setting that asi…

Herein lies the rub: carrying debt to maximize life now can potentially destroy your future, but the alternative is minimizing life now to improve your potential (and non-guaranteed) future later. It would be a real shame to avoid living the life you want now in hopes of an awesome future, only for the future to hand you a really shitty hand (I.e. Medical bills vaporizing all of your wealth) I think finding balance i…

> carrying debt to maximize life now can potentially destroy your future, but the alternative is minimizing life now to improve your potential (and non-guaranteed) future later.

Define maximize and minimize. Is a life lived "to the fullest" worth it, when you find yourself frequently fighting off panic attacks as you realize you have to work until you die? Is a life spent maxing out a couple retirement accounts (IRA, 401k for most of us in the US), along with cooking your own food, and traveling to more modest hotels and always in the cheap airline seats really minimized? You still have time to spend with friends, and you have less stress, and you can still see many (maybe even more) of the places you want without breaking the bank.

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#103

Post by Jtsummers »

cookiecaper wrote: post #72
massysett wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And despite all that, the boomers go vote and their children do not.

Parents want nothing more than a bright and stable future for their posterity. They vote in accordance with policy that they believe will achieve those ends.

In a strictly rational world, yes. But many people vote without thinking about what improves things for the future, but what makes things better for them now. Or they vote on emotional or moral grounds without considering the actual economic and societal costs.

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#104

Post by petre »

speeder wrote: post #12

Note that even in countries where the absolute amount of money is better, the stuff on this article still applies. I am from Brazil, and many boomers told me when I was young how awesome I was to be young, because I was living in a golden age where I didn't had to walk uphill both ways to school, could have computer, and whatnot. But it is me that envy them now, I am 29, have zero income, lots of debt, and own no ass…

If you're that bored why not start a revolution along with your friends who are in the same boat? Why wait for someone else (politicians) to start a global war, send you and your friends to death and also get rich in the process?

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#105

Post by [deleted] »

shoefly wrote: post #90

Most of them went into the workforce when the Great recession hit. The ability to write off a student loan as a bankruptcy was removed in 2005. While part of this law has been thrown out, many people are still stuck as indentured servants to the loan sharks. Housing is insane... around here in the bay area, but from the older people I've chatted with, it was always a tough market. Now, if you moved to my hometown, yo…

[deleted]

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#106

Post by jacobolus »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #97
maxerickson wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the world tells them every car has to have backup cameras Do you mean they will pursue the camera's aspirationally? It's going to be a mandate soon: http://www.autonews.com/article/20140331/OEM11/140339979/u.s...

No, I mean that the ability to make an "affordable" car is hampered by excessive regulation. In real dollars an entry level car today is 18% more expensive than the same car in the 80's primarily due to additional safety equipment and a lack of 'economy' SKUs. For example, try to buy a car with only the required safety equipment, manual transmission, manual locks/windows etc. Very hard to do unless you go out of your…

There are also less than 1/3 the deaths per car mile traveled in the USA today compared to 1980, and cars today produce dramatically less air pollution.

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#107

Post by jacobolus »

cookiecaper wrote: post #83
ChuckMcM wrote: post #35

I cannot say I'm very impressed with the article. I could pick out a number of millenials who are doing better than their parents at the same age. But I wouldn't use that to argue that everything is okay. One thing that has stuck out at me has been the ways in which people have money drained from them. I think there is a huge student loan problem where young people were "sold" a crappy education. But setting that asi…

I agree with you. Our whole economy has been restructured around fat cats finding ways to eek people out of more and more. Without taking a step back, it's hard to realize just how pervasive that's become. I don't attribute this as much to greater discipline by older generations as to cultural and economic differences that made a simpler, more sustainable life the default course. There are a lot of things about life…

Most people throughout the history of agricultural societies have been landless peasants working as serfs for the local lord.

The utopian dream of the self-sufficient yeoman farmer has mostly been a rare exceptional case.

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#108

Post by aries1980 »

samatman wrote: post #52
anguswithgusto wrote: post #42

I'm surprised at how much flack this article is getting here on HN. Is it because we're all making those sweet 1% salaries in tech? All my non-tech/finance friends are paying obscenely high rent, crippled with student debt, can't afford houses, can't afford cars, and three times as educated as their parents, but paid less than their parents were. In the case of unpaid internships (unavoidable for lots of industries,…

I hope that, within my lifetime, "unpaid intern" sounds to the average ear the way "indentured servant" sounds today. It's a despicable racket.

…and it is illegal in most countries, including the US.

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#109

Post by EliRivers »

jknoepfler wrote: post #92
echlebek wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millennial here. I just got the property assessment notice on my modest 1 bedroom condo. The "value" of it has gone up by $200,000 (around 30%) in the last two years according to the assessment office. So I can expect a nice fat tax bill later this year. The boomer generation, in full control of politics my entire adult life and for the foreseeable future, has made real estate in my city into a ponzi scheme, and I do…

I'm sorry, did you just complain about making 30% ROI on $200k over two years? Oh no, your tax burden.

This is nonsensical. I have to pay that extra tax NOW. That's real money that I have to pay out. An extra 30% on something I nominally own? That's not real. I can't pay the taxes with that. What should I do to get that extra 30%? Take out an extra mortgage on that alleged increase in house value? Sell it and move to a worse house in a worse neighbourhood, somewhere I don't really want to live that I can still afford the taxes?

I bought a house that I wanted to live in, that I could afford the taxes on, and now I can't afford the taxes through no fault of my own. There is no solace to be taken in the fact that if I sold it, I might get 30% more than I paid. I don't want the money. If I wanted the money, I wouldn't have bought the house to live in, in the first place. I want what I bought two years ago; the house I could afford to live in. 30% increase in alleged value is of no use to me, and it's costing me money.

Re: Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

#110

Post by smileysteve »

untog wrote: post #29
Altay- wrote: post #7

More people go to college today so we're 4 years later into the labor force. This will only mean something when we hit prime working age for millennials. Let's see the numbers then.

Shouldn't college get you a higher salary? If all it does is delay your earning potential for four years why would anyone do it?

> Education does help boost incomes. But the median college-educated millennial with student debt is only earning slightly more than a baby boomer without a degree did in 1989.
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