Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich • Hacker News Board

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#21

Post by oliv__ » Mon, May 24, 2021, 8:49 PM UTC

6chars wrote: post #18

oliv__ wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is money? It is a token of value. If you're rich, it means you have provided a decent amount of value to society somehow. How is that a vice? Also, in a longer, more interesting form: https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the-meaning-of-money/

> If you're rich, it means you have provided a decent amount of value to society somehow. Yep, a toddler who was born into an aristocratic family has provided more value to society than any public school teacher ever has.

Someone in that toddler's family did provide the value, the money didn't appear from nowhere.

And the public school teacher is not paid a market value by definition.

Also, you don't personally get to decide what has more value than something else, the market does (which is what you are doing with the implied statement that the public school teacher provides more value than the toddler's family)

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#22

Post by thorwasdfasdf » Mon, May 24, 2021, 8:52 PM UTC

Gen Zers do have one thing going for them: the birth of a new investment category: Crypto. In 30,40,50 years from now, people will look back on the 2010 and 2020 landscape for crypto the way we look back in awe at the immense outsized returns of stocks from the 1970 to 1990s.

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#23

Post by knolax » Mon, May 24, 2021, 8:54 PM UTC

CynicusRex wrote: post #2

If you live in a country that uses the term Gen Z, you're probably richer than most of the world. Stop celebrating being rich as a virtue, because it's not, it's a vice.

Cost of Living differences exist you know. I nominally make twice as much as people I know in non-"gen-Z" countries but we have the same quality of life.

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#24

Post by lumost » Mon, May 24, 2021, 8:56 PM UTC

Flatcircle wrote: post #14

This is a story that's been told since the dawn of time, The future generations are fucked, the good old days are gone. Just cos some interns at an investment bank wrote a brief, speculating about future stock returns doesn't mean an entire generation is doomed. JFC.

There is a hypothesis that interest rates naturally fall as wealth becomes more concentrated. Effectively those with money become the only possible consumer, and their consumer needs are bounded.

It's plausible that the current low interest environment is capping future ROI and stock returns.

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#25

Post by djbebs » Mon, May 24, 2021, 9:00 PM UTC

alexfromapex wrote: post #5

It seems like each generation is having more difficulty making ends meet ( https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2021/04/01/the-generationa... ). Why hasn't this been improving? Is it because of regulatory capture by corporations?

Increased regulations, taxes and other laws with perverse incentives

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#26

Post by achillesheels » Mon, May 24, 2021, 9:12 PM UTC

actually_a_dog wrote: post #10

LegitShady wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of the advancement in the world you see is by people you think have too much money but really now just have funds to pursue new businesses without seeking venture capital, or providing capital to businesses that are looking for it. "nobody needs" is a protest that doesn't matter to anyone except people interfering in other's personal business. What nobody needs is a stranger telling them how much money they dese…

> "nobody needs" is a protest that doesn't matter to anyone except people interfering in other's personal business. At a certain point, no, it really isn't. When a single individual has enough money to influence public policy where I live, I would definitely say that's too much money. It becomes my business when someone who votes with their dollars gets more votes than I do with my actual vote.

So you are against the ability to speak unlimitedly? And who is to say your judgments are superior or that this individual’s public policy is necessarily inferior?

People who have the ability to move things tend to move more things. I don’t see this as explicitly wrong, but natural. On the other hand, efforts to give masses of people disproportionate political rights have led to more murder in the last century than any in civilized record. And I would include American imperialism in that judgment.

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#27

Post by cauliflower2718 » Mon, May 24, 2021, 9:13 PM UTC

oliv__ wrote: post #15

CynicusRex wrote: post #2

If you live in a country that uses the term Gen Z, you're probably richer than most of the world. Stop celebrating being rich as a virtue, because it's not, it's a vice.

What is money? It is a token of value. If you're rich, it means you have provided a decent amount of value to society somehow. How is that a vice? Also, in a longer, more interesting form: https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the-meaning-of-money/

The tobacco industry made a lot of money back in the day. That's not the same as adding value to society.

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#28

Post by LegitShady » Mon, May 24, 2021, 9:16 PM UTC

actually_a_dog wrote: post #10

LegitShady wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of the advancement in the world you see is by people you think have too much money but really now just have funds to pursue new businesses without seeking venture capital, or providing capital to businesses that are looking for it. "nobody needs" is a protest that doesn't matter to anyone except people interfering in other's personal business. What nobody needs is a stranger telling them how much money they dese…

> "nobody needs" is a protest that doesn't matter to anyone except people interfering in other's personal business. At a certain point, no, it really isn't. When a single individual has enough money to influence public policy where I live, I would definitely say that's too much money. It becomes my business when someone who votes with their dollars gets more votes than I do with my actual vote.

I don't support corporate involvement in public policy and politics. I don't think they should be able to donate to political causes or politicians. PACs and dark political money are an enemy of democracy.

But I don't think you should get a say in someone else's income just because you think they earn to much. That's none of your business.

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#29

Post by achillesheels » Mon, May 24, 2021, 9:17 PM UTC

CynicusRex wrote: post #13

LegitShady wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of the advancement in the world you see is by people you think have too much money but really now just have funds to pursue new businesses without seeking venture capital, or providing capital to businesses that are looking for it. "nobody needs" is a protest that doesn't matter to anyone except people interfering in other's personal business. What nobody needs is a stranger telling them how much money they dese…

1% of the human population has what, north of 80% of the world's money? If that's not some form of tyranny worthy of criticism, then I don't know what is. Most good fortune in the world comes down to luck and help of literally everyone else. Not wanting to share that wealth comes down to pure greed, ego, and ignorance. Veritasium – Is Success Luck or Hard Work? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LopI4YeC4I

Prey tell, how is Michael Dell or Steve Wozniak a tyrant?

And do you consider yourself lucky or unlucky in life? Your handle suggests the latter.

I can attest I do not wish to share my wealth with those who are cynics ;) does that make me a bad human? Does it make me a bad human that I choose to cultivate myself further, exacting greater human flourishing in the process? Am I lucky to do so, or am I determined to do so? And how is society not benefiting from my greater efforts at being human, which necessarily implicates more integration with my fellow race?

Re: Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

#30

Post by halsom » Mon, May 24, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #20

alexfromapex wrote: post #5

It seems like each generation is having more difficulty making ends meet ( https://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2021/04/01/the-generationa... ). Why hasn't this been improving? Is it because of regulatory capture by corporations?

There's been a pretty huge drop in living standards over the last 40 to 50 years. One interview with a person who lived through the 60s said, back then a painter could own a home, support a non working wife and six kids. These days, that same painter would have a hard time supporting himself, let alone a wife and six kids and house. one of the biggest drivers of wealth reduction is all the regulation that prevents mo…

Your explanation doesn’t check out. First of all, construction hasn’t necessarily slowed down. Second, jobs were always in cities. That hasn’t changed. Third, new construction trends follow economic trends[0] and that has always been the case, since the dawn of the industrial era. It would be one thing if you were arguing that rising wealth inequality is a result of no new homes being built, but you’d still have to account for all the people who live in homes but don’t own them.

[0]:https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?width=880&he...