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Gen Z is going to have a hard time getting rich

businessinsider.com

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

#31

Post by jrsj »

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.

Just because things have tended to get better the last century or so doesn’t mean it’s going to continue. Leaving behind wealth for future generations used to be a significant priority; now many people are barely interested in having a family at all. Some of those that do still decide they’d rather get a second mortgage to buy a boat than leave a paid off home for their kids. Predatory corporations liquidate the assets of the elderly when they’re deemed no longer competent by the state. None of those things by themselves is enough to sink things, but those things together combined with broader financial trends (seemingly permanently low interest rates + skyrocketing housing costs as others have mentioned) don’t exactly paint a good picture at least for a large portion of the working class.

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

#33

Post by johnnyletrois »

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…

Similarly, there’s a sad argument that the “Life in ‘The Simpsons’ is no longer attainable”.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/life-simps...

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

#34

Post by 6chars »

oliv__ wrote: post #21
6chars wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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)

Ok fine, let me choose a different example. Has someone who became a millionaire daytrading crypto contributed more to society than almost* every nurse?

* there are probably a handful of millionaire nurses out there

Edit: to be clear, I'm not arguing that the market doesn't reward people for providing economic value to the world. I just disagree that that's the type of value that's relevant when discussing whether someone is virtuous. If two people make the same amount of money selling vacuum cleaners, but one kicks an orphan every time they make a sale, I don't think many would say they're equally virtuous.

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

#35

Post by cesarvarela »

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?

I think it has to do with efficiency; you need fewer and fewer people to generate value.

But those who are needed, i.e., tech workers, meet their needs and more.

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

#36

Post by structural »

quacked wrote: post #11
skissane wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live (Australia), the biggest issue is the massive bubble in property prices. Housing affordability has gotten a lot worse over the last few decades. Arguably it has produced a massive wealth transfer from the younger to older generations. I guess inevitably that is going to be partially reversed when those older generations pass on, and leave some of their accumulated wealth to their children. But inheritanc…

I lack your optimism; when they pass on, their houses will be transferred to small- and big-time rental companies, who will rent their houses to young people for more than a mortgage would cost. The only hope, in my opinion, is a giant, propaganda-driven cultural movement away from money and towards societal stability.

What's also interesting is that transportation & communication are very much easier than they were for past generations. This is also combined with shorter times that a worker stays at a single job before moving on for another opportunity. Put all this together and nobody wants to stay in a single house for 10+ years, or even in the same city for that length of time: at this point, buying a house would be counterproductive -- even if you could afford it -- because the transaction costs eat you alive.

For these reasons, a lot of us younger generation folks actually value a high-quality rental property more than buying exactly that same house. [Yes, sure, you buy the house and you'll eventually pay it off, but you'd be surprised how many people don't believe they will be able to afford to retire at all, much less accumulate any wealth whatsoever.]

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

#37

Post by claudiulodro »

frankbreetz wrote: post #32

>>almost a third of existing small businesses were wiped out by the pandemic Isn't this good for Gen-z? Assuming not many owned these businesses, which I would because they are young. Doesn't this leave an opening for young people to open businesses?

I think it depends on whether the resulting hole was taken over by giant corporations or not.

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

#38

Post by sudosysgen »

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…

This simply doesn't check out. Land prices even in countries with low barriers to construction are skyrocketing.

The simple fact is that private ownership of land leads to the value of the land capturing the value of its inhabitants. It's an inevitable trend, housing prices will increase until people start moving out in a free market. There is no purely free market solution that doesn't simply delay this.

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

#39

Post by blumomo »

I hope Gen Z has more precious goals than getting materially rich. Not that I’m against material richness. But I do hope that we as humanity evolve together on a spiritual level. There’s so much material value already created, so many jobs are automated. I hope that we humans strive for higher goods, fully develop our potential, and start to learn seeing again that there’s a universal order that includes a worldly good and a worldly bad. I hope that Gen Z recognizes the madness that is currently coming to light and as a consequence starts doing better than their previous generations. I’m glad to help them wherever I can.

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

#40

Post by mint2 »

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…

Yeah we should be able to have cheap lead paint and asbestos and get rid of fire codes. Kids these days have too many IQ points.

No regulation is not a viable solution unless we want a return to pea soup smog in LA and other areas, rivers that go on fire, and more lead poisoned children.

Getting the balance of regulations is hard but it would be a lot easier if companies didn’t have to be forced to do it. But it’s unrealistic to think it’s viable for them to behave responsibly due to adverse selection.

But in any serious discussion, one has to fully embrace the fact that regulations are good and necessary. If the debating parties don’t admit that then it’s not sincere. Equally it must be admitted that regulations and a burden and should be the minimal necessary to stop unacceptable abuse.

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