Generation Gaps Versus Profitability.

In My Humble Opinion
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This is meant to be more of a trolling for opinions, rather than a debate.

This is possibly the most important posting that I will ever post, at least until tomorrow.

I know the secret of the universe. It is the Sine Wave. Everything goes in cycles. No matter what you are observing, it can be plotted somewhere along the curve. You can tell where it just came from, and you can predict where it will be next.

Including American Generations.

Over the weekend, at a small get-together, my wife and I got into a discussion that eventually morphed itself into the topic of this posting. How does the 20 to 40 year old generation today rank as far as profitability?

Without getting too long winded, here were the major points of the discussion:

  1. An above average number of people over the age of 20 still live with their parent(s).

  2. It is very difficult for a married couple to be supported by only one of their paychecks.

  3. A bachelor’s degree is pretty much worthless, except as a token that you have made that right of passage, because everyone else has one.

  4. Very few people that I know, of child bearing age, are actually having children. Actually, very few of them are even married.

Note: This is not a hidden agenda against the current market and economic conditions. This is about the generation of people that were teenagers in the 80’s and 90’s. AKA, the Star Wars Generation.

So, getting back to the Sine Wave. I fall within the above age group. My parents are retired and loving a prosperous retirement together. My wife and I have very little debt, but also very little to show for our payhecks, despite our humble lifestyle. The one upside is that we actually have a mortgage on a very nice house. The jobs that my parents worked, versus the jobs that my wife and I are working are virtually identical, in field and position. I feel that my parents’ generation was at the top of the Sine Wave, making them a more profitable generation, and more resources to enjoy life, while the generation that my wife and I subscribe to is at the bottom of the Sine Wave. It will be our children’s generation that will be back at the top of the profitable Sine Wave.

I am interested in what everyone’s opinion is on this subject. I am most interested to see if my perception is seriously skewed. So, I’m looking for input from anyone and everyone.

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BTW, I’m also looking for others factors special to this generation to consider. So, if you have other bullet points to add, please do.

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You’re not alone in this theory. If you haven’t read Generations you would certainly find some support for your views.

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I also want to clarify that I am not bitter about these views of mine. If it turns out that I am right, and that the generations before and after mine are much more profitable than the one I am in, “Then, so be it.” would be my reply.

I’m making it okay in this generation, and if I have kids, then I would feel reassured that they have the opportunity to have a better life than me.

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Baby boomer here.

It appears that you’re comparing your position at the beginning of your career to your parents’ at the end of theirs. This is a common mistake.

Every generation starts at the bottom of the wave. My parents actually lived with my grandparents for several years after they were married. Every generation starts with minimum-wage, low opportunity jobs and advances.

My father said he and my mother never had any extra money until the last of their children (me) graduated from college and moved out. That was 31 years after they had married.

The one thing your parents may have is a defined-inciome pension. You’ll have to make do with a 401K. Learn to invest wisely.

I will grant that the 20-40 generation often is starting with more debt than before, because more of them have college loans to pay off than in the past. But that’s not your case. You say you have little debt, but little to show. Don’t be fooled. You have a mortgage to a house. That’s a tremendous asset, particularly for someone in their late 20s-early 30s.