FREE NEWSLETTER
Sometimes, the big picture that frames your life can just happen without much thought, mostly by luck. I guess not everyone who has good fortune like this will admit anything other than hard work and true grit got them to where they are now. Take myself; I claim some credit for what I’ve achieved, but I had a lot of good tailwinds that certainly helped immensely.
I was part of the last UK generation eligible for free higher education. I entered the housing market when prices were still reasonable and just before the property market ballooned. During my young adulthood, the UK economy experienced a strong economic boom, well above historical norms. I had no input or influence on these things; they just happened at the right time, and I was in the right place to benefit from the lucky tailwinds I stumbled into.
Recognizing luck and external factors doesn’t diminish your achievements. I believe in myself it has fostered a humbleness that extends to being able to recognise the much harder conditions the current generation has encountered in trying to thrive financially.
There seems to be a very judgmental narrative in play, for reasons I don’t understand but possibly a lack of awareness of systematic shifts in the world. I’ve had a lot of contact with today’s generation, through employing them, to the children of friends and my own children, and while I have great reservations over the digital/influencer social media elements of the group, I don’t recognise the generational stereotype used to depict them—lazy, no ambition, financially irresponsible, etc.
Of the millennials I know, most have identified the need to purchase over renting and have made a first step onto the property market or are renting and trying to save for a deposit. The landscape around pensions has changed to an emphasis on personal responsibility over employer responsibility.
They face challenges I never did, like inflated property prices, less security in employment, and tighter restrictions around lending. The shadow of covid loomed large and stunted their early social and educational life. With these challenges, I can understand why emotional wellbeing is an issue; when you have little control over your future, it must manifest somehow.
I try to mentor, support and give helpful advice where I think it will be useful and where I have some competence or lived experience to share. I think it’s a duty to help a generation that has certainly not had the tailwinds that eased my journey. I would urge you to take time to gain more understanding of a generation that has had a hard start to adulthood.
Mark, I agree with your comments about how hardworking the younger generations are. We see this on our street with our younger neighbors, who have befriended us. And also with our children and their friends. I have great hope for the future with these good folks. Chris
I’m only going to comment on my salary vs my house cost (thanks to Quicken).
When we bought our house in 1971, it was about 5 times my annual salary. In 2009, my last year of full time work, my house having increased about 8 times in value (including a significant addition), was still appraised at about 5 times my salary. Since I haven’t worked in well over ten years, I don’t know how my salary would compare to my house value today, but my house has roughly doubled in value since 2009.
So, while I agree there may be unique challenges for the current generation, most of us went through some tight times financially in our early years.
Thanks Mark. I completely agree with your sentiments. My Dad was born in 1919, in Michigan, so he had to grow up in the depression, then serve over 4 years in the Navy in WWII. As a result of these circumstances, he was satisfied with a very modest lifestyle. He reached his “enough” easily in retirement, although he only lived on about $28K a year, yet had a great life. I started investing in 1987, at the age of 26, and greatly benefited from the long bull market. It’s made saving for retirement and the educational needs of 4 kids so much easier. That’s luck. My fear is that, going forward, it’s going to be harder for my kids. And now for some real perspective. In the fall of 1984 I stepped off a CG Cutter in Port au Prince, Haiti and took a walk to the Iron Market. I’d seen poverty before, but nothing like that. The feeling was almost overwhelming that just because I was born in the U. S., to great parents, my circumstances in life were so much better.
Patrick, I totally agree with your final sentiment. It was only after I took my first walk through a Chinese hutong, and then later got off a train in the Chinese countryside, that I truly understood how much I had won life’s lottery by being born where I was, into the situation I was, and at the time I was. So many of the circumstances of our lives are dependent on factors we have no control over – the conditions under which we come into the world.